Quotes

[About the [Barney Miller (1975)] role]: Joseph Wambaugh was once asked what was the most realistic cop show on TV, and he said it was Barney Miller. And this is a guy who had been a cop. Over the years I've talked to many policemen who've told me the same thing. I always ask them, 'How many times on the job have you had to pull your gun.' Nine times out of 10, the answer is, 'Never.' The job is more about paperwork. It's a grind.

I've noticed that on some of the commercial "voice overs" I've done, often times the background music is so loud, you can hardly hear the voice! The audio technicians seem to really be mixing the background too loud.

[About [Barney Miller (1975)]'s diverse cast not being groundbreaking at the time]: What it was was an incredibly well-written show. There were gang comedies all around when we started. The ones that were well-written lasted.

[When he started out as the star on Broadway]: It took me years to learn a technique.

I'm an actor, and I do my research.

[Who interpreted [Barney Miller (1975)] as a cult show, whilst playing in reruns, esp. in heavy syndication]: The guest actors were the stars, because the stories were about them. They weren't just passing through and fixing a television set. They were the stars, and they had the opportunity to really create characters with a beginning, a middle and an end. In a sense, it's the same thing with Jack. This series is not so much about Jack as about other people that we see through Jack's eyes.

I have a terrific relationship with all my grandchildren. Some are outgoing and loving, some are serious and respectful. I have eight different relationships with each different grandchild.

[on the popularity of [Barney Miller (1975)]]: Being in Barney Miller has done wonders for me and for my career. There are so many things I want to do, and I hope this will make them possible. There is so much acting that I haven't done because I couldn't get jobs. I haven't done feature films or classic theater. I've only done one major Broadway musical...

Judy Holliday was the most sharing actress I've ever worked with. I took her in my arms and I started singing, 'Just in time, I found you just in time.' All of a sudden, I felt her hand on my back, twisting me. I realized she was twisting me so I was facing the audience and not singing into the wings. How do you not fall in love? Her back was to the audience!

[About doing another Jewish play]: The Holocaust was a defining event of the century. I was a teenager when the [newsreel] footage started to come out at the end of the war about the concentration camps. It was horrifying. The script got me interested because it's very much of the moment again. I was just reading in this morning's paper about the IBM company's actions with Germany during World War II. So the issues are still with us.

[on the death of [Ron Glass]]: I knew Harris was a good detective, but suffered him gladly. Harris had an enormous ego, if you remember correctly. He was writing the great American novel, 'Blood on the Badge.'

[Who played characters where his real-life family inherited]: I drew on many experiences in my life to play the many memorable Jewish and non-Jewish characters that are magical moments in my life.

[Of his early performance]: I started as a kid musician. I was 13 when I started playing at local dances for $2.00 a night. I date my professional career from the time I joined the musicians' union at the age of 15. That was about 30 years ago!

[on touring in the 1950s]: I thought my career would always be performing with big bands. But the big band era didn't last forever; so, when it came to an end, I needed to find something else to do.

[About his role in [Stevie D (2016)]]: First of all, when you're playing an agent, already you're playing the enemy. [Laughs.] But he was a guy who spent his life trying to help people and doing the best he could, and the world just changed around him. When you're still making phone calls and everybody else is texting, you're in trouble... and that's unfortunately my life! Well, not actually my life. I text, I email. But there are still things I don't know how to do.

They've all got internet, watching everything we do here in New York.