- Everyone fantasizes. We all want to be something we're not.
- I have learned that there is no way to succeed in anything unless you are willing to try--and trying means you run the risk of failure.
- [on receiving the script for The Incredible Hulk (1978) pilot] I didn't even like the title. I wanted to make fun of it because of its name. I told my agent, "You've got to be kidding!" when he suggested I might be interested in it. He said, "Read it!" and so I took it home and thanks to his intelligence, I did read it. Right away I knew this could be done in the style of the monster pictures or the creature films of the 1940s. But one advantage we enjoy over the previous monster pictures is that the Hulk is not evil.
- I'm a loner as a person, but then I always was, even as a child.
- [on the cancellation of The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1969)]: I cannot tell you how disappointed I was. I wanted that series to go on to the point when it came to the teenage stage and we could deal with these problems in an honest contemporary way. But our time slot was changed so often we weren't given a fighting chance. You can't expect people to find you at home when you change your address so often.
- [on returning to work after the death of his son Christopher]: Work really was a catalyst by which I was able to maintain a sense of balance, and coming back...I don't know that you come back. You go on, you endure.
- [When he decided to become an actor]: I have to go off by myself to keep a balance. I can't always be, 'Bill the actor'. I must stop and gain perspective so as not to confuse my role and my person.
- [on gaining popularity before sinking]: First you feel defenseless...totally defenseless...To read descriptions by 'parties close to...' -- that wonderful First Amendment right that gives them the privilege to damage everybody's else's life -- and to make any kind of assumptions they choose to make for the sake of selling their papers. One of the reporters I spoke to once, said, 'What else can I do? They pay us so much money.' Well, whatever happened in this country to our own morality? I wonder now. I wonder as I watch the news. It isn't just the tabloids. The tabloids are a great part of it - it's a personal, terrible, hurtful thing to do to anybody. But I worry about the conscience of our own country as I look around and see it, and how life is becoming more and more meaningless.
- [About living his own life]: I'm willing to make mistakes and I'm also willing to face them myself. I prefer that than having to answer for someone else. I've made a lot myself, but hopefully I won't repeat them. If you go through life and you haven't made any, it simply means you haven't taken any chances, and your obligation to life is to live it and to go forward because life in a sense is a series of successes and failures.
- [In 1969]: Comedy fathers usually turn out to be dummies, while mothers are portrayed as being great...And why are fathers always older men on television? Many of my friends are young fathers with young children. I want to play the contemporary father.
- [In 1993]: My prayer was that I would die in my sleep, you're going to have to take my life from me.
- [In 1970]: The amazing thing is that when we're working in a scene together there's never a thought of conscious acting. Our natural affection for one another-the reality of it-is what appeals to the audience.
- [In 1980]: In show business, you have to realize that everyone, in fact, is a freak-and that's something they don't tell you about when you go to acting school. People treat you differently because you happen to be a 'celebrity.'
- I don't understand how people can be so ungracious and so unkind even in the face of death-they don't care. There is no respect for life. And I resent that and I resent the people who do it and make a living off of it and I think they should examine their own character.
- [on directing]: It's not in the hands of anyone else. When I'm directing I'm the only one who knows what the end result will be and I enjoy taking responsibility.
- [As to how the father should always bond with the son]: One father told me his 8 year old son and he didn't hit it off. Then along came our show. Every Wednesday night they go into the den, lock the door and watch the show together. Afterward they sit and talk about it, communicating like they never did before.
- [on playing Tom Corbett]: You know, I've never played myself before, I've always portrayed some part. The thought scared hell out of me at first, but after three weeks of looking at the 'daily rushes' [samples of the day's shooting] I decided I like that man.
- [In 1978]: I've stayed in this business because I believe the power of entertainment is in television. And that's why directing will be a big part of my future I fell that TV has been so good to me that I can best pay my dues to society this way.
- [About Steambath]: I didn't do 'Steambath' to shape up my image as 'Eddie's Father,' but to remind people I'm an actor. It was a mature work responsibly approached and it attracted your not-so-average man on the street and said, 'Congratulations. I'd like to see more 'Steambaths' on television.' That's more than I'm used to. Usually, it's, 'Hey, you, sign this.'
- Looking back. I think I learned more doing the industrial film work than I could have doing bit parts in Hollywood. In addition, while in Detroit, I made my stage debut in a Detroit Civic Theatre production.
- [In 1979]: There is such a condescending thing about TV, as if we should get rid of it. The classics exist because of their universality and appeal overtime. Our approach too often implies that if a story is a classic piece of literature, it must be dull and boring. If TV can add showbusiness to the classics, more children will read them. Why shouldn't the 'Leatherstocking Tales' be stories about cowboys and Indians?
- [Who talked about the many viewers who watched him on television despite their parents who in turn are still raging that their children are ruined]: We're not really very good in this country about being flexible. What difference does it make how kids are introduced to good stories?
- [on comparing himself to Michael Landon's battle against cancer, at the same time] The day I was told I had cancer, Michael was in an office next door. When the big 'C' word hits you, it's very difficult to handle. It's terrible to be told. It was hard enough to hear about myself. But when I heard about Michael, I just sat down and cried.
- [considered his final words, publicly] Be good to yourselves, cos if you''re good to yourself, you're gonna be kind to everybody else, and I'd sure like to see that before I die.
- [1975] 'Martian' did everything, I'm sitting here discussing several projects because of this. Until then, I had no focus as an actor.
- When I first saw the name of the series I was auditioning for --'My Favorite Martian'-?? But when I began reading the script, it began to make sense --the lines were adult, the comedy wasn't slapstick, and there was a certain warmth about the Martian and reporter relationship. That may sound corny but it really is a warm relationship.
- [in 1978] The Hulk is today's fantasy. There's a bit of the Hulk in everybody. That's why the show's become popular so quickly.
- When I first did 'My Favorite Martian' there was no question that it was different, and we started a siege of shows, 'I Dream of Jeannie' and 'Bewitched' and on and on. Everyone got into the fantasy thing. But to do it at the time when we did was really very courageous.
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