Quotes

I did Batman (1966) for two reasons, one of which was the salary. The other was that, after the first few episodes, "Batman" became the in-thing to do. Everybody . . . would either play a villain or appear as himself in that cameo showcase where a celebrity would poke his head through the window of a building that Batman and Robin were climbing. Actually, we didn't get as much money from the show as you might think, although we were paid decent money for the feature film version. The main impetus to continue appearing on "Batman"--beyond the desire to get some TV work--was that it was fashionable.

I was born a character actor. I was never really a leading man type.

Like the seasons of the year, life changes frequently and drastically. You enjoy it or endure it as it comes and goes, as it ebbs and flows.

I'll just take amusement at being a paradox.

[on his childhood] All my life, to this day, the memory of my childhood remains grim and incoherent. If I close my eyes and think back, I see little except violence and fear. In those early years, I somehow came to understand I would have to draw from within myself whatever emotional resources I needed to go wherever I was headed. As a result, for years, I became a boy who lived almost totally within himself.

Franchot Tone is nuttier than a fruitcake, so don't let the genteel frosting fool you.

[on Otto Preminger] I haven't done anything of importance with Preminger--I just go in with him because he's a friend of mine, and he astonishes me, always. I play cameo roles, which is always a mistake. He's an amazing man--a kind of Jekyll and Hyde. In his life, he's one of the most charming, articulate and kind, loving of men, and on the set he gets foam-flecked, you know? He doesn't bother me, he won't yell at --we'll say Fonda [Henry Fonda] or Wayne [John Wayne-- but then I was never in his films for very long.

[interviewed in 1978]: You remember when Muhammad Ali fought his last fight to get his title back? He got beaten the first time, this time he murdered him. He said, "This time, I attended to business." And since the last four years, I've tried to attend to business in Hollywood, not so much the stage, not so much fooling around, but trying to get good pictures.