Pete Hamill Quotes

I wouldn't be surprised if some day, they put the Simpsons in the Smithsonian. It's become part of our culture, those characters.

I'm somebody who's really contributed to culture. Popular culture.

America is the only country capable of producing national movies: its culture has become a global culture.

Yeah, I was a child of American popular culture.

I want to make music that somehow connects to the things that I love in America music.

People tell me all the time that I must be so sad. I never was. It's just the way I sing.

It's a cyclical thing. When they make one, everyone loves them. Different genres come around in succession. People always welcome the western. It's America's genre.

The whole world loves American movies, blue jeans, jazz and rock and roll. It is probably a better way to get to know our country than by what politicians or airline commercials represent.

I think I'm a soulful singer.

I think when you're an actor and you're drawing on your emotions all the time, you need to be quite steady.

With Ed Wood, it was this sort of blending of Ronald Reagan, the Tin Man from 'The Wizard of Oz,' and Casey Kasem.

It seems like pop singing has sort of influenced musical theatre in so many ways - you could argue good or bad, really - and musical theatre is written for that style so often, which is a completely different style.

I think that 'Twilight' is so big that nothing can affect it.

I bring my classical training - some of it, but not all of it - and also my background and culture, to spirituals. And I try to leave room for that unpredictable factor, where the feeling of the song is allowed to come through. The same ethos can be applied to singing Mozart, or Schubert, or Bach. It's not just about what's on the page.

But, you see, the theatre is not always art in America.

The American intelligentsia has been pretty secular for a long time. There have always been figures like Oprah Winfrey, let's put it that way.

I grew up watching 'Ghostbusters' and 'Knight Rider' and Hot Wheels commercials. When I got to college, having never set foot in America, I knew more American pop-culture references than my friends did.

You can't perish because of your own feelings; you have to embrace those things as an actor because it's part of your palette.

I was very aware of the fact we were so out of fashion when I shot 'Chicago.' And I was trepidatious as to whether it would be seen or embraced by anybody, but I've never stopped believing in the genre. There's nothing like it. It's American-born.

I was brought up on American films.

When I grow up, I want to have an exhibit called 'American Motel.'

I always wanted to be known as the Norman Rockwell of television, and 'Happy Days' represented the part of me that wanted to make mainstream America laugh.

Most of my exposure to American pop culture was through this weird prism of 'Mad' magazine.

In a very real sense, I represent pop culture in an iconic way. It's been very good to me, so anything I can do to help the fans to tumble along - it's good.

It's super trippy coming to America because we know everything about it - from music and film. I know what a Southern accent sounds like; I know what a New York accent sounds like.