Actor

You know, I can't tell you that I'm very fond of anything I've done, including - and especially- 'The Addams Family.' That's an albatross around my neck that I've got to get rid of somehow.

It doesn't matter if you're big and tall or ugly or pretty. Deep inside, every actor wants to play Hamlet, at least I hope he does, because that's the craft.

It's not enough to be 6 feet 9 to get along in this world.

Only as a child is one truly innocent. When he grows, he must pull on one veneer after another.

I got to know the cast pretty well. Not so much Leonard Nimoy, I got to know William Shatner pretty well. They are a pretty good gang. The production company that made 'Star Trek' is the kind of production company that likes to have fun.

That's one of my pet peeves, that big guys apparently don't have an I.Q. above 50 in the eyes of audiences and producers.

I get no amusement having people eyeball me because of my size.

Max Baer called me one morning and told me that Carl Foreman was making a movie based on the book 'Mackenna's Gold' and he was sure that I was right for one of the parts. He was so ebullient about it that he bent my ear for 20 minutes.

I didn't only play Lurch. I also was 'Thing,' the hand that came up and on-camera every now and then. You should try acting with only one hand sometime. Great discipline.

It doesn't matter if you're big and tall or ugly or pretty. Deep inside, every actor wants to play Hamlet, at least I hope he does, because that's the craft.

There's not too much opportunity to do that in ordinary life... there's not too much call for hatchet throwers.

Acting Is unlike any other profession in the world. It's a succession of jobs. When 'The Addams Family' ends, however good you may be, when that job ends, you end. My gettng the show was a million-to-one shot.

I did play semi-pro ball for a time. It was the line of least resistance.

Whenever I'd find myself talking to someone in the kitchen of their home, I'd automatically rest my arm on the refrigerator, simply because it was most convenient. I had to watch myself pretty close - I didn't mind the dusty sleeve, but that glare from the hostess was something else!

Acting Is unlike any other profession in the world. It's a succession of jobs. When 'The Addams Family' ends, however good you may be, when that job ends, you end. My gettng the show was a million-to-one shot.

I turned down a part in 'Petticoat Junction.' They wanted me to play a circus giant. I didn't want to take that step into type casting. I don't want to play freaks and science-fiction monsters.

You will probably be hearing more about this schoolboy. His name is Wilt Chamberlain.

Crawling into someone's skin is what acting is all about.

It was nice to be working steadily and piling up some money in the bank but there really wasn't much to do except walk around and... well, be Lurch.

I never mention my size when I'm after a job in show business.