David Ogden Stiers

“Because I don't take money, I'll go anywhere and do a benefit concert with almost any orchestra.”

“Fun can happen on the interior. Nobody knows about it, but there are fireworks going on inside your spirit when you hear a great orchestra playing great music.”

“Family means no one gets left behind or forgotten.”

“You hear the same work by different orchestras, different conductors, violinists, pianists, singers, and slowly, the work reveals itself and begins to live deeper in you.”

“If it's right and true, it's listened to and accommodated.”

“We lament the speed of our society and the lack of depth and the nature of disposable information.”

“I'd forgotten I'd done the anime called Spirited Away, the English version of a Japanese film.”

“Cogsworth, the character I did on 'Beauty and the Beast,' could be a bit flamboyant onscreen, because basically, he is a cartoon. But they didn't want Cogsworth to become Disney's gay character, because it got around a gay man was playing him.”

“Writing is hard work. Generating stories that catch people's attention and holding it are very difficult.”

“A lot of my income has been derived from voicing Disney and family programming.”

“The ebulliently sharp mind of 'White Christmas' director Walter Bobbie made me tremble and strive in the same breath. The deceptively 'simple' dialogue of David Ives, asking every actor to just. say. it. Float it on the breeze; it doesn't need 'explanation,' just energy and truth.”

“I wish to spend my life's twilight being just who I am. I could claim noble reasons as coming out in order to move gay rights forward, but I must admit it is for far more selfish reasons. Now is the time I wish to find someone, and I do not desire to force any potential partner to live a life of extreme discretion with me.”

“It's really important to stay engaged and involved in the character.”

“Very often, I don't make it through moments of recording because it is genuinely funny and absolutely ridiculous that a 60-year-old grown man is making these noises.”

“High school music teachers... nobody makes a living off it.”

“I will never master this craft. Orchestras are very, very forthcoming with me.”