In a Lonely Place Quotes

Mildred Atkinson: Before I started to go to work at Paul's, I used to think that actors made up their own lines.

Dixon Steele: When they get to be big stars, they usually do.

Sylvia Nicolai: Well, he's exciting because he isn't quite normal.

Brub Nicolai: Maybe us cops could use some of that brand of abnormality. I learned more about this case in five minutes from him than I did from all of our photographs, tire prints and investigations.

Dixon Steele: Nobody can call me the things he did.

Laurel Gray: A blind, knuckle-headed squirrel. That's *real* bad.

Dixon Steele: There's no sacrifice too great for a chance at immortality.

Waiter: [rolls his eyes] Yes sir.

[last lines]

Laurel Gray: [tearfully] I lived a few weeks while you loved me. Goodbye, Dix.

Frances Randolph: Remember how I used to read to you?

Dixon Steele: Uh huh. Since then, I've learned to read by myself.

Dixon Steele: Go ahead and get some sleep and we'll have dinner together tonight.

Laurel Gray: We'll have dinner tonight. But not together.

Actress in Convertible: Dix Steele ! How are you? Don't you remember me?

Dixon Steele: Sorry, can't say that I do.

Actress in Convertible: You wrote the last picture I did... at Columbia

Dixon Steele: Oh, I make it a point to never see pictures I write.

[referring to the book Dixon is supposed to adapt into a screenplay]

Mildred Atkinson: Oh I think it'll make a dreamy picture, Mr. Steele. What I call an epic.

Dixon Steele: And what do you call an epic?

Mildred Atkinson: Well, you know - a picture that's REAL long and has lots of things going on.

Capt. Lochner: Why didn't you call for a cab? Isn't that what a gentleman usually does under the circumstances?

Dixon Steele: Oh I didn't say I was a gentleman. I said I was tired.

Mildred Atkinson: It must be WONDERFUL to be a writer!

Dixon Steele: [sarcastically] Oh, thrilling!

Capt. Lochner: [Dixon has replied with sarcasm to Lochner's questions] You're told that the girl you were with last night was found in Benedict Canyon, murdered. Dumped from a moving car. What's your reaction? Shock? Horror? Sympathy? No - just petulance at being questioned. A couple of feeble jokes. You puzzle me, Mr. Steele.

Dixon Steele: Well, I grant you, the jokes could've been better, but I don't see why the rest should worry you - that is, unless you plan to arrest me on lack of emotion.

Dixon Steele: [noting the geography of their apartments] You know, Ms. Gray, you're one up on me - you can see into my apartment but I can't see into yours.

Laurel Gray: I promise you, I won't take advantage of it.

Dixon Steele: [wryly] I would, if it were the other way around.

Capt. Lochner: Considering that you've never met Mr. Steele, you pay quite a bit of attention to him.

Laurel Gray: Hmm-hmm. I have at that.

Capt. Lochner: Do you usually give such attention to your neighbors?

Laurel Gray: No.

Capt. Lochner: Were you interested in Mr. Steele because he's a celebrity?

Laurel Gray: No, not at all. I noticed him because he looked interesting - I like his face.

Brub Nicolai: You know, I got married.

Dixon Steele: Why?

Brub Nicolai: Oh, I don't know. I guess she had a couple of bucks to spare.

Laurel Gray: [on a scene in Dix's script] I love the love scene - it's very good.

Dixon Steele: Well that's because they're not always telling each other how much in love they are. A good love scene should be about something else besides love. For instance, this one. Me fixing grapefruit. You sitting over there, dopey, half-asleep. Anyone looking at us could tell we're in love.

Dixon Steele: Anything you want to make you happy?

Laurel Gray: [whispers into his ear] I wouldn't want anyone but you.

Dixon Steele: You know, you're out of your mind - how can anyone like a face like this? Look at it...

[leans in for a kiss]

Laurel Gray: I said I liked it - I didn't say I wanted to kiss it.

Dixon Steele: You annoy me!

Laurel Gray: If I do, it isn't intentional.

Capt. Lochner: I didn't expect you to give me more information... but certain facts contradict your original statement.

Laurel Gray: [flatly] I wish you'd say what you mean.

Capt. Lochner: Yes, let's do that. On the night of the Atkinson murder, you looked at Dixon Steele and said you didn't know him.

Laurel Gray: I didn't.

Capt. Lochner: Since then, you and he have been inseparable.

Laurel Gray: He's writing a script. I'm doing the typing.

Capt. Lochner: Do you receive a salary for this?

Laurel Gray: No. I'm doing it for love.

Capt. Lochner: [surprised] Are you in love with Mr. Steele?

Laurel Gray: For the record, I am in love with Mr. Steele.

Capt. Lochner: Are you going to be married?

Laurel Gray: [pause] If we do, I'll send you an invitation - after all, it was you who first introduced us to each other.

Dixon Steele: Oh, I love a picnic. Acres and acres of sand and all of it in your food.

Laurel Gray: Stop griping. Just lie still and inhale.

Dixon Steele: What, sand?

Laurel Gray: No, air - and don't let it go to your head.

Dixon Steele: You know, when you first walked into the police station, I said to myself, "There she is - the one that's different. She's not coy or cute or corny. She's a good guy - I'm glad she's on my side. She speaks her mind and she knows what she wants."

Laurel Gray: Thank you, sir. But let me add: I also know what I don't want - and I don't want to be rushed.

Frances Randolph: Do you look down on all women or just the ones you know?

Dixon Steele: I was pretty nice to you.

Frances Randolph: No, not to me. But you were pretty nice.

Laurel Gray: I love Dix. It upsets me terribly that you suspect him, even for second.

Capt. Lochner: Not for a second, for the last three weeks. He's our most logical suspect.

Frances Randolph: What's the matter, don't you like to talk anymore?

Dixon Steele: Not the people who have my number.

Laurel Gray: [entering kitchen as Dix is sectioning a grapefruit] What happened to the grapefruit knife?

Dixon Steele: It was crooked and I straightened it.

Laurel Gray: Fool, it's supposed to be curved!

Dixon Steele: What? Wonder what they'll think of next!

Dixon Steele: [as Mel enters the house he intoduces him to Laurel] Oh, come in. Mr. Lippman, my agent.

[he introduces Laurel to Mel]

Dixon Steele: Miss Gray, my alibi.

Dixon Steele: [to black man hosing down the sidewalk in front of the florist shop] Say, do me a favor, will you, pal?

Flower Shop Employee: Yes, sir.

Dixon Steele: I want to send two dozen white roses to a girl.

Flower Shop Employee: Yes, sir. Do you want to write a card?

Dixon Steele: No, there's no card. Her name's Mildred Atkinson.

Flower Shop Employee: Mildred Atkinson. Yes, sir. What's her address?

Dixon Steele: I don't know. Look it up in the papers. She was murdered last night.

Flower Shop Employee: Yes, sir.

Mildred Atkinson: [after summarizing a novel she's read] And, you know, there are lots of little plots and things I didn't even tell you about!

Dixon Steele: Thank you.

Laurel Gray: Why can't he be like other people?

Mel Lippmann: Like other people - would you have liked him? You knew he was dynamite - he has to explode sometimes! Years ago, I tried to make him go and see a psychiatrist. I thought he'd kill me! Always violent. Well it's as much a part of him as the color of his eyes, the shape of his head. He's Dix Steele. And if you want him, you've gotta take it all, the good with the bad. I've taken it for 20 years and I'd do it again.

2nd Hatcheck Girl: Mr. Waterman, you forgot to change your costume.

Charlie Waterman: This is not a costume, ignorant wench, it's the formal attire of a gentleman.

Dixon Steele: Remind me to buy you a new tie.

[in a sarcastic retort to a comment by his agent Mel, in the bar scene]

Dixon Steele: There's no sacrifice too great for a chance at immortality.

[a non-sequitur said to a confused waiter, in the bar scene]

Waiter: Yes sir.

[being polite, then rolling his eyes as he walks away]