The movies that I did in the '80s were either good or bad, but I never was oppressed with any feeling - I mean, I thought it was ridiculous to play high school or college students when I was 30. But at the same time, that was really done then. Show less «

There's something about the way of playing a repellent character, that if you can play him with a certain amount of charm, you can get away with a lot. Show less «

As an actor I'm part of a long line of character people you can take back to the silent movies. There's always the little guy who's the sidekick to the tall, good-looking guy who gets the girl. Show less «

I try to work and enjoy life, and that's about all.

Without a plan, there's no attack. Without attack, no victory.

You can do gross-out until the cows come home but if there isn't something to balance it, then it's not going to work at all. Show less «

In 1984, nobody knew what cable was going to be. It was there, but you didn't know where it was going. Show less «

I like people who try to do big things.

For an actor to have a role that they're recognized and remembered for over the years, it's unusual. It's very lucky if it happens once - and it's luck that it's happened to me a couple of times. Show less «

My vision had always been that I was gonna be a stage actor and that was it.

I'm a character actor but unlike a lot of character actors, I don't look radically different from film to film and there was a bunch of them at once. Show less «

I tend to not really care for remakes in general. Mainly they are horrible.

It was very natural that people just think of me as a comic actor.

To be honest, I haven't seen a lot of the current crop of teen movies because there's only so much time and there's nothing that really drives me to do it. Show less «

[on Risky Business (1983)] It was a very, very strange because I had trained to be a stage actor, and that was my goal. My goal was not to make movies or do television. That wasn't on my agenda at all. The fact that I was doing an off-Broadway play in New York and got some attention, and people started sending me out for film auditions. That's just one of those things that happened. I assumed, especially since the ones I'd gone in on, I hadn't gotten, that this was just part of my job. I have to go in and read for these people, but there was no thought of - and so when I got this part - in the first place, of course, Tom [Cruise] was all of 18, I think, at the time. I had no idea who he was. He'd done a few movies, but nothing I'd seen, and so to me, he was just another really ambitious, young actor who worked very hard, and no reason to think necessarily until I saw the film that he had necessarily a huge career ahead of him until I saw the film and went, oh, okay. I get that now. It was a very good experience, but I was conscious at all times that this was probably the only time that I would do a movie, so I kept a journal for the whole time I was on the movie-copious journal, making notes every day, not just about the movie but about what was going on outside the movie and all that and the different characters, the people I was working with, and so on. I remember thinking vividly because I knew this was the only time anyone would ever hire me to do a movie, so I wanted to remember the experience. Show less «

Sometimes, a person has to be dead a while before people can appreciate what they did when they were alive. Show less «

I'm at least getting my foot in the door as far as doing straight dramatic parts, which no one would have ever considered me for in the '80s. I never objected to that because I love doing comedy, and I'm not the kind of actor that insists that unless you're doing a serious dramatic role, you're not acting. Show less «

I was going to middle school in Berkley, and I did not fit in at all. Like a lot of kids, I found theater to be a good place for me. Show less «

I'm not an improv guy. I'm not a nerd, I play one on television.