John Astin will forever live in the memories of audiences everywhere as his characters. Astin was celebrated as characters like The Riddler and Gomez Addams. However, Astin’s true love was not acting; it was directing.

“I have to act to pay for my directing habit,” Astin said during an interview with The Oregon Daily Journal.

In fact, Astin had a critical view of television as a whole. Though he was grateful for the opportunities that television gave him,

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“I can’t complain. I’ve been one of the lucky people. I was employed every day last year from June to December. And television is where things are happening today...After all, these people are simply trying to sell soap and cigars and provide a little light entertainment as a hook to bring viewers to the set. I see nothing wrong with it, as such. And I’m not sure TV is capable of much more than this as a medium. But I know it’s not what I want to spend the rest of my life doing.”

Astin saw nothing wrong with television as pure entertainment. However, he was skeptical that a television episode had the potential to promote a message.

“A lot of men in TV are trying to make it an art form,” said the actor. “But as long as you have that light burning in your eye, with distractions in a room, you just don’t have the situation for an art form.”