"Everybody in town's a better actor than I am, but none of them can play Ben Johnson." "You know, I'd say that aside from Mr. Ford's help in my career, I'd lay any success I've had to not expecting too much. I never expected to become a star and was always content to stay two or three rungs down the ladder and last awhile. When I do get a little ahead, I see what I can do to help others." [On leaving Oklahoma for Hollywood, where he became a horse wrangler for Howard Hawks on The Outlaw] "I'd been making a dollar a day as a cowboy, and my first check in Hollywood was for $300. After that, you couldn't have driven me back to Oklahoma with a club."