They say making laws is like making sausages. You shouldn't watch. It's the same for acting, especially for the actor who works unconsciously.

I am not a method actor, though I studied for a year with Lee Strasburg.

I'm not sought after. I never get enough work. It's the history of my career. There just isn't anything to turn down, let me put it that way.

I regard myself as a beautiful musical instrument, and my role is to contribute that instrument to scripts worthy of it.

It's like an athlete. He has a string of hot years, and then he fades into nothingness. The actor doesn't necessarily fade into nothingness. After his hot years, he fades into a different category.

[on making the transition from the comedy "Mary Tyler Moore" (1970) to its dramatic spin-off series "Lou Grant" (1977)] We were really worried about changing over from a three-camera, half-hour comedy to a one-camera, full-hour drama. The audience wasn't ready for the switch - even CBS billed us in their promos as a comedy. In fact, the whole thing was impossible. But we didn't know that.

Raising kids is part joy and part guerrilla warfare.