At the time I was growing up in the business I was very well established within the industry as a child actor and as I grew up and turned into a teenager there was less and less work.

I lost agents and managers because I turned down big movies that were smutty.

Once you sell yourself, it's over. You've got nothing left.

I've played killers, crazies, and really bad people.

The only time in my career prior to that I played an evil character was in 'The Twilight Zone'.

Hollywood people want to build you up and make you famous only to knock you off you're the pedestal they built for you.

I feel bad about a lot of the movies I see that teach kids that if they do bad, they'll win.

I was looked at as weird, odd, not fitting in with the Hollywood crowd.

You put yourself on the line as a performer, and when people reject you, it's a personal rejection.

My mother had been a country and western singer but when she moved out to Hollywood found it very difficult to get work so when I was born they put me into dance classes and singing classes as soon as I could walk actually.

The highest grossing films have great, moral messages - not dirty, base themes, so we're trying to get producers to make more of the uplifting movies.

I played a real nasty little girl but most of the roles I had up until then were very sweet and very nice.

People are hungry for messages of hope and life.

You've got to hang on to who you are, what you are. Don't let anyone take it from you.

I thought I would keep the first name Susan and change the last name but I picked up this book and as I opened it the lead character in it was called Morgan Brittany.

I had no real education because I was in and out of schools so I decided that I would completely change my look, change my image, change my name and move to New York.

Drugs won't enhance your performance.

Hollywood has an obligation to watch what they put out there. Kids do imitate what they see - good or bad.

Everything is a rejection of you, not your product, or your script, or a cosmetic. It's you.

I can meet any producer in Hollywood and look them in the eye, knowing I didn't sleep with them, or do drugs with them.

You have to work in this business on your own terms. Don't sell out for money, fame, or notoriety.

Well, our children do know what this industry is about, but they have a good grip on who they are.

Most child actors go through that. Unless you can transition into an adult star, your career is over.

At the time I was growing up in the business I was very well established within the industry as a child actor and as I grew up and turned into a teenager there was less and less work.

My favorite actor is Wallace Beery.

I've been a very lucky actor.

I don't think I could be happy as an actor if there was a tyrant on the set.

When I was starting to get noticed as an actor in the 1970s for something other than the third cowboy on the right who ended up dying in every movie or episode, Burt Reynolds was the biggest star in the world.

Most parts that can be played by one actor can equally well be played by another, but not this.

I think, frankly, that I'm a better director than I was an actor.

I knew an actor's career goes up and down and back up again. Your standing in this business can't be your whole identity; otherwise, you're doomed.

I don't think any actor feels comfortable watching themselves in movies. You must be very narcissistic. The problem with your own opinion of yourself is that contrary to the normal spectators, when you watch a film you are in, you only watch yourself.

I don't think there has been any increase in sophistication in the audience. When people are aware of a concept that's easy to understand, and there's an actor who will attract them to the theater and it's a movie that's funny three-quarters of the time, it will be successful.

I never dreamed about being an actor, because that was out of reach. Coming from a small town that was big in farming, and also big in clothing factories, you don't dream about being a professional football player or an actor.

My goal was always to be recognized as a good actor but no one was interested in that, simply because society just wants to warm towards your appearance. This is the great blemish of society.

If you really do want to be an actor who can satisfy himself and his audience, you need to be vulnerable.

To be honest with you, when I got into this I never thought about reviews. I never thought about what people would say about me. I was just a young guy who was excited to become a comedian and an actor and I just wanted to get to do what I got to do.

It was very natural for me to want to disappear into dark theater, I am really very shy. That is something that people never seem to fully grasp because, when you are an actor, you are meant to be an exhibitionist.

I think that I've still not been successful at playing the role of the retired actor, and I'd like to work on that.

And once you cease to be a real person, you stop being a good actor.

When I decided I wanted to be an actor, I said I wanted to work with quality actors and directors.

There are roles I want that my agency might not want me to do because of the subject matter or whatever. Or there are roles that people won't bring to me because they don't think I'll do it. And that is a big strain because an actor wants to act.

Reality is, I'm an actor and an entertainer, and I really wouldn't know what to do with another profession.

I still feel like I'm trying to make it. It's hard to shed the struggling actor thing.

Only a great actor finds the difficulties of the actor's art infinite.

Follow the wisdom of the great actor, James Cagney, you hit your mark, you look the other guy in the eye, and you tell the truth.

I was always a character actor. I just looked like Little Red Riding Hood.

In other words, I wouldn't like to be an actor if I could only be real. I like to get wild, behaviorally wild, and it's crazy to think of any form where it's just one way.

An actor entering through the door, you've got nothing. But if he enters through the window, you've got a situation.