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"I'd been offered the pilot for 'Barney Miller,' but also I'd gotten an offer to star in a Broadway musical. I remember sitting in my manager's office. The Broadway producer had called and said he needed an answer by close of business. And I said cavalierly, 'All right, we've done Broadway. Let's try television.' We did the pilot, and that got us a mid-season replacement, which led to eight terrific seasons."

"Television can bring a certain amount of enlightenment. You're not gonna change the world with that one film, but you can make a little bit of a dent. If we can make enough dents, it's a hell of a medium because it reaches out to so many young minds as well as some entrenched minds. It can be quite gratifying when certain things take place."

"I understood very quickly the theory of how to make film work for you. Nothing exists outside of that box. What's in that box is what counts. Everything else can fall away and it doesn't matter. You create your own world."

"I really feel that I'm an exposed nerve. I don't know how else to say it. But I'm moved by everything."

"When I decided to go into making 'McHale's Navy,' people said, 'Why are you lowering yourself?' Lowering myself? What do you mean, lowering? It's all show business, isn't it? I mean, whether you're in front of a small camera or a big camera, it makes no difference, you're still entertainment."