What is your idea of perfect happiness? Creating something and feeling proud of it.
What is your greatest extravagance? A toss-up: my New York apartment or owning two horses, two extravagances that don’t sit well with each other.
What is your greatest regret? Je ne regrette rien, but there are a few star-making roles I turned down.
What or who is the greatest love of your life? Lucky me: my wife, Mary.
What do you dislike most about your appearance? My posture. (I blame perpetual stooping out of courtesy.)
What is your greatest fear? Climate change, duh.
On what occasion do you lie? Backstage visits.
Which living person do you most admire? Bill Moyers.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? Conflict aversion.
What is the trait you most deplore in others? Three versions of the same trait: deceit, hypocrisy, and manipulativeness.
What is your favorite journey? Driving from hill town to hill town in Tuscany and Umbria in the month of January.
When and where were you happiest? Probably the curtain call of my final performance when I played King Lear.
Which living person do you most despise? Vlad the Terrible.
Which words or phrases do you most overuse? Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.
Which talent would you most like to have? Playing the piano really well. (I can’t play a note.)
What is your current state of mind? Pretty good: The Old Man season two out, four movies in the can, rehearsals starting soon for a new play in London, 44th anniversary coming up, and the Democrats have suddenly become the party of joy.
If you could choose what to come back as, what would it be? One of two ponderosa pine trees (the other would be Mary) on the banks of a lake in Montana.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? Losing a child or grandchild.
What is your favorite occupation? Hard to beat acting when you’re regularly employed by good people.
What is your most marked characteristic? Optimism, I guess.
Who are your favorite writers? Shakespeare, P.G. Wodehouse, Mark Twain, and the writing staff of 3rd Rock From the Sun.
Who are your heroes in real life? At the moment, Tim Walz.
What are your favorite names? Ava, Archie, and Oona (by coincidence, my three grandchildren).
What do you consider your greatest achievement? Contentment in old age.
How would you like to die? In my sleep, in the middle of a happy dream.
What do you most value in your friends? Openness, authenticity, and above all, humor.
What is your motto? Cultivate humility: You never know when you’re going to need it.
English (US) ·