I didn’t become an actor until I was an old man of 28 or 29. I declared to the world that I was an actor. Nobody heard me, but I did declare it.

Download: The Dodos – “Don’t Stop” / Buy

The world’s gotten very noisy, have you noticed that? I have two moments of intense concentration in my life. One is when the waiter describes the specials, because it’s very hard to hear him, and what he’s describing is something I didn’t grow up with. The mixtures are so complex! And the room is so noisy! But the other time of fierce concentration is trying to capture the attitude and the form of a semi-nude woman, or even a totally nude woman. It is the second form of concentration that is so satisfying, trying to draw that.

Download: PJ Harvey – “Hanging in the Wire” / Buy

I had two ambitions: One was to be in The Actors Studio, and the other was to walk into a bar where actors hung out, and everyone would know that I was a professional actor and I would be accepted. It had nothing to do with ever being on TV. It had nothing to do with ever being in Hollywood.

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At any rate, I guess what I was getting at was the difference in acting on a stage and even acting in taped shows in New York. The emphasis on hitting your marks was not nearly as pronounced. In the theater, you didn’t have any marks. Your instincts in rehearsal told you what the blocking was. On film, they reversed it. They decided ahead of time what your instincts were, before you even arrived. They would put down marks before you even knew the lines. There was always somebody putting something at your feet, and that’s where you were supposed to go. That angered me and irritated me and threw me, and I’m sure that was the case with a lot of actors from New York. We weren’t used to that. There’s something wrong with it. At any rate, when it became my ball and bat on Columbo, that was the end of those marks. They were forbidden.

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To smoke, and have coffee – and if you do it together, it’s fantastic.

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Quotes 1-4 are taken from Peter Falk’s interview for The A.V. Club and quote 5 is from Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire.