Quotes

When The Dukes of Hazzard (1979) was at its peak, Tom Wopat and I knew how The Beatles must have felt in Help! (1965), having an army of love-crazed girls chase you. The trick is slowing down just enough for those young ladies to catch you.

[on Kevin Costner's portrayal of Jonathan Kent in Man of Steel (2013)] I don't think the one in 'Man of Steel' was a great father. He had some flaws that don't belong in a comic book. I really had wished that had been me."

[When James Best told him to play whatever role Schneider wanted]: Jimmie told me to play it as if I was Burt Reynolds, in 1982. So, one of the 1st things I did at the bar, over there, yesterday, to make that happen for Jimmie was ... I looked at somebody and aww ...

[Of James Best]: He was amazing in everything he did; he was not just a funny guy. In fact, I think the comedic timing kind of came to him later on in life because before that he was a very serious actor. I was very fortunate to have grown up working with people like Jimmie Best and Denver Pyle and Sorrell Booke. Incredibly talented men, incredibly talented actors.

[on his on- and off-screen chemistry with James Best, who played Sheriff P. Coltrane]: I was kind of right. there were three movie stars in there. A driver opened the door and out stepped James Best and Sorrel Booke. I knew them all from their movies and television. Jimmy especially because he'd just starred with Burt Reynolds in Hooper (1978). This was huge! We said a quick hello and then posed for another photo that's been under my pen for over three decades.

[Where at the end of one of his songs, he paid tribute to James Best, who influenced him, in his early career]: I learned a tremendous amount from him. The world would not have had Quentin Tarantino were it not for Jimmy Best. He was a longtime member of Jimmy's acting class. He was an amazing guy and inspired many people. When people think he was only Rosco, he was - absolutely, but there was a very serious side to Jimmy Best - a very calculated side, and so much talent there that I don't think was hardly touched at all. When you look at what he and Sorrell Booke did as the team of Boss Hogg and Roscoe, I would put them beside Harvey Korman and Tim Conway or Abbott and Costello. Their physical comedy was brilliant, and their timing was unmatched by anybody. We miss them both deeply.

[on his frustration with the entertainment industry for not preserving country music exclusively for conservatives] Leftists are trying to take over everything. Beyoncé doing a country song is like a dog peeing on our tree. They've got to make their mark, like a dog at a dog walk park, you know every dog has to mark every tree, so that's what's going on here