It wasn’t until I got older that I realized acting was something I could really do.
That’s the way to live – around people who care. It may be a tough ride, but something is going to come out of it.
It turned out that time doesn’t heal the wound, but in its so merciful way, blunts the edges ever so slightly.
I wanted to be a baseball player, naturally, but I wasn’t good enough. I didn’t know what I was going to do with my life. I just had a kind of energy, I was a fairly happy kid.
Without coffee something’s missing.
The literal, basic thing of the stage is really like a magnet. It brings me back to earth.
I hope the perception is that I’m an actor, I never intended to be a movie star.
You need some insecurity if you’re an actor. It keeps the pot boiling. I haven’t yet started to think about retiring. I was shocked when I heard about Paul Newman retiring at age 82. Most actors just fade away like old soldiers.
Either I act or I die.
Actors are always outsiders. It’s necessary to be able to interpret – and that gets distorted when you become famous.
You’ll never be alone if you’ve got a book.
All I am is what I’m going after.
I was playing a part of someone dealing dope on a street corner – and there was a guy actually dealing heroin right there. I looked at him, he looked at me, and I got real confused.
The hardest thing about being famous is that people are always nice to you. You’re in a conversation and everybody’s agreeing with what you’re saying – even if you say something totally crazy. You need people who can tell you what you don’t want to hear.
We start to realize that there are anodynes in life that help us through the day. I don’t care if it’s a walk in the park, a look out the window, a good bubble bath – whatever. Even a meal you like, or a friend you want to call. That helps us solve all this stuff in our head.
Did you know I started out as a stand-up comic? People don’t believe me when I tell them. That’s how I saw myself, in comedy.
I’m so shy now I wear sunglasses everywhere I go.
The problem with me is, I guess, the way I express myself, you have to be with me 50 years before you can get a sense of what I’m talking about.
There are many things my father taught me here in this room. He taught me: keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.
My first language was shy. It’s only by having been thrust into the limelight that I have learned to cope with my shyness.