Novelist

I didn't hang around films. I don't know if I'd ever seen Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes.

That wasn't a bad price for a first book. My agent upped it as much as possible. I was 27 and had nothing behind me. I was working like a fool to earn a living and pay for my apartment.

I can't write if someone else is in the house, not even the cleaning woman.

I hope it will be set in California. In a way, I made a mistake, because a New Jersey policeman can't operate that way in New York. But in California, he can move between different counties.

That wasn't a bad price for a first book. My agent upped it as much as possible. I was 27 and had nothing behind me. I was working like a fool to earn a living and pay for my apartment.

I have no television - I hate it.

I don't want to know movie directors. I don't want to be close to them. I don't want to interfere with their work. I don't want them to interfere with mine.

Some fellow from the Third World kept hammering for prizes for a Communist film which was rotten.

I was in New York. Hitchcock was in California. He rang me to make a report on his progress and said, I'm having trouble. I've just sacked my second screenwriter.

My imagination functions much better when I don't have to speak to people.

I hope it will be set in California. In a way, I made a mistake, because a New Jersey policeman can't operate that way in New York. But in California, he can move between different counties.

I think J.D. Salinger is correct in granting no interviews, and in making no speeches.

I don't think Ripley is gay. He appreciates good looks in other men, that's true. But he's married in later books. I'm not saying he's very strong in the sex department. But he makes it in bed with his wife.

I only know it takes weeks to recover, as if one had been in a car accident.

I have Graham Greene's telephone number, but I wouldn't dream of using it. I don't seek out writers because we all want to be alone.

Robert Walker as Bruno was excellent. He had elegance and humor, and the proper fondness for his mother.

I don't set the alarm to get up. I get up when I feel like it.

I prefer to live in the country where it's quiet. Woody Allen movies there are dubbed into Italian.

I like to work for four or five hours a day. I aim for seven days a week.

My imagination functions much better when I don't have to speak to people.