As for honours, I've had a few along the way, and to be honest, I never expected any of them. I made a good living for decades, and that was enough; that, and maybe a good residual cheque from time to time.

If I couldn't be an actor, I would only consider being an astronaut, a sea otter, or a gynecologist.

In those days, I auditioned for everything MGM made while I was under contract. Not for the roles Elizabeth Taylor eventually got, of course.

To be honest, I never, ever thought I'd ever do comedy. I was so frequently cast early on as a high-born young man with... 'problems' and, later, as a heavy, from black-hatted western villains to the corporate raider to bad cops.

I wore that same shirt yesterday playing golf. There goes the Nike account.

I don't have a hard and fast rule about dignity. I'm concerned about being treated with respect, but if I make my own choices and kind of let 'er rip, I will.

It was a boy's name first.

I've produced, but as for directing, that's a dream that'll have to go unfulfilled.

The violence or the vaudeville style of comedy is a technique all by itself. You get up there, and you are a comedian, and you’re doing one thing. That is, you’re going to make the audience laugh.

Yes, it’s true, I’ve been called the Laurence Olivier of spoofs. I guess that would make Laurence Olivier the Leslie Nielsen of Shakespeare.