Quotes

My first agent told me to change my name or I'd only play Jewish parts or Indians. Of course I refused to change it. Shortly thereafter she came up to me and told me I had to keep it, because her numerologist said it was very, very good.

Gene Roddenberry called me in for Star Trek (1966) and asked me what part I wanted. I told him Spock, but he said he already had Leonard Nimoy for that. I thought, "Well, back to the unemployment line," but then he offered me the part of Dr. McCoy. I was tempted, but I turned it down. There's an old saying among actors: "Never be the third man through the door," and I felt I would always be the third man in that role.

[on his acting in the original Star Trek (1966) pilot] What most people don't know is that I not only played Commodore Mendez in "The Menagerie", but I also did the voices of the Talosian women. And I did them without special effects.

I was playing the villain False-Face on Batman (1966), and I got wind that they were going to pay a young starlet $25,000 to be in the same episode. Well, I wasn't getting anywhere near that amount of money, so I refused to let them put my name in the credits. With all the make-up I had on nobody could tell who I was, and since the show had a reputation of attracting big-name actors, everyone wanted to know who played False-Face. It was a two-part episode, so after the first week the papers were a buzz. Eventually, I cooled down and let them put my name at the end of the second episode. It was the best press I ever got in my life.

[on being fired from It Takes a Thief (1968)] They had this idea of shooting the whole season in Italy, but they wanted me to stay behind and give [Robert] Wagner's character, Alexander Mundy, orders over the phone. I told them if I didn't go I'd quit, and I did. The show didn't last another half a season.