[in a 1974 interview] My motive is quite simple. I want to be able to continue to earn a
decent living and earn the respect of the people I work with. I'm a
positive thinker. I don't panic, I don't scare. I've seen lots of
brilliant actors go under because they panicked, got scared and ran.
I'm hard to scare. I'm pleased with myself as an actor and as a human
being. If you work hard, you get things and you don't have to thank
everyone, although I feel I owe much to
Joseph Cotten and his late wife
Lenore,
Orson Welles,
Katharine Hepburn,
Alfred Lunt,
Lynn Fontanne and to
Preston Sturges, the very
inventive director who died several years ago. If you want to last in
this business, you have to give a lot. You can't just take. And you
have to have an agent who really cares, and who works for you, like I
have.