When I was growing up, there was a character on TV; there was a character stereotype: it was personified by Mel on 'The Dick Van Dyke Show.'

Jeffrey Tambor

Categorized in : Up Show Character Growing Up

I thought that the hardest part would be the external - would be the - oh, nails and the hair and the makeup and the dress and the heels and the blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And actually, that wasn't the hardest. That was very, very, very easy for me, and I liked it.

nails makeup hair

On the other hand, we don't come to work with all of these social goals, nor are we directly trying to change the world and all of that. Our job is that we have these human characters, and it's our responsibility to play them truthfully and as human as possible. Jill has cast this impeccably. These actors nail it, even the non-Pfeffermans. It's ridiculous.

responsibility jobs character

When I got this role, my daughter Molly said, 'Dad, you've come f... by Jeffrey Tambor

When I got this role, my daughter Molly said, 'Dad, you've come full circle.

dad daughter mother

Carlos Castaneda always said, "If you're going to do something, d... by Jeffrey Tambor

Carlos Castaneda always said, "If you're going to do something, do it impeccably."

Joe Mantello is the uber director. I wrote him a card tonight say... by Jeffrey Tambor

Joe Mantello is the uber director. I wrote him a card tonight saying basically, 'Will you adopt me?'

uber cards directors

You push a button and it goes all over the world and on Sunday people are saying, 'Oh, I binge watched all 10 of them. Where's more?' and you go oh, the world has changed. It's not my dad walking to the television set and turning a knob to Ed Sullivan.

sunday dad people

My education was doing good plays and also stinkers. When you do a stinker, you learn how to act. I like having to audition. It's nice to do rehearsals. But it's with an audience that you get to love it!

nice play education

Guillermo del Toro. He's in his pure artist's stroke. He's just hitting it out of the park. I would go anywhere to work with him. He's a real artist.

artist real

You keep your head down and you work and work, and all of a sudden you pick your head up and people are receiving it the same way we're sending it. They're thinking the same things that I'm thinking about the show.

receiving people thinking

I get a singular comment that's very revealing: "I didn't know what to expect." Every time I hear that I think it's really just code for, "I wasn't sure I'd be comfortable with you in this role," which I understand coming from Oscar Bluth and Hank Kingsley and whatever. But I think there's a degree of, "Oh, okay, this is how it is." Then almost always people tell me that they love it and then people start talking to me about their families, whether it's transgender issues or not.

issues talking thinking

When I was a young boy in San Francisco, I remember being sent home - I was playing with a friend. And I remember the mother saying, tell Jeffrey to go home. And I said to the girl, I said, why? She goes, my mother says that you're the people who killed Christ.

girl mother home

Saturday The 14th movie is a cult classic. And you know another one like that that I did, is Three O'Clock High. People come up to me about those two all the time. Film schools even study Three O'Clock High. Shot for shot, it's a textbook.

classic people school

I really loved my dad. I was very, very close to my dad. He - you know, he was very, very nervous about my being an actor.

nervous dad actors

In my life, I find that in sobriety, I feel much more. And I have... by Jeffrey Tambor

In my life, I find that in sobriety, I feel much more. And I have much more depth.

sobriety depth feels

The most telling one was recently on a plane. This guy very dressed up and formal - the watch, the shoes, the cufflinks, the whole nine yards - he came at me, and I thought I was going to get nailed. But he literally came up to me and just gave me a hug and said, "Thank you for introducing me to a subject that I didn't know anything about." In those moments it always clicks for me what we're doing here.

hug shoes guy

I think when I was a younger actor, I did carry that stuff home. When I did ...And Justice For All, I was afraid to drop the character. But when you get older, you learn to go, "Okay, that's it. Let's go have dinner."

home character thinking

I don't like show business. I don't like the business. I love acting. I love this. I love talking to people.

acting talking people

I came to New York late; I was already past 30 by Jeffrey Tambor

I came to New York late; I was already past 30

late new-york past

This whole thing about winning and losing is muddy waters. But I can remember, as a young actor, just walking around this city and not being able to get arrested.

walking-away cities winning

That scene that I have with Brad Pitt in Meet Joe Black is one of my favorite scenes that I've ever done. He's very modest. He's a real hardworking actor. I think he was going through something difficult at that time, and he never brought his personal stuff - not once! - on the set. He was a real pro. I remember doing that scene, and as I was acting, I thought, "I understand why this guy's a movie star." Because there was just something that he did when the cameras rolled. There was some kind of energy that was really magnificent, a real aura about him.

black real thinking