“I didn't want to be the archetypal sponging brother-in-law, so I didn'...” — John Mahoney Quote

I didn't want to be the archetypal sponging brother-in-law, so I didn't go into acting when I got to the States. I thought, 'No, I'll go to school and then I'll be an English teacher; that'll be fun.' But I was horrible as a teacher. As hard as I tried, I just couldn't inspire those kids to take an interest in Milton and Shakespeare and Donne.

I like to learn the lines and not get any precontrived things in my head about the part. Just get on stage and see what the other actors are doing, and respond to them as honestly as I can.

What I mostly do is take the script, analyse the hell out of it, see what's in there, see what kind of person I'm dealing with, and then forget I'm playing a father and just play a person who exemplifies all those things.

I don't need the money after 11 years on 'Frasier,' and there aren't that many great roles onstage left for somebody my age. I'm more interested in playing those roles than I am in playing bit parts in movies.

My dad's a very sensitive man, but as the archetypal rebellious teenager, I didn't realise that.

Blonde symbolises sexuality and power - it holds very different connotations. The archetypal star has always been blonde.

These archetypal older women in movies can sometimes make my skin crawl. It's about the one dimension; it's about the lack of any texture.

I am not the archetypal leading man. This is mainly for one reason: as you may have noticed, I have no hair.

When I started in the business there were no women in executive positions, no women producers or directors and certainly no camerawomen and we were destined to do very archetypal roles, very cliched things, so I was a dizzy blonde for years.