Theodore Bikel Quotes

Depending on the show, I've played a cop, a criminal, or a victim. So there's a range.

I love playing characters who are opposite of who I am.

But I'm not a tough guy or a street fighter for real. I'm just an actor.

I want to play many different characters.

I love playing characters, so I'm always telling my agents, 'Don't worry if the character description is something you think I'm not. Let me try to be that person.'

I like the wild characters. I like the idea of being a character actor without being a character actor.

I'm an actor and I've created a lasting and memorable character named Frasier, who is not me, but who most people think is. So when I have a chance to play something that's different, I embrace it because it's fun; also in this case, he's a memorable character.

I like to play a wide range of characters. The more they're unlike me, the better I like it.

I'm not really a pitcher; I just play one in the movies.

And as much as I love the gritty characters, I like to play all sorts of characters. I'm an actor. I love to create.

I'm hardly physically right for the hero parts, now am I?

After we'd filmed one series of 'Kiss Me Kate,' everyone was saying: 'The guy's got great comic timing,' - that was the first I'd heard of it. I'm not a comedian, I don't want to depend on a singular box of tricks. I like story and characters, to take on world views that are not my own.

I want to try and do as much as I can as an actor. So far I think I've done pretty well with being a minister's son. And now I know I'm pretty darn good at playing a woman too.

I love playing a role, anything that's dramatic. I'm enjoying living that kind of life: being someone else, getting to die, being a temptress. I enjoy being someone else on stage.

In an ideal world, I would constantly be doing different characters in different worlds.

You're breaking out of character, again.

For modeling, I was always creating characters. I dress like a tomboy. So, when I'd go into a shoot, there'd be all these dresses, and I'd say to myself, 'Okay, this isn't me. It's somebody else. So, who is this person?' Acting is the next level of that.

Sometimes an actor performs a character, but sometimes an actor just performs. With writing, I don't think it's performing a character, really, if the character you're performing is yourself. I don't see that as playing a role. It's just appearing in public.

I love everything. I love being the empathetic characters. I love being the villains. I think it's like when we're kids, we like to play all kinds of crazy characters and dress up.

As an actor, you're used to putting on characters, taking them off, becoming someone else, doing your research, and working on that.

I was always amazed the way people would come in looking one way and transform completely to the point where I couldn't recognize their language, their accent, the way they looked, their hair, their face even changed becoming so inside of the character.

As an actor, you can have your own backstory and prepare all the details that you need to know for your character.

I'm an actor. I'm trying to be the character and do what they're doing.

I like conflict, drama's conflict and if you don't have that in the character it's really not a worthwhile role to play for me.

I love the idea of playing something stupid or romantic. I'm not the smartest man in the room. I listen, and I learn, and I observe, but I'm always playing characters with intellects profoundly superior to mine. That's great fun, even though it's as much a fantasy for me as for the people watching me.