Christopher Walken: Now a voice of calm

(CBS News) Christopher Walken has been a "reel character" in more than 100 films and TV shows - and even in music videos. The 2001 video for the song "Weapon of Choice" was typical for an actor who has made a career out of playing one real character after another. But he played it straight when he sat down with Tracy Smith for some Questions and Answers:

"I think people would be surprised that you're scared of things like flying," said Smith.

"Yeah, just, it makes me very uncomfortable," Christopher Walken said.

"What else are you scared of?"

"I'm scared of everything," he replied. "I think it's only sensible to be that way. Not s - not scared, not scared, but nervous about, apprehensive, cautious."

Well, "cautious" might not be the first word that comes to mind for an actor known for going all out.

In a single scene, Christopher Walken can be terrified - and terrifying.

He's been hysterical . . . and "hysterical."

In fact, in more than a hundred movies, there are few things Walken hasn't been - and few roles, it seems, he's ever turned down.

"People have said to me, 'You know, you've made certain choices and so on - interesting choices, terrible choices,' whatever they think. But the fact is I don't make choices and I - I - I - I never have, when it comes to working. I take the best thing that comes next.

"There's no hobbies, there's no kids. So going to work is kind of it. It's what I do."

And he's been doing it just about forever. Born in Queens, N.Y., 1943, Walken started dancing at age 3.

He worked in a bakery owned by his immigrant parents. He says listening to them talk gave Walken his halting speaking style.

"Both my parents had heavy accents, and so did everybody they knew. It's a rhythm thing - people who speak English where they have to hesitate and think of the right word. And I think it rubbed off."

It didn't hurt: In 1963 he landed a part in a revival of the musical "Best Foot Forward," with a teenaged Liza Minnelli. Other stage roles followed.

By the early '70s, he was working on the big screen, with a major role in "The Anderson Tapes" ("America, man. It's so beautiful I want to eat it!).

He had a breakout moment when Woody Allen cast him in 1977's "Annie Hall," as Annie's bizarre brother, Duane.

And the following year, it all took off, with an Oscar-winning turn as a tormented, small-town boy sent to war in "The Deer Hunter."

But if Christopher Walken's on-screen persona says "unstable," his real life is more fairy tale. He's lived in the same house in Wilton, Conn., for decades - and has been married to the same woman, Georgianne, since 1969.

"I've been married for, you know, nearly 50 years!" he laughed.

"That's fantastic. No kids, why no kids?" asked Smith.

"I don't know, just - kids are a miracle, it just never happened."

"Did you want 'em?"

"No!" he laughed.

His offspring, it would appear, are his movies.

But what does he feel when a movie gets panned?

"You know, it's hard. And I, I read reviews. I'm very interested in what people think and what they say. No, I take it very seriously. You know, I want to know. 'Cause it has to do with, you know, my future."

There was a different kind of press last year, when, on the strength of new evidence, police re-opened the Natalie Wood case. Walken's one-time co-star drowned in 1981, after an evening drinking with her husband Robert Wagner and Walken on the couple's yacht.

This year, the cause of death was changed from "accidental" to "undetermined.".

"Were you surprised that they reopened the investigation 30 years in?" asked Smith.

"Yes."

"Did you think it was settled?"

"Well, I, no, I - I - I didn't understand that," Walken said.

"Why they opened it again?"

"Still don't, no."

"Have you talked to police about it?"

"Oh, I've talked, you know, over the years I've - I've talked about it. And the truth is that I, I haven't talked about it in 30 years."

"But if they open the investigation again, are they re-interviewing everybody?"

"I don't know," Walken replied. "Let me know what happens."

Over the years, Walken's films have grossed more than $2 billion. But his voice has become a comedic cottage industry of its own.

"A lot of people do it," he said. "My wife says that Kevin Spacey [is best]" Others Walken named include Kevin Pollack and Jay Mohr.

"When people do it in front of me I usually don't know what they're doing right away. I always think, Why are they speaking that way?"

Besides his voice, Walken's other trademark is his hair, which he says he owes to a bit of advice he got long ago.

"I became friends with Tony Perkins, the actor. And he said to me, 'That's some head of hair you got there. You know what you do? You just grab it every morning for five minutes and you pull it forward, just yank it as hard as you can.'"

"So you really pull on it?"

"Every morning. just yank on it! I watch TV and I just - it keeps your scalp loose," Walken explained. "And I've been doing it ever since. And like, you know, I got a lot of hair for somebody who's, you know, 87 years old!"

And now, after a career spent making us laugh and cringe, Walken is poised to make us cry.

In "A Late Quartet," Walken is the leader of a renowned string ensemble whose world is shattered after he's diagnosed with a terrible illness.

In the movie he's a convincing cello player, and - rarest of all for him - a voice of calm.

"You don't do anything TERRIBLE in this movie," said Smith.

"No, I'm - I'm really good. I'm a very nice man."

And a very busy man, with more projects on the way.

Truth is, Christopher Walken isn't really scared of anything . . . except maybe stopping.

"In life in general, is there anything you'd want a second chance at?" Smith asked.

His reply: "What's that Woody Allen thing, somebody said to him, "How would you like to live on in people's memories?" And he said, 'I'd rather live on in my apartment.'"