I wish I could say I had this master plan for a career, but I always thought acting was something I'd just do until I had a hit record.

Sometimes being a survivor is the greatest compliment you can get in Hollywood.

You don't get a script sent to you for two years, it crosses your mind, 'Gee, what's going on?' Then five years pass, and pretty soon a decade has gone by. Finally, you say to yourself, 'Well, if in fact that's it, then let me be happy with 30 pictures that made about $460 million and pictures that made a lot of people laugh.'

After 50 years in the motion picture business, I'm still learning my trade. This recent shoot of 'Mandie and the Secret Tunnel' was a revelation. The two young directors, Joy Chapman and Owen Smith, represent a group of actors, directors, and cinematographers all over the country that never show up in New York or Hollywood.

Everything I have, my career, my success, my family, I owe to America.

I love everything about the holidays: the decorations, the parties, and spending time with friends and family. What I love most is that feeling of giving back. Every bit counts.

Growing up, I remember I had several different 45 singles. But the first album I received was from a family friend: Emmylou Harris' 'Roses In The Snow.' It was so incredible. This record, to this day, is the favorite album of my life.

That's where the Black Keys and Jack White have succeeded and I've failed: They've actually convinced college kids that they're listening to hip music - but it's just blues twisted a new way - while I'm playing for the college kid's parents.