Top 145 Quotes & Sayings by Jeffrey Tambor - Page 2

There are times between five and seven when this house is like a bowling alley, but it's reinspired me. My acting has gotten better because of these kids. I feel the same spirit I did when I was doing Off-Broadway.

I was with Robert Preston in 'Sly Fox.'

So many people say they went to school on 'The Larry Sanders Show.'

I worked at The Old Globe Theater under the great baton of Craig Noel. One of the great theater heroes that we have. He was so great and so inspirational. I think I did 'Antony and Cleopatra' and 'The Taming of the Shrew'. I lived in Ocean Beach, and my rent was $140 a month.

I actually got thrown into my Bar Mitzvah because my teacher, my Cantor, did not tell me that they would all say 'amen' at the end of each, for want of a better word, paragraph. And that threw me completely. I almost went into an Ella Fitzgerald sort of scat.

I'm really aging myself, but I grew up with 'Playhouse 90' and the plays on the air - 90 minute plays.

The shedding of any clothes, when you're 70 years old, is tricky.

'Dad, Dad, I'm getting married.' 'Sh-sh, don't say it. Nothing, nothing. Don't do anything.' So he honestly - 'cause he was taught don't celebrate - they'll take it away from you. And his parents were taught that, and his parents and parents' parents. Because if you did celebrate, and you were visible, it could be very, very dangerous.

The first time I met Garry Shandling was my audition for 'The Larry Sanders Show,' with Garry and his casting director Francine Maisler. I can recall every minute of it. He was gracious and kind, and he read with me. He was terrific.

'Attaboys' help people. I am huge on attaboy. Confidence is the great ingredient to living and art, with fidelity to self. It's so important to surround yourself with people who give you confidence.

That's just me and my own body issues - I think I'm fat and bald and old and ugly.

The brilliance of Jill Soloway is that while some people will give you Season Two, plus 10%, she's just kicked it.

I am a huge believer - I always have been - in the power of comedy. That comedy will break hatred and will bring understanding.

I'm the voice of a Chipotle Burrito. The world has changed.

I lost my moorings. But you know the great thing about acting? It's all part of the gig. You get to put it in your work.

I think everyone needs to know that I steal biscotti on Delta Airlines. People need to know that.

You see kids walking to the bus, and they're watching product on their phones. I'm positive that my grandkids and their grandkids are going to put on a pair of glasses and watch something.

The Tambors were conservative Jews, and we attended Temple Beth Shalom at 14th Avenue and Clement Street in San Francisco. We were the only Jewish family for miles. To me, being Jewish meant 'otherness.'

What's interesting about playing Maura is that I get to use more of Jeffrey that I've ever used in any role, and I think that's the remarkable part about it and truly the most surprising part about doing this role.

I give a speech at some colleges and corporations called 'Performing Your Life: An Evening with Jeffrey Tambor.' I get asked a lot of questions, and people say, 'Your stories are wonderful. You should write a book.'

Usually when you act, you know where you're going, where the point is.

You can send a lot of instruction through laughter.

If you see 'Pollock,' I weighed almost 270 pounds.

Lying and art are very allied. But after you lie, you get to the truth.

There was one television in the living room, and we all sat around on Sundays and watched Ed Sullivan.

The 'Hey now's' are delivered as people pass me. As I just get near ear range, I hear, 'Hey now!' and that's very funny.

When I was a kid, we got up, we walked a number of paces to a television, turned it on, and changed channels.

Families are families are families are families.

I get up and cook for my kids, who really like my scrambled eggs. Or we make pancakes and the requisite bacon. The kids either play or watch cartoons, and Daddy gets to read the 'New York Times' and do his puzzle.

Some people have a mandate that you can't change.

We are part of the zeitgeist, and we are communicating in a human, real way.

I don't mind if someone yells a motto out of their car at me. 'No touching! No touching!' No harm is done.

I think most of my heroes are not the traditional types. A guy I was fascinated with was Buster Keaton. I just love what he did. I love that mug.

The best comedy not only makes you laugh, but on the moment of the laugh, you learned.

People are identifying not only with the trans movement, but also the Pfefferman family. What I am noticing is people are coming up on the street and talking about their life and their family, and they say, 'Your family is just like mine.'

They're my instructors, and every parent will understand that.

Every family has that secret. Every family has that thing where you go, 'Shhh, shhh, shhh.'

I went bald when I was 18. My father cried. He cried about many things. But it allowed me to play older men in summer stock.

I do remember going shopping with my mother; I think the name of the store was Ruth Atkins. I don't know why I can remember that. It's probably because it's not the name.

We all know about secrets - to have that pressure of something you can't reveal. That's universal: 'Am I safe? Am I gonna be OK? Will my family still love and respect me?'

I'm interested in people's stories, so I decided to tell part of mine.

I think shows being sent out this way - pressing a button and 10 episodes can go out to the U.S.A., and the U.K. and Germany, it's very cool.

I was bar mitzvahed at Beth Shalom, and I had trouble. I didn't quite get it all.

What can I say about a world without Garry Shandling? This is where I need Garry. He would have something pithy, and there would be a laugh, and your heart would break at the same time. He changed my life.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

I had a lot of questions where I had to be very frank and clinical. I had to go to school on it about what it could mean physically to be trans and the options that have to be weighed and considered. But I love that. Exploring that opens my worldview in ways that I would never be able to try.

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

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.

Probably because I'm bald. Don't the bald people always play doctors and principals? Yeah, isn't that funny? And lawyers. A lot of lawyers and judges.

I'd always had a crush on Teri Garr - and still do. I've always adored her. I mean, who doesn't think about Teri in Young Frankenstein? I mean, come on! It makes you talk in that accent for weeks.

Am I a star? That's a different thing. I mean no, I'm not in People magazine. But I must be doing something right, because I've done it for 50 years! And I like doing what I do.

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

I never want to have that on my shoulders - I never want to be number one on the call sheet. That's a life that I don't want. I mean, I'm not ducking the responsibility.

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.

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.