Peter Lorre

For a lazy man I work awfully hard.

— Peter Lorre

I don't like the word 'villain' or 'heavy.'

— Peter Lorre

I don't want to brag, but I can make people laugh and then be terrified.

— Peter Lorre

It got so that I couldn't play anything but a Peter Lorre character.

— Peter Lorre

I didn't speak English very well, but I studied day and night so I'd be ready for my first break. When Hitchcock…

— Peter Lorre

There is really no such thing as terrifying people. It's the situation and the scene that count. Not the actor.

— Peter Lorre

Actually, Hollywood is the reverse of what most outsiders think it is. It is not a crazy, nervous place. An actor is…

— Peter Lorre

Interviews are horrible. All your life you are trained not to talk about yourself. Then you are expected to do nothing else,…

— Peter Lorre

The audience loves me.

— Peter Lorre

Despite the fact Hollywood classes me as a 'type,' I find the roles broad enough to handle all the acting technique I…

— Peter Lorre

I've been billed as the world's most imitated actor.

— Peter Lorre

Actually I made only one out-and-out horror picture, 'The Beast with Five Fingers,' though I have done a lot of suspense and…

— Peter Lorre

I don't want to be typed as a villain or a comedian. One would be as bad as the other. I had…

— Peter Lorre

For money, I can be a nice guy.

— Peter Lorre

I'm a shy man.

— Peter Lorre

I wouldn't mind doing those sinister roles again, but in pictures I will direct myself.

— Peter Lorre

Sydney and I made so many pictures together we were becoming Abbott and Costello, so we broke up. You know Greenstreet was…

— Peter Lorre

My family encouraged me to paint, but I was never allowed to go to the theater. Naturally, this made me interested in…

— Peter Lorre

I've never seen myself on the screen.

— Peter Lorre

I have made over 70 pictures and in only 10 of them did I portray a really 'bad man.'

— Peter Lorre

In New York I was taken to a restaurant where comedians gather. There were 14 who imitate me in their acts. They…

— Peter Lorre

If I had wanted to remain one character, I could still be playing Mr. Moto.

— Peter Lorre

I can't understand why I am always being called a 'boogie-man' type of actor.

— Peter Lorre

Making movies used to be fun in the old days. It isn't any longer. It's a coldhearted business.

— Peter Lorre

I'm easy to imitate. All you need are the soft-boiled egg eyes and the bedroom voice.

— Peter Lorre