Alex Rocco

“You study all your life, you work really hard to do your best work onstage and onscreen, and then you make your best money playing an ant.”

“With Peter O'Toole, you just had nothing but fun.”

“Some people go to acting classes to learn. I just kind of went for the dates.”

“I was a young kid; I did a little time in the Billerica House of Correction, and it basically turned my life around because I said, 'Oh, I'll never be locked up again. They're not taking away my privacy.' So I flipped a coin: heads - Miami, tails -California.”

“I had to get out of the Boston area, so I flipped a coin and said, 'Heads - Miami, tails - California. I was in my mid-20s and came out here with no training. Acting wasn't even in my mind.”

“Playing gangsters is great. They usually dress you sharp. And you have a license to pretty much bully anybody. I mean, I wouldn't dare do that at home. My wife will give me a back hander.”

“I don't mean you have to be overbearing, but you have to stay on top of things - read the trades, know what's going on in the town. I call it 'dare to be stupid.' The worst thing they can say is, 'We got nothing for you.' So I've hustled a lot.”

“I worked in this bar called the Raincheck Room in the '60s; it used to be over on Santa Monica Boulevard, and, y'know, it was a pretty hip place. Lots of actors hung out there.”

“I'm Italian. I wouldn't know how to play a Jew.”

“I learned to bet the Red Sox, the Celtics, Suffolk Downs. I thought it was a glorious life - pull up to the doughnut shop, spread out, and plan your day.”

“I saw a bakery truck go by with the name 'Rocco' on it, and that's when I decided to become Alex Rocco.”