Quotes

I want everyone to get fit and stay health, the second half of your life starts at 50. Will you be prepared to have the best time of your life like I'm having?

[on the 1996 'Mission: Impossible' film]:I thought it was fabulous, but what it turned into was a sort of James Bond, one man Mission Impossible.

[on Peter Graves]: He's a terrific guy. He was always on time, always knew his lines, and easy to be around.

[on the problem of using Steven Hill in the first season of 'Mission: Impossible'] It was in his contract that he had to leave at four o'clock and everybody knew it. It just so happened that day it was in the middle of a shot, and it was just chaos. So they kept trying to shoot around him to honor his contract, but they finally decided that they just couldn't live with it. On Fridays, we used to shoot until twelve or one o'clock in the morning and catch up for the week and he couldn't be there. So by the end of the first year, he kind of wanted to leave, and they kind of wanted him to leave, so they let him out of his contract, so he was happy.

[on his 'Mission Impossible' character Willy Armitage] Willy was a secret agent, but what they needed from him were certain feats of strength that you couldn't get from anyone else. It took strength to do certain things, and it helped make the mission successful.

[on if he did his own stunts on 'Mission: Impossible']: I would try, and if I could do them, I did them. But after about the first year, I started getting to know the stunt men and I realized that I was taking jobs away from them. So I said, 'You guys do 'em, and I'll do the close ups'.

[on the original idea for the 1996 'Mission: Impossible' film] We go out on the mission and get in trouble and get caught. I remember telling the writers to make sure that I didn't get killed because I want to do the sequel.

[on why Martin Landau and Barbara Bain left 'Mission: Impossible' after the third season] It was money. They had promised Marty more money and they had a change of who was running the television department at Paramount, and they had a new regime that came in and they said, 'We can't afford to give you that kind of money, and we're not going to.' And it became sort of a moral thing with Marty. He said, 'You know, you made a promise, and that's it.' And they did the same thing with Barbara. It wasn't Marty and Barbara's fault. They weren't given what they were supposed to get, so they both left.