Billy Dee Williams

I don't know. You know, when I'm not acting, I'm not an actor. I'm just a person. That's how I go through life. I'd rather not - you know, like a lot of actors, you know, they spend their whole 24 hours a day being an actor.

I think I've been very fortunate, considering the obstacles that I had to deal with, you know, just being - by virtue of being a brown, lovely, brown-skinned man. But on the other hand, I've been able to make a good living, and I've been able to take care of my family, which is most important to me.

I always admired my father because he was a man that never put on any airs, you know. And I always tried to be that kind of person.

I am an artist no matter what I do. I live for creativity. I think everyone should. It is the antithesis of being destructive.

My idea is to paint paintings so that when you walk into a room, I'm pulling you in, or that makes you suddenly stop and wonder: 'What is this? There is something groovy, something else going on here.' Also, I want to give you what is obvious and what is not obvious to the eye.

I think of film when I paint. Even the luminosity that I always keep working for is really about film. But my idea is not to paint paintings that will decorate somebody's house.

Power is a very peculiar thing. It's like the ego. The ego's only there to keep you above water. Once we realize something good about ourselves, we have a tendency to abuse the gift.

I think I'm a good father. As a parent, you have the responsibility to create a foundation for your children so that they can meet all the challenges.

The only thing that said 'Lando Calrissian' was ethnic was his looks.

I want people to see my heart, what I feel - not as one of America's best black actors but as one of the best actors.

I did something that no brown-skinned man in the movie industry ever did. I made a brown-skinned man look very romantic - a matinee idol. If you think about it, what I introduced is historical because it had never happened before, and it hasn't happened since - not on that level.

If anything, I've seen myself as the full spectrum of colors, and to be faced with not being able to do something just because I'm of a particular race has been something that I've always found very difficult - even today.

I'm always looking for good things to do.

I don't know why everybody thinks I'm smooth. I think I'm just a pretty silly person, really.

You are always going to have people criticizing, in one way or another, for their own personal reason.

The world moves fast, but change isn't always a good thing when you got it right the first time around.

I think a lot of black filmmakers have done very well.

It was a time after 'Lady Sings the Blues' and 'Mahogany' and all those romantic movies: I became this romantic figure on the street in a very special way.

No matter where I go, in this country or outside of this country, there are young people, and I'm always surprised that young people know about me and Colt 45.

I loved Marlon Brando: my favorite actor.