- [televised interview broadcast the day before Laguna Heat (1987) was shown on N.Y. cable TV] I was planning to go into Architecture. But when I arrived [to sign up for courses], "Architecture" was filled up. "Acting" was right next to it. So I signed up for Acting instead.
- [interview in American Western Magazine, 1/01] Why westerns get segregated into a genre in Hollywood, I don't know . . . It's just good entertainment.
- [interview with Taylor Fogarty of American Western Magazine/ReadTheWest.com, 1/93] All I see is people out there who are hungry for more [movie westerns].
- I just really want people to see this movie and I hope they like it, because to me Monte Walsh (2003) probably reflects my sensibilities more than any other I've done in the Western genre. I'm really proud of it and I think it may be the best role I've ever had.
- I don't know if my political opinions ever lost me work, but I know for sure they never got me any.
- It's not that conservatives don't care. We do. We just have different answers than liberals do. It's a difference of the mind, not of the heart.
- [About Charlton Heston] If a guy as good and decent with as much grace as Chuck Heston can stand up for an issue that I think is very important ... then I certainly could stand up and I plan on remaining a life member for life.
- Popularity is the pocket change of history. The true measure is courage. There will never be another Charlton Heston.
- There was a time I could have been mistaken for Burt Reynolds. I had a mustache and so did he. But he was the number one star in the world, so there wasn't really much confusion.
- [explaining why he refused a cameo in the film adaptation Magnum P.I. of his TV series Magnum, P.I. (1980)] I tell you what worries me -- because I love "Magnum" and we have loyal fans -- is they take these TV show titles, and they buy them and they spend $100 million on special effects, and then they make fun of them and trivialize it. Then they try and get the actor who used to be in it to do some ridiculous cameo to prove to the audience that it's OK. And I will not do that.
- [About his parents]: I could go into analysis for 20 years and not blame them for anything.
- Unless you treat failure as part of the journey, you're never going to get anywhere.
- I was offered Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992), with Marlon Brando, who in my generation was the Man. I said I'd only do it if Brando was in it. But when I got on set, instead of seven scenes with Brando, there was only one and he didn't speak. I tried to quit, but I was warned I'd be sued. It was a horrible movie! Gene Siskel reviewed my hair. I realized that wanting to act with someone, even Brando, was a bad reason to take a role.
- [on his on- and off-screen chemistry with James Garner, who played Jim Rockford]: Everybody said, 'What a great that series that would make.' But I always said, 'It's only a great series if you have someone as talented as Jim Garner to perform the function of the audience.' Because Lance was a little unbelievable. He was out there. I loved it and I love Jim Garner to this day. He doesn't want to hear this, because he's a modest man, but he was one of my mentors, he and (Western legend) Ben Johnson in the acting business.
- [on how appearing on James Garner's show, led him to starring in his own]: I was a fan, and then I got to work with him on The Rockford Files (1974). He gave me the pivotal advice of my career... I said, 'I had an old contract at Universal, it's over, and they've assigned me this show called Magnum, and I hate it. This guy's got a Ferrari, and women on his arm, and I don't like it.' And [Garner] said, 'Well, I'm not gonna give you any advice, except this: You don't have any power. You've never done a show... if they want you, and they do, you'll never have any more power than you do right now. And that's all I'm gonna say.' Well, I called my agent, and we told Universal, 'I ain't doing that show.' And they said, 'Who in the hell do you think you are? You've never been on the air, and you'll never work again.' I said, 'Well, OK.' And then they brought in [producer] Don Bellisario, who put a whole new show [together], much more Rockford-esque, and it changed my life!
- [Of James Garner]: I worked with Garner at a really critical time. I had done the leads in several pilots, but nobody saw them because they didn't sell, and I did this thing on Rockford, and I watched Garner, because I'd been on a lot of shows where everybody was walking on eggshells and there were battles about who was coming out of their dressing room first-and you're the guest actor, and you've got one scene that may be the most valuable piece of film you've ever had, and maybe the actor doesn't even stay for his off-camera lines; you're doing them to a script person. So I just had a long time. 'Cause from the time in '67 when I signed at Fox, I did seven unsold pilots, and while they were the leads, nobody knew who I was because you didn't see them. So I was unemployed for a long time, and I had a long time to say, "Boy, if I ever get a chance..." and "I'm not going to do that." Because I was 35 when I got Magnum, which was a real blessing, because I think when I was 25, I looked 35 and sounded 15. You've got to grow into yourself. It was very frustrating at the time. But I had plenty of time to observe, and then, by the time I'm 34, to work with Garner-who I think people, if they could, still take star lessons from. He understood that leads in a show like a television series involved leadership, probably: When you're not feeling so good, put on a happy face, it's infectious-these things sound kind of corny and stupid, but this is our life. I get half my time in L.A., but when we're here [filming in New York City], we all like each other, and we don't have anybody stir the pot on Blue Bloods. I like to think I've set some of that example. I'm older than most of the actors. I play the patriarch, and it's a rare opportunity to show a positive example. I'm not-I don't believe in playing characters that aren't flawed. He's got issues, but at the same time, most dads on TV are idiots. Homer Simpson is an idiot.
- [About James Garner, among the many other detectives he loved]: I was a big fan of 'Rockford' just before 'Magnum.' I'm a big [James] Garner fan. I got to know Jim: I did two 'Rockfords' that heavily influenced me when they were trying to develop the Magnum character, so obviously 'Rockford.' David Janssen had a series a long time ago called 'Harry O' - I really liked that. I thought of, in a weird way, because of the long-term potential of 'Jesse,' 'Columbo.' I don't see Jesse and Columbo as very much alike and I'm not equating myself with Peter Falk's wonderful character. I just thought that it had that - that it could land in that ballpark for viewers. I think Garner's Rockford was, to me, my favorite. I liked 'Peter Gunn' years ago. And I'm aging myself, but Craig Stevens' Peter Gunn was pretty cool.
- [Who talked about James Garner, being a teacher/best friend]: It's kind of like my mentor, who never wanted to hear he was my mentor, James Garner, I don't accept the mentor role. That they feel that way is, I think flattering although it adds a certain amount of pressure.
- [Who said in 2010 about James Garner doing Jim Rockford, a second time]: They ought to cast Jim Garner. I'm a little prejudiced because he was really a formative influence on me, even a mentor in so many ways, even though he probably wouldn't admit to it if he was aware of it. Dermot Mulroney seems like a fine actor in the work I've seen him do, and this has nothing to do with him - but when you think of 'Rockford,' you don't remember 'that episode about the bank robbery,' you remember [Garner] making you laugh.
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