I was a hangover of that era where they’d say “Take off that medal! Is that a St. Christopher medal? You’re going to lose your audience with that.”

I remember a meeting I had at MGM. It was at the end of their reign. They say we have you under contract, and because you’re under contract, we’d like to you to work. I said, well, that seems fair. But if it’s a really good movie, they were going to give it to a particular actor that was not under contract. The bottom line was they were going to pay you more if it was a bad one and pay you less if it was a good one.

Cary Grant was on the back lot one time doing a movie called "North by Northwest." I would see Cary outside the stage, and he would sit on a set chair and had one of those reflectors. He wanted this tan so he didn't have to use makeup.

John Milius and Francis Ford Coppola and Oliver Stone - those guys are consummate filmmakers. They believe that you don't talk it, you show it. So when I find a role now, I try to find a visual way to tell what the character is about rather than trying to speak about it.

When you hear Treat's [ Williams] doing a movie, or you'd like to work with Treat again, you hope the script is good. And then you find out the script is good. You go and you do it for the fun of it. And you feel like you can be proud of something.

It's my personal opinion and I'm not espousing it to anybody else, I think your immune system and how healthy you are determines how you react to any excess of any kind.

I always adored Cary Grant. I was fascinated by him. But I could never get too close to him.