"If I could change on thing about myself, I would: Have better knees. Mine are shot because of injuries. You're only as good as your legs, whether you're an athlete or an actor"
About this Quote
A wry wish for better knees cuts through celebrity vanity and goes straight to the realities of work. William Petersen, a Chicago-bred actor best known as CSI’s Gil Grissom, points not to a face-lift or a more marketable trait, but to the joints that bear the grind. The line about being only as good as your legs lands with the matter-of-fact wisdom you hear in locker rooms and rehearsal halls alike. Knees are not glamorous, but they are the foundation; when they go, everything above them feels precarious.
Acting is often imagined as voice and expression, yet the craft is inseparable from the body’s endurance. Long days on set mean standing for hours under hot lights, hitting marks with precision, rushing down corridors in chase scenes, and kneeling or crouching over crime-scene props take after take. Onstage, it is even more relentless: rehearsals, fight choreography, repeated falls, and the nightly stamina to project presence. Legs carry breath, balance, and timing; they ground the subtlety that reads as effortless. Athletes hear that power comes from the legs; actors live a version of the same truth.
There is also the frank admission of age and injury. The body is an instrument, and a damaged joint detunes the whole performance. Petersen’s background in physically demanding theater makes the remark feel earned, and his long run on a punishing network schedule hints at the cumulative toll. By focusing on function rather than appearance, he rejects the industry’s superficial fixes and asks for something more fundamental: the ability to move without pain so he can do the work.
The metaphor stretches beyond anatomy. Legs are the base of a career, the support that lets craft travel, adapt, and endure. Strip away glamour and mystique, and the difference between athlete and actor narrows. Both rely on what their legs can still give them, and both measure time in what the knees allow.
Acting is often imagined as voice and expression, yet the craft is inseparable from the body’s endurance. Long days on set mean standing for hours under hot lights, hitting marks with precision, rushing down corridors in chase scenes, and kneeling or crouching over crime-scene props take after take. Onstage, it is even more relentless: rehearsals, fight choreography, repeated falls, and the nightly stamina to project presence. Legs carry breath, balance, and timing; they ground the subtlety that reads as effortless. Athletes hear that power comes from the legs; actors live a version of the same truth.
There is also the frank admission of age and injury. The body is an instrument, and a damaged joint detunes the whole performance. Petersen’s background in physically demanding theater makes the remark feel earned, and his long run on a punishing network schedule hints at the cumulative toll. By focusing on function rather than appearance, he rejects the industry’s superficial fixes and asks for something more fundamental: the ability to move without pain so he can do the work.
The metaphor stretches beyond anatomy. Legs are the base of a career, the support that lets craft travel, adapt, and endure. Strip away glamour and mystique, and the difference between athlete and actor narrows. Both rely on what their legs can still give them, and both measure time in what the knees allow.
Quote Details
| Topic | Health |
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