Quotes / I Am Not Spock

Film - Live-Action

Debra Messing: You know, for the last 25 years, I've been listening to every gay man on Earth complaining to me. I am not my character. I am not every gay man's best friend. I am simply out in the world, thinking that I'm gonna get a tour of a museum! But no, no! Did I waltz in here and lay all my shit on you? Answer me! Answer me!
Bobby: I'm just— I—
Debra Messing: SHUT UP! I'm a divorced single mother. You want to hear what that's like? [...] I AM NOT GRACE! It is a character! I won an Emmy for it! I even beat Sarah Jessica Parker! People forget! I'm shaving my head. [storms off]

—Bros

Live-Action TV

James Earl Jones: [looks up from his menu to see Sheldon standing there] Let me guess: you like Star Wars.
Sheldon: [nods repeatedly]
Jones: You know I've been in other movies.
Sheldon: [nods repeatedly]
Jones: But you don't care about those, do you?
Sheldon: [shakes his head]
Jones: [motions Sheldon closer] I have one thing to say to people like you: I like Star Wars too! Care to join me?

—from The Big Bang Theory, episode 7x14,"The Convention Conundrum"

Music

They shake my hand and never ask my name
And they start asking questions that are always the same
"Hey, what's Michael J. Fox like?" He’s nice
"What's Christopher Lloyd like?" Kinda quiet
"What's Crispin Glover like?" … Unusual
Stop askin' me the question!

— Thomas F. Wilson, "The Question Song"

Stand-Up Comedy

"This man had to be Captain Kangaroo for over thirty fucking years! No scandal, no controversy, drank a lot. You would too. I don't think he knew the show was going to go thirty fucking years. 'Goddamn it, I'm fucking Captain Kangaroo. Thought the fucking gig would last two or three years, I didn't think I'd spend my whole fucking life as Captain Kangaroo! I was an actor, I was in the Actor's Studio, I wanted to do Death of a Salesman, I wanted to play Willy. My God, I'm Captain KANGAROO!'"

— Sam Kinison

Web Animation

Kate Abdo: I'm sorry, and you are?
Harry Kane!Dan Stevens: Harry Kane! Captain of the Three Lions and one very Hot Spur!
Kate Abdo: No, wait a moment, no you're not. You're... you're Matthew Crawley from Downton Abbey!
Dan Stevens: [drops character] It's Dan... it's actually Dan Stevens! I'm the actor who played Matthew Crawley! And I'm in other things, you know! I played Sir Lancelot in the third Night at the Museum movie! [storms off the set]

— The Champions

Web Original

DR. RAPSON: Hey, you're Jack Hall! I really liked your presentation about how we're all going to freeze to death and stuff. Too bad that your VP's a NotDick.
JACK: OMG you're Dr. Bilbo!
DR. BILBO: *sigh*

— The Day After Tomorrow in Fifteen Minutes

In the 1970’s, Leonard Nimoy wanted us all to know that he was not Spock. The guy even wrote a book called I Am Not Spock. In a way, it seems kind of dickish and ungrateful. I mean, for two and a half years, Nimoy had the privilege of playing the most compelling character on a show that was up to its boom mikes in compelling characters, and now he gets pissy that that’s what people remember him for? But at the same time, you can also understand it. Nimoy had had an entire career prior to 1966, and he intended to have an entire career subsequent to 1969, too. Whatever people (or indeed, Nimoy himself) thought of him, Spock was getting in the way of that.

—Scott "El Santo" Ashlin, 1000 Misspent Hours

Web Video

To me, Matthew Fox just is Jack. When I see Jorge Garcia in anything else, my brain says, "Hey! It's Hurley! Wait, shouldn't you be on the island?"

Drew Gooden, "Was LOST even a good show?"

Western Animation

Daffy Duck: Leslie Hunt? Who's she?
Leslie Hunt: I'm Leslie Hunt.
Daffy Duck: You're Steve St. James!
Leslie Hunt: No. Steve St. James is a character I've played on TV. I'm Leslie Hunt.
Daffy Duck: Who?

— The Looney Tunes Show, "Off Duty Cop"

Lisa Simpson/Clobber Girl: Wait a minute, Xena can't fly!
Lucy Lawless: [in costume as Xena] I told you, I'm not Xena. I'm Lucy Lawless.

— The Simpsons, "Treehouse of Horror X: Desperately Xeeking Xena"

Real Life

"It was Captain Kirk playing T.J. Hooker, not William Shatner the actor. You're just thinking he's taken a month off and come down to Earth and said 'I want to be a cop for a bit'."

— Eddie Izzard, Unrepeatable

There are no movie stars anymore. Like, Anthony Mackie isn't a movie star, The Falcon is a movie star... The evolution of the superhero has meant the death of the movie star.

— Anthony Mackie

I am not Spock.

Then why does my head turn in response to a stranger on the street who calls out that name? Why do I feel a twinge when someone says, "What happened to your ears?" I am not Spock.

Then why do I feel a wonderful warmth when I hear or read a compliment aimed at the Vulcan?

Spock for President reads the bumper sticker on the car in front of me. I'm filled with pride and I smile. I'm not Spock.

But if I'm not, who is? And if I'm not Spock, then who am I?

— Leonard Nimoy

"Mel Gibson will always be Mad Max, and me, I will always be a Number."

— Patrick McGoohan

"Princess Leia was famous, and I looked like her."

— Carrie Fisher

"George Lucas ruined my life and I mean this in the nicest way possible."

— Carrie Fisher again

"It is thanks to him that not a day goes by when someone, somewhere does not come up to me, taps me on the shoulder and says, 'Hey, Ferris, is this your day off?'"

— Matthew Broderick, paying tribute to John Hughes at the 82nd Academy Awards

"It's amazing, when you win the Academy Award, you have, like, about a week where everyone's like 'Hey, Good Will Hunting, way to go!", 'Good Will Hunting, Academy Award, way to go!', and two weeks later, it's like 'Hey, Mork, how are ya?'"

— Robin Williams, The Late Show with David Letterman

"It was a help as far as having a bigger career. It was an odd way to meet a national audience, because I was known around the world as the asshole that tried to rape Julia Roberts".

— Jason Alexander

"I've never been a pot smoker. It's amazing how many people think that".

— Owen Wilson

"I've only been in one fight in my whole life...in seventh grade, yet everyone thinks I'm a maniac".

— Ray Liotta

"People don't assume that John Wayne shoots people and rides a horse on weekends. People think I'm a nymphomaniac."

— Sylvia Kristel

"I am a big man, and I have a laugh to match my size. The ridiculous thing is that since I played Goldfinger in the James Bond film, there are some people who still insist on seeing me as a cold, ruthless villain — a man without laughs."

— Gert Fröbe

"I've been acting for 35 years...135 credits on IMDB...I was on a long-running series...you might remember it: Star Trek...but all I'm known for is coming the desert, and saying "We ain't found shit"..."

— Tim Russ (source)

"At the same time, although it's the loveliest job I ever had, it essentially killed my career stone dead... So when I went to play Macbeth, the audience wanted me to play Macbeth in the style of Doctor Who and naturally I did. Afterwards, a critic said "I had no idea how nice Macbeth was". So I realised then that the people coming to see me — people like you — didn't want to see me playing Jack the Ripper or whatever it was. So when I went to Ireland to play Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty in the same play, they were absolutely baffled because they were absolutely interchangeable."

— Tom Baker on Doctor Who

"People expect me to be this guy who can walk into a dark room, snap my fingers, and turn on the lights. Or they want me to pound my fist on the hood of a car, and start the engine. I can't do it. I've tried!"

— Henry Winkler on Happy Days

"I could win the Nobel Prize, and the headline would read, "Meathead Wins Nobel."

— Rob Reiner

"The truth of the matter is I never really expected to be remembered for anything. I just wanted to make a living doing what I liked. And I thought, it could be worse. I could be, like, known as being the best actor who ever played Adolf Hitler, you know? At least Luke is an admirable fellow."

— Mark Hamill

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