I literally was saved by a role, from becoming a cab driver. I never did have to wait tables, though, so looking back I guess I had it pretty soft.
There is no problem that is not improved by effort, and no effort that is too paltry to be worth undertaking.
If I have to be typecast, I’d like it to be as Abraham Lincoln.
The bad guys don’t always get punished and the good guys are not necessarily pure.
Shakespeare is the one who gets re-interpreted most frequently.
If there’s any business that instructs you in the strong hand of fate, it’s show business. You can plan and plan, but it’s what happens to you that really determines what your career will be like.
I’ve always done what I thought was good if I could live on what they were offering-and sometimes if I couldn’t. So even when I was broke, my career didn’t lack for interest.
Obviously the first roles that you’re proud of are the ones that everybody else liked too.
I think the bait for doing something really is always the part.
I’ve been able to do things that allow me to hold my head up and still be popular.
I got a note from my father, who said that Success is wonderful, if you don’t inhale. That was his own aphorism, and I think it’s the very best thing he could have said to me or anyone else on the subject.
I enjoy listening to opera at home, occasionally, but I would much rather see it than just listen to it.
I don’t think playing a villain is my greatest talent.
I came to New York in 1962 and it began to look like I might he able to make a living in 1972.
Good directors say, Here’s where the play is. They stand by the heart of the matter. Some of them stand beside it.
As for lawyers, it’s more fun to play one than to be one.
If you’re going to be born ugly and be an actor – the least they can do is let you play Lincoln.
I’m sort of obsessed with the news. That is a syndrome. But I don’t watch a whole lot of TV.