We got to be really good friends [Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau]. It was just thrilling, every day. Every single day. I had a big couple of musical numbers in [Out to Sea], and I remember doing one of them and shooting it from beginning to end.

Brent Spiner

If you look around at the people in show business today they are basically the people who didn't give up.

Brent Spiner

giving-up people looks

John Logan was kind of wrapping up - "Well, thanks for coming in..." - and I thought, "Oh, God, this is over and I'm out of here, and I really don't want to leave."So I said, "Can I ask you a question?" He said, "Sure." "What movie do you think you've seen more than any other movie?" And he said, "Wow, let me think about that. I guess probably The Searchers." And I said, "Well, oddly, that's the movie I've seen more than any other movie." And I wasn't just BS-ing. It's true. It's my favorite movie.

Brent Spiner

wrapping-up want thinking

My own personal favorite Cher song is the unforgettable Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves.

Brent Spiner

gypsy thieves song

I don't think everybody wanted to be on [new Star Trek series] . I certainly didn't.

Brent Spiner

stars wanted thinking

[The Aviator] came about through John Logan, who I've been friends with for many years.

Brent Spiner

aviator years

When I go to the old folks' home, I'm gonna be sitting in a rocking chair, telling everybody how I worked with Jack [Lemmon] and Walter [Matthau].

Brent Spiner

chairs sitting home

Any job you can go to and have a laugh everyday has got to be a good job.

Brent Spiner

everyday jobs laughing

Bill Prady and Chuck Lorre, the guys who run that show [Big Bang Theory], are really funny and really smart, and the cast is fantastic to work with.

Brent Spiner

smart guy running

People think that being on Star Trek is career suicide, but it's really just the opposite

Brent Spiner

stars suicide thinking

And the basic sort of thrust of Star Trek being about equality and tolerance and things I believe in deeply.

Brent Spiner

tolerance stars believe

Certainly I find it most interesting to play a role that I can invent from nothing.

Brent Spiner

roles play interesting

They were nicely written and nicely directed episodes [Star Trek: Enterprise]. I enjoyed working with Scott [Bakula]. So it was good to do, and, as you said, it did serve to enhance the Soong legacy.

Brent Spiner

episodes legacy stars

I'm an avid biography reader.

Brent Spiner

avid biographies reader

I think there is something like 90% unemployment in the Screen Actors Guild, so we are the exception.

Brent Spiner

unemployment actors thinking

Generally, I have to be able to get the lines out of my mouth without making a mistake before I go to sleep.

Brent Spiner

mouths mistake sleep

Can't argue with Gene Roddenberry. He was a pretty brilliant guy.

Brent Spiner

brilliant guy arguing

There is no question that everybody who works in show business is lucky because of the number of people who wish they where working in show business.

Brent Spiner

wish numbers people

Having spent so much time in a fictional world, I prefer to read about the real world

Brent Spiner

real-world real world

I like to think of myself as the Rutger Hauer of this show Star Trek: The Next Generation. But then I like to think of myself as Rutger Hauer in real life: strikingly handsome, irresistible to women, an intergalactic enigma.

Brent Spiner

stars real thinking

Initially I objected to the Data makeup. I said, "Why do I need this makeup? Why can't I just look like me?" In fact, I said to Gene Roddenberry, "Don't you think that by this time in history, they would've figured out how to make skin look like skin?" And he said, "What makes you think that what you have isn't better than skin?" And I went, "Um, okay."

Brent Spiner

makeup data thinking