I played a lot of ball and got hurt, stitches and this and that. That, sometimes they said, built character. I don't think it built anything.

I was never ambitious. I just wanted to have quiet, calm, listen to public radio and say, hello, how are you? Sit down, rest. But I had an early partner named Fred Freeman, a wonderful writer who I met at Northwestern. And I thought we were doing very well with "Jack Paar," and he said, no, we got to go to Hollywood. We got to write sitcom. It's the coming thing.

I dont sit well. I like to move around as I talk.

You go to a theater now and you literally see parents watching the movie and they suddenly cover their kid's ears. I figured I'd make one movie where they didn't have to do this.

I really wasn't too interested in writing "Father Knows Best" and "Ozzie And Harriet." I thought they were pleasant enough, but it wasn't really what I wanted to do.

It's always helpful to learn from your mistakes because then your mistakes seem worthwhile.

Editing is the only process. The shooting is the pleasant work. The editing makes the movie, so I spend all my life in editing