The only thing that I have done that is not mitigated by luck, diminished by good fortune, is that I persisted, and other people gave up.

It took me a long time to figure out how to act, and how to conduct myself in the business so I could get what I felt I needed to support my potential and give them what they wanted.

I think people only have so much interest in anybody, and if you barrage them in between the times you have something to offer them you become a personality rather than an actor - much more short-lived. I only work once a year. And that's enough.

I was never that much a focus of interest in my career. I'm aware of that now, which doesn't give me a lot of pleasure.

Am I grumpy? I might be. But I think maybe sometimes it's misinterpreted.

I have the ordinary experience of being anonymous when I'm in an airplane talking to air-traffic control, and they don't know who they're talking to. I have a lot of common experiences.

It doesn't matter to me whether I go back to outer space or not [while acting]. The job's the same and I don't have any sort of genre preferences. I'm looking for a good story and a good character, whether earthbound or not.