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The Talent
Scouts Speak
FRED
ASTAIRE
"Can't
act. Can't sing. Balding. Can dance a
little."
-MGM
executive, reacting to Fred Astaire's
screen test, 1928
LUCILLE
BALL
"Try
another profession. Any other."
-Head
instructor of the John Murray Anderson
Drama School, giving professional advice
to would-be actress Lucille Ball, 1927
BETTE
DAVIS
"Who
did this to me?"
-Samuel
Goldwyn (studio head), responding to Bette
Davis' screen test, 1930
CLINT
EASTWOOD AND BURT REYNOLDS
[To
Burt Reynolds:] "You have no
talent."
[To
Clint Eastwood:] "You have a chip
on your tooth, your Adam's apple sticks
out too far, and you talk too
slow.""
-Universal
Pictures executive, dismissing Clint
Eastwood and Burt Reynolds at the same
meeting, 1959
Eastwood
and Reynolds went on to become the movie
industry's two single biggest box-office
attractions of the 1970s.
MARILYN
MONROE
"You'd
better learn secretarial work or else get
married."'
-Emmeline
Snively (Director of the Blue Book
Modelling Agency), counseling would-be
model Marilyn Monroe, 1944
MICKEY
MOUSE
"He's
passé. Nobody cares about Mickey anymore.
There are whole batches of Mickeys we just
can't give away. I think we should phase
him out.""
-Roy
Disney (brother of Walt Disney), c. 193 7
RONALD
REAGAN
"Reagan
doesn't have the presidential look."'
-United
Artists executive, dismissing the
suggestion that Ronald Reagan be offered
the starring role in the movie The Best
Man, 1964
“Who
the hell wants to hear actors talk?”
--H.M.
Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927
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