Jeffrey Tambor Quotes

When I got this role, my daughter Molly said, ‘Dad, you’ve come full circle.

This whole thing about winning and losing is muddy waters. But I can remember, as a young actor, just walking around this city and not being able to get arrested.

The Emmy should be an ensemble award, too. I kept howling at everyone else’s performances.

My part had three lines. I said, ‘You look wonderful, sir,’ three times. All my friends said, ‘Do not take that role – and do not understudy. You’ll regret it the rest of your life.’ I did both of those things, and I’ve never regretted it once.

My education was doing good plays and also stinkers. When you do a stinker, you learn how to act. I like having to audition. It’s nice to do rehearsals. But it’s with an audience that you get to love it!

I remember going to Bob Preston’s dressing room because I was losing a laugh – as you do in a long run. He said, ‘Give me the script. That’s where you’re going off the road.’ That’s comedy. It’s never the line itself; it’s in the foundation.

I loved the gentlemanly way they treated each other. It was unlike anything I was used to. I started helping them strike the set and, at 11, began taking acting classes privately.

I love this company. I don’t know how it was selected. It’s a bunch of machers. They mean business.

I came to New York late; I was already past 30.

As my manager says, ‘These are wonderful problems.’

And I’d watch George C. Scott from backstage. He was one of my mentors.