Parker Stevenson

“California lacks a lot of the rules and restrictions the East has. Every house is a different style, different material, different color. There's a lot of craziness out there.”

“Suddenly you're surrounded by strangers who want something from you. The thing is, they don't know what they want, and you don't know what they want, unless it's an autograph, and you just sort of stand there grinning at one another.”

“What I do is not some magical, mystical thing. I simply get up in the morning, get to work on time, say my lines, and do the best I can.”

“I'm more interested in where I'll be in five or 10 years than where I am now.”

“I wanted my children to have the same exposure to the water I had. My strongest memories of Northeast Harbor are going in a small Whaler with my dad, looking for osprey.”

“Intellectuals would be much more accepted now than in the '40s.”

“The first two pictures I did, I played a young student in prep school. When I did Lifeguard, everyone was saying, You're so Southern California. It was a surprise to me.”

“During the time I was on The Hardy Boys, I was also watching other people's careers. I thought the next step was to be a movie star. I kept saying no to projects, and offers stopped coming in. I was no longer hot.”

“I do interviews because it's a chance to be myself. I sometimes wonder what I could have to say that would be of any interest. I don't have any great wisdom.”

“Good work is good work wherever it's done, in a play, a motion picture or television, and that includes commercials.”

“If it seems like you're doing work when you're acting, then you're doing something wrong.”

“I like people who are enthused about things they do, like travel, sports, work. I like being with people who have things they're excited about.”

“You do show after show after show and get them done and on the air. Television devours material. We work a minimum of 12, 14 hours, and often 15, 18 hours a day.”

“I made a classic mistake. I held out for something better.”

“My interest in architecture has always been sculptural. Most of my photography is of architecture.”

“Young people are forced to mature sooner now than in the '40s. I was doing things at age 14 that guys in the movie were just beginning to do at 16 and 17.”

“If I have a Sunday free, I'll go up the coast and spend some time on the beach. I scuba dive and swim and sail. A lot of the things I like are around the water.”

“The Hardy Boys burned me out. I was recharging my batteries. It was time to return to work, but it was tough because my visibility was low.”

“I'm going to go away on vacation, I'm going to try to get away from the phone, away from scripts. I think it's important to sit back and think about what you want.”

“In this business, you just never know from day to day. It's one reason I held off getting too involved in entertainment. I like being able to plan, I like to know what I'm going to be doing.”