- Phil Stern: Two time Academy Award winner.
- Bobby: Wow, congratulations.
- Howard: Thank you. You've never heard of me, I'm a writer.
- Leonard: Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living." But the examined one is no bargain.
- Rose Dorfman: First a murderer, then he becomes a Christian. What did I do to deserve this? Which is worse?
- Marty Dorfman: He explained it to you. The Jews don't have an afterlife.
- Rose Dorfman: We are all afraid of dying, Marty! But we don't give up the religion we are born into.
- Marty Dorfman: I'm not afraid to die.
- Rose Dorfman: You're too stupid to appreciate the implications.
- Marty Dorfman: I didn't say I like the idea. And I will resist death with everything I have. But when the Angel of Death comes to cut me down, I'll go. I'll protest. I'll curse. You hear me? I will go under protest.
- Rose Dorfman: Protest to who? What the hell are you gonna do? Write a letter to the Times?
- Marty Dorfman: I will protest in silence.
- [first lines]
- Narrator: When the sun starts to dip on the Hollywood hills, the light often takes on the saturated loveliness of color by Technicolor. The homes of the movie stars, in the late 1930's, said to be fabulous, were. An the cocktail and dinner gatherings saw the film colony's creme de la creme draining high balls, exchanging rumors, making deals and trading gossip. No 'A' list affair was complete without the presence of Phil Stern, one of the town's most high powered agents, and his lovely wife, Karen. Brilliant and dynamic, Stern could invariably be found holding court.