“Acting, I started when I was six and a half years-old, on Broadway with Kurt Weill.”

“As for Colt 45, I am very proud of my endorsement of the product, and it still 'Works every time.'”

“Failure's not a bad thing. It builds character. It makes you stronger.”

“For myself, if I'm trying to obtain a certain longevity in my career, to establish myself as a certain kind of star, I don't want that black exploitation image.”

“I don't know why everybody thinks I'm smooth. I think I'm just a pretty silly person, really.”

“I don't want to find myself ever locked into what people think I should think or do. In my art, and acting, I have a universal vision of things, an international vision. Bigger and broader and beyond. 'Bigger than life' is always on my mind.”

“I don't want to sound too carried away, but from what I've seen, 'Bingo Long' is going to be a big one. A classic.”

“I love the Mexican muralists - like Rivera, Orozco - and the music of Walter Benton. They gave you a sense that reality was much more than life.”

“I loved Marlon Brando: my favorite actor.”

“I tell my son Corey that the greatest teacher is the teacher who says, 'Don't follow me; follow yourself. Because within you there is that kingdom, that life, that force.'”

“I tend to approach characters not based on ethnicity but on some unique individual qualities, and I've set my whole life that way. I don't want any sort of limitations imposed on my work. If you truly want to be a creative person, you can't limit yourself.”

“I think a lot of black filmmakers have done very well.”

“I was in the National Academy of Fine Arts and Design, on a scholarship. I was - still am - an artist. They were looking for an actor for 'Take a Giant Step,' and a producer liked my look and asked if I could act. I said, 'Yep!' Then I got into acting more or less just to make money for paints and canvases.”

“I'm always looking for good things to do.”

“It was a time after 'Lady Sings the Blues' and 'Mahogany' and all those romantic movies: I became this romantic figure on the street in a very special way.”

“It's in our nature. We need to explore and find out what's going on outside of who we are.”

“Jazz is very much a part of my life. I work with the Thelonious Monk Institute and do the artwork for their program every year.”

“My mother's side of the family, they're from Montserrat in the Leeward Islands.”

“No matter where I go, in this country or outside of this country, there are young people, and I'm always surprised that young people know about me and Colt 45.”

“Oh, I paint all the time.”

“Originally I planned on starting a teapot collection. I really like them.”

“Right before 'Brian's Song' there was a period when I was very despondent, broke, depressed; my first marriage was on the rocks. The role of Gale Sayers had been cast with Lou Gossett, and then he hurt himself playing basketball. I was called in to read for the role. I was their last choice, and I knew it.”

“Sometimes a true original doesn't need to change a thing.”

“The world moves fast, but change isn't always a good thing when you got it right the first time around.”

“There's always been a lot of misunderstanding about Lando's character. I used to pick up my daughter from elementary school and get into arguments with little children who would accuse me of betraying Han Solo.”

“You are always going to have people criticizing, in one way or another, for their own personal reason.”