- Charlie Castle: Am I the worst oaf in the world?
- Marion Castle: The world's a big place. You're the worst one in my life.
- [first lines]
- Narrator: [during a visual montage of expensive homes] This is Bel Air, a lush, luxurious retreat of the wealthy and powerful. If you work in the motion picture industry and are successful, this well-tended suburb of Hollywood is where you will probably make your home. Failure is not permitted here.
- Narrator: [as the overhead shot zooms into a back yard where Charlie is sparring with his trainer Mickey] Our story has to do with a twentieth-century phenomenon. Name: Charlie Castle. Profession: Movie star. Problem: Survival. Charlie Castle is a man who sold out his dreams, but he can't forget them.
- Smiley Coy: What do you think of women, kiddie?
- Charlie Castle: Oh, there's room in the world for 'em.
- [Wanting Charlie to woo Dixie, who's talking too much about Charlie's dangerous 'secret']
- Smiley Coy: Call her.
- Charlie Castle: All right. Anything for my art.
- Dixie Evans: I don't care if I do see a snake. I'm sure I'd much rather see a snake than a Hollywood producer.
- Nat Danziger: [to Charlie] Well, darling, first I want to tell you that Stanley had me in his office about the contract this morning - for two hours, hail Columbia! Which all leads to the fact they're dropping in here.
- [last lines]
- Marion Castle: [with a trembling voice while staring at the large portrait of a grotesque pierrot hanging in the living room in knowing that Charlie has just killed himself] Charlie. Charlie. Help. Help.
- Marion Castle: [moving to the center of the room as Hank comes over to console her, her cries louder with each word] Help. Help. Help. Help. Help. Help. Help. Help. Help.
- Charlie Castle: Patty, darling,
- [Kisses her on the cheek as he walks by.]
- Charlie Castle: how are you, sweetie?
- Patty Benedict: Light my cigarette, Chuck.
- Charlie Castle: Sure.
- [Grabs lighter off table.]
- Patty Benedict: What happened to you last night? I looked around, and you'd gone. I asked Mike, but ...
- Charlie Castle: Oh, Smiley Coy had somebody he wanted me to meet. I dunno, some of those stripped shirts from out of town.
- [Walks to bar.]
- Charlie Castle: Who wants what from the lemonade stand? Bud...
- Buddy Bliss: No. No, thanks.
- Patty Benedict: I like the airiness of this room.
- [Walks a bit and notices a painting on the wall.]
- Patty Benedict: Oh, French paintings, dear one?
- Charlie Castle: Yeah.
- Patty Benedict: Don't you buy American any more?
- Charlie Castle: Oh, let nothing dismay you, Sweetie. I don't know one painter from another.
- Buddy Bliss: He doesn't know one painter from another.
- Charlie Castle: I wouldn't want my fans to think I'd gone arty. They're... uh, Marion's hobby.
- Buddy Bliss: Yeah, they're his wife's hobby.
- Patty Benedict: How long do I know you, Chuck?
- Charlie Castle: Oh, about nine or ten years.
- Patty Benedict: When we first met, all you could talk about was the New Deal, or the Fair Deal, or some deal.
- Charlie Castle: I believed in it.
- Patty Benedict: What do you believe in now?
- Charlie Castle: Health, hard work, rare roast beef, and good scripts.