A Quote by Robert Hass

When I was in high school in the '50s you were supposed to be an Elvis Presley, a James Dean, a Marlon Brando or a Kingston Trio type in a button-down shirt headed for the fraternities at Stanford or Cal.

Robert Hass

Quote Topics

Brando Button Cal Dean Down Elvis Headed High High School James School Shirt Stanford Supposed Supposed To Be Trio Type Were

Quote Author

Robert Hass
American - Poet
Born: March 1, 1941

I was in a movie with Marlon Brando. Now, I didn't have any scenes with Marlon Brando, but I had scenes with Martin Sheen and was around Dennis Hopper, who was a child actor in the studio system and was enamored of James Dean, as was Martin, and they were all sort of disciples of Brando.

Laurence Fishburne

Jim Dean and Elvis were the spokesmen for an entire generation. When I was in acting school in New York, years ago, there was a saying that if Marlon Brando changed the way people acted, then James Dean changed the way people lived. He was the greatest actor who ever lived. He was simply a genius.

Martin Sheen

My biggest influences as an actor were Marlon Brando, and I really dug James Dean.

Larry Bishop

When I grew into a teenager, I became obsessed with Marlon Brando, Montgomery Cliff, and James Dean.

William Forsythe

I love Marlon Brando and James Dean. That was when it was all about the star and the script. Nowadays, everything has to be action-packed.

Ansel Elgort

I joined Spandau Ballet not because I wanted to be the best musician in the world, but because I wanted to be Elvis Presley, Marlon Brando.

Martin Kemp

James Dean taught me not to speed, River Phoenix taught me not to DO speed, and Marlon Brando taught me to slow down on the cheeseburgers.

Emile Hirsch

I think what I'm doing is quintessentially American because I'm not American - even though I am on the verge of getting my American passport next week - I have a fantasy of what is American. Big spaces, Marlon Brando, James Dean, easy living.

Italo Zucchelli

I was someone who was out of control and not to be worked with. It was partly because method acting was a new thing in Hollywood then and Marlon Brando had gotten through and Montgomery Clift had gotten through and James Dean but beyond that there wasn't really anybody.

Dennis Hopper

Music and fashion have had a kind of incestuous relationship since the Fifties. It started with people like Elvis Presley and pop icons like James Dean. Then it exploded in the MTV days. Now, with the Internet, it's instantaneous.

John Varvatos

Marlon Brando changed everything for actors. After him, everyone wanted to be Marlon. No one wanted to be a type: they all wanted to display versatility in every role.

Peter Bogdanovich

All I did as a child was pretend to be James Bond or Marlon Brando. When I was about four, I put on my dad's work boots and went up and down the street with his walking stick pretending to be Charlie Chaplin.

Aneurin Barnard

That's my idol, Elvis Presley. If you went to my house, you'd see pictures all over of Elvis. He's just the greatest entertainer that ever lived. And I think it's because he had such presence. When Elvis walked into a room, Elvis Presley was in the f***ing room. I don't give a f*** who was in the room with him, Bogart, Marilyn Monroe.

Eddie Murphy

The first time I met Brando was on a street corner. I was 14. He was walking down the street, and I saw him coming, and I thought, 'It's Marlon Brando.' And he was wearing what turned out to be his outfit from 'On the Waterfront,' because he was shooting.

Peter Bogdanovich

You weren't supposed to hear Elvis Presley. You weren't supposed to hear Jerry Lee Lewis. You weren't supposed to hear Robert Johnson. You weren't supposed to hear Hank Williams. And they told the story of the secret America.