I think first impressions are important when you pick up a script.

People are always telling me to shut up about Chicago.

The most credible police shows I've ever seen were 'Barney Miller' on TV and 'The French Connection' movie. They showed the tedious side of police work.

This face is nothing to brag about. I don't know what it is that these people see in my face.

Car chases usually don't involve major criminals - they're usually guys afraid of getting another traffic ticket.

This generation of filmmakers is very good. They're seasoned, for some reason.

What you do as a policeman might be the right thing to do, but it's not entertaining. I left that behind me.

My mother and sisters cooked Italian food, and I never heard of half of the dishes you see in these Italian restaurants. I just go in and order spaghetti.

There's a whole catalogue of actors that never went to acting school.

Sometimes you can take those dramatic roles and maybe interject a little humor into them, and I think the reverse also works.

I don't know if I have a technique. I'm just trying to remember the words.

Acting is a work in progress for me. I just try to keep my mouth shut and my eyes and ears open, especially with the people I've worked with.

As far as carrying the American banner, you just do what's right for the kids.

Do whatever you're directed to do, and leave the rest of that technical stuff up to the director.

I don't like to be talked into anything. I don't want to be cajoled.

I have a home in Arizona. I go a couple months a year, but basically Chicago is my home.

I know people who go back and check themselves, but it drives me crazy. Everybody wants to look in the mirror and see Cary Grant looking back at them, but that's just not the case.

I learned a long time ago: You're in the entertainment business. You're not in the reality business. One has absolutely nothing to do with the other.

I love England and the historical aspect of it.

I read the script and try not to bring anything personal into it. I make notes, talk to the director and we decide what kinds of shades should be in the character.

I think all actors are supposed to be character actors.

I wanted to do Buddy Faro as a small budget movie. They said no. So I wanted to do it as a series of recurring TV movies, and they said no. So I agreed to do it as a series.

I'd love to do a Western. A real Western like John Ford used to do. There's not too many of them made, so I don't know if I'll ever get to do that. They're awfully hard movies to make.

I've tried writing. Two days later I'd go visit it and say, Jesus Christ, who wrote this crap?

The British have slang words, as we do, but it was fun.

The cast was huge, but I never saw anybody.

This is my first experience working in a foreign movie, but the mechanics, I think, are pretty much the same all over; you still have to wait in the trailer.

Usually you're in movies with a lot of dissolves and things, but this was kind of quick, more jarring than usual. I thought it would be fun to be in a movie that's unconventional. Then I met Guy and I liked him. I think he's a good man.

Vince or Brad or Benicio would say, Maybe we should try this, and Guy was open to changes.

When I was a kid going to the movies, we'd go because Bogart was in the movie, or Cagney, or John Wayne. We didn't know what the story was about or anything.

When they released Sidewalks of New York, there were some shots with the towers they were going to take out, and Ed told them no. I don't think they can deny the towers were a part of New York.

You can change a person's life in an instant; put him in a movie, and you start thinking differently, you want to be in another movie. It's like an addiction almost.

You can't act for the editing. You just go in and do the scene the way you think is right.

Rooting for the Cubs is not easy, but the best things in life never are.

I was a policeman for 18 years.

I didn't fall for a lot of that stardom stuff.

I would love, one day before this is all over, to do a Western. That, and to play a priest.

I wasn't so sure about signing up for 'Law & Order.' I liked the show, but another TV series? I'll tell you, though, it's been great, and I had no idea how popular the show was.

Chicago's always a friendly place to me.

Change never bothers me, not really.

I don't need to see the old school to remember it and the teachers there. They changed the way that I've always looked at life and learning.

I never jumped into anything, and I never liked being cajoled into anything. I've pretty much always done things because I wanted to do them.

I'm just a character actor.

Sometimes I do pinch myself about the life I've had.

I think there is something very nice about going to work to try to make people laugh.

I'm set in my own ways. I like to do the things I want to do when I want to do them.

My friends are still the guys I met 40 or 50 years ago.

I loved 'Buddy Faro.' I loved the whole idea.

I try to bring my own style to a role, but I can't change how people think of me.

My best year was probably 1948, and after that, it's been downhill for me.