The wonderful thing about acting is that you can use all of your talents and interests in your work.
I'd done about 10 movies before I decided I wanted to make acting the main thrust of my career.
I remember when I was a kid, with the acting thing, I resented it because, you know, you don't want to do what your parents want you to do.
Sometimes I think of movie acting as advanced pretend.
I was loving music, and loving art, painting, so I was considering those things, but I must say I dug acting as well.
I had success as an actor relatively early. When I was 22, I got nominated for an Academy Award for The Last Picture Show, so that road, you know, had the least resistance. I was doing my music all that time, but it's pretty hard to turn down these great movie offers. And my father counseled me; he said, "You know, one of the wonderful things about acting is that you can incorporate all of your interests into the different parts you play." I'm glad I listened to the old man, because that's the way it turned out.
I understand professionals have to work when they don't feel like it, and I certainly don't feel like it. So maybe this will put the nail in the coffin for my acting career.