Quotes

Early in my career, I figured out how to 'hit notes' - you know, to color them properly, to play the right chords. And I hit them pretty well, you know. But now I know precisely what to do with them. I can bring them down, down, down. And I can still be true to the rendition when I do it.

In acting, you're simply at the mercy of other people's perception of you. It can be a terrifying feeling. The rewards can be great, but there is no steady happiness in this business. There are peaks of joy and valleys of gloom. As you get older, you forget that it was an adventure at one time, that you were able to take the falls. You think 'I know I'm good. I've had it proven. Then why is it not working now?' You feel you can't take the falls. You say to yourself, 'Gee, I need this. This is all I can do in life.'

The truth is I got into this business because I skipped into this darkened theatre in Winnipeg when I was running away from a girlfriend. They were rehearsing, and while I was in there somebody offered me a small part in the play.

[on his infidelities during a long marriage to Charmion King] They were mistakes because I had not stopped growing. We do have a ledge in us, and anything below that is probably a root-cellar where you keep all the bad stuff, all the mistakes you've made. But what do you do? You can't fix it. You just have to leave it and it becomes part of your infrastructure. The only way to make it up to anybody was to become better at what I was doing.

[on his career in Hollywood] I had a dreadful time there really. I thought that I could use up to three lifetimes there just waiting in line for better material, for good opportunities. It was at the end of the golden era, and a lot of movie stars were moving over to television. The possibility of getting the best material was very tough. I felt very strongly I didn't want to hand my life over to these people, just strangers.