He was one actor I always wanted to meet. He seemed to be both a consumate professional and a nice guy. I remember him on some late night talk show, performing on a gong. Not just whacking it and listening, but sitting cross-legged in front of it with two soft mallets and playing it like a proper percussion instrument. Beautiful.
And then I heard that he painted a whole room in his house black, for sleep and meditation (before meditation was an "in" thing). How cool can you get?