And I had a lot to play, which is what you want as an actor.

The decision as to why a show makes it has to do with politics and money.

In January '77 I went out to LA and have been here 26 years.

On daytime they continue to revisit a lot of the same stuff while nighttime does move on and show development.

My wife is Danish and we go to Denmark a couple of times a year.

The thing with being on a series that runs that long is that the writers run out of things to do.

If I could work with Joan Van Ark every day for the rest of my life I would.

But no, I'm still living in LA and haven't dropped off the face of the earth.

Thirty years ago dinner theatre used to be much more of a going concern than it is now.

Television is so dictated by time constraints that you have to make quick decisions and go with them.

It was unpredictable, good storytelling that brought you back each week.

I can't really recall the first time I was noticed by a producer but the first time I was on television was doing Daytime for Another World, which I started in December '75 and went until December '76.

Theater to me is acting but it's more real on film.

What happens if you're the guy who's been on the show ten years and is highly paid but they have nothing for you to do is that they bring in other people, and you become a supporting character to those people.

Knots Landing is the best thing that ever happened to me.

Everything I have in life comes from Knots Landing.

I have German Shepherds that I train and have brought back to Germany. I love going there.

I went to the Westminster College for Men in Missouri, which is what it was called back then, and transferred to the University of Denver where I ultimately got my degree.

And I had a lot to play, which is what you want as an actor.

One of the things I was so glad that happened to me on Knots was that I learned to relax.

I have no interest in writing, directing or producing.

I act for the reality, for the moment, and most of all I do it for the process.

I really wasn't on the Dallas set much. I did three or four episodes so I didn't see too much.

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.

Oh, well, in Los Angeles everybody is an actor, or a producer, or a writer, or a director, or an agent, or... So everybody understands the hours.