MIKE FARRELL

I was raised in Hollywood and knew, from as early as grammar school, classmates who were in the business.

I can think of some things that would be fun, but I'm living my dreams.

I gave away two dogs years ago because I felt guilty at not being able to give them the time and attention they deserved. I now regularly feed an army of squirrels and wild birds around our house.

We have seen economic growth. But we have not seen earnings growth.

What one gets, I hope, is that all you can do is the best you can do.

If you try to do your best there is no failure.

People seem to see no difference between an intimate conversation and a conversation at the water cooler.

It's mostly the financial chicanery that's going on. People are saying 'What kind of trust can we put in this market?'

I think it's appropriate for the international community in situations like this to intervene in Kosovo. I am in favor of an intervention. On some level, you have to say that at least somebody is doing something.

My dreams for the future are simple: work, a happy, healthy family, a lovely long motorcycle ride, and continuing the struggle to awaken people to the need for serious human rights reform.

It is inappropriate for the Bush administration to trump up a case in which we are ballyhooed into war.

People who know me know that I'm always interested in an honest, civil exchange of views, and I'm not some Hollywood liberal know-nothing.

It's a curious thing about celebrity: being somebody who was one of the stars of one of the most popular television shows in history offers an opportunity. I look at it as an ambassadorial opportunity at times, where I can go to places and have the opportunity to do things and meet people that other people don't have.

The show that defined 'M*A*S*H' was the original interview episode with Clete Roberts. That was a way to look into these peoples' lives and investigate their situation, their feelings being away from home on an intimate level.

I wanted to be an actor from the time I was a kid.

People warned us that if we went to them whenever they cried and refused to spank them, we would harm them irrevocably, but we decided there's simply no way to spoil a child. After all, they aren't apples.

When Radar goes home, Peg and Erin go down to meet him. Erin sees Radar in uniform and calls him Daddy. It so incredibly perfectly captured the heartbreak of being away from your child who was growing up without you.

No politician after the Nixon-Agnew years would say, 'I was against the death penalty,' because they replaced 'soft on communism' with 'soft on crime.' You just see the horror of this thing.

I think celebrity is taking a heavy shot because of reality TV and the rise of Mr. Trump. I think people are becoming a little more leery, assuming that being a celebrated individual means you have some gravitas.

When I got lucky enough to be successful as an actor, and I got involved in the anti-war stuff and gay rights movement, there was always this thing eating at me about the death penalty, because that was, to me, the bottom line. That was the anti-life - by definition - position, and I didn't understand why we did it.

My father was a gruff Irishman who was unable to express feelings and always insisted we be tough. Being a parent, for me, means creating what I didn't have. I want my children to feel love and be able to express it.

The networks are business-oriented cowards.

I am often stunned and charmed by the simple brilliance of what children say. But you have to be willing to listen.

I think the media could be a very good force for good, and I think Hollywood can, as well.

'M*A*S*H,' to me, was about something. It had value beyond the laughs.