The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968)

Percy Rodrigues: Dr. Copeland

Photos 

Quotes 

• Mick : [At the gravesite]  Why did he do it? I keep asking myself that over and over.

  Doctor Copeland : Oh, I don't suppose any of us will ever know that. None of us ever knew him... not really. We all brought our troubles to him, never stopping to think he may have troubles of his own.

• Doctor Copeland : [stunned to hear his son-in-law's leg has been amputated]  Must be somethin' I can do...

  Portia : I'll *tell* you what you're gonna do. They're sendin' Willie home as soon as he can travel. He's gonna need a lotta care so we gonna move him here with you.

  Doctor Copeland : Gosh, yes.

  Portia : I'll cook and do the cleanin' and such. But all the time you'll know I'm hatin' you!

  [he looks up at her] 

  Portia : I got a feelin' I'm a mighty good hater. And if I ain't, I can learn to be.

• Doctor Copeland : Strange how life works itself out. Here I am... A man who has hated all whites for as long as I can remember. Now, in the - last year of my life a secret, shared only by us links me closer to you than to anyone else. A superb joke. If you have a sense of humor.

  [singer shakes his head in disbelief] 

• Portia : [Spoken to Willie in the barber shop in an attempt to embarrass her father]  Father would do anything for you now... now when it's too late!

  Willie : Portia, that ain't no way to talk to the Doc. We got to live together now.

  Portia : [Sarcastically]  Oh, yes, just a big happy family!

  Doctor Copeland : [to Portia, humiliated and wanting to leave]  You drive Willie home.

  Portia : [Bitterly]  Well, what's the matter, Father? Am I embarrassing you in front of your friend? Oh, you don't have to feel he's so much better than you - after all, you're pretty white yourself!

• Doctor Copeland : I raised you to be somethin' better.

  Portia : Well I wasn't - better! I was different... All those years after Mama died, all that time I was growin' up, what was I? I don't know. I only know I *wasn't* white. And you wouldn't *let* me be black.

• Doctor Copeland : [singer accosts him]  What do you want? That is a white man, I only treat my own.