Sam Elliott

“I think every actor's dream is somebody writes something specifically for them.”

“Hugh Grant is the main man. He's the number one romantic comedy man in the world.”

“I did beef ads for about eight years because I love the people in that industry, and there are a lot of people who make their living in the beef world. Ranchers, primarily.”

“I just went to see too many movies and I sat in too many dark matinees watching those old serials.”

“I'm a sixth-generation Texan, even though I was born in California.”

“I'm picky, very picky. I wanted to be an actor since I was nine years old, and I figured that was only one way to ever have any longevity, and that's to be careful about what kind of work you do.”

“I'm a four star general in this thing, and you don't rise to the ranks of a four star general by hanging about the house being the perfect dad.”

“I spent a lot of time growing up in Oregon after I left California. Spent a lot of time in the woods.”

“It's never going to get better than working opposite an actor like Jeff Bridges. That's as good as it gets. I don't even know what to refer to him as. He's just a great guy. He's iconic on his own merits.”

“My family is all from the Southwest. My great-great-grandfather was at the Battle of San Jacinto with Sam Houston.”

“My voice gets recognized before anything else. It's always gotten attention. In choruses at church and school, I started as a tenor, moved to a baritone and finally became a bass. I knew then that my voice would be my instrument. Now if I want to hide, I just keep my mouth shut.”

“The opportunity, number one, to work with Ang Lee is an amazing thing for me.”

“I was in the cement end of the construction business, as a laborer. I was pouring concrete, and stripping forms off of set concrete, and pulling nails, and stacking plywood, and doing that kind of thing. I was in peak condition in those days.”

“My security comes from the fact that I've never done a job for money.”

“I think the people that most often cross a line are comedians. I think they relish that, and take pride in that on some level - at least, from what little I've seen and understand about people that do stand-up.”

“I think anytime you can affect people in general, in a positive way, then you're a lucky individual.”

“I really never had any thought about being a legitimate actor, like a stage performer. I wanted to make movies. I wanted to do television and make movies.”

“I truly loved Jason Reitman. I was there on his first film, 'Thank You For Smoking,' and I'd go work with him to do anything.”

“It seemed like whenever a Western was going to get made, it came my way.”

“The two things that I wanted in my life were to have a movie career and to be married, to have a family. And it's an embarrassment of riches that I've got both.”