'80s Star Compares Hollywood Fame to 'Walking on the Edge of a Razor'

Steve Guttenberg was once among the biggest stars of the '80s, with career-turning roles in films such as Police Academy , Cocoon , Short Circuit , and Three Men and a Baby ; in addition to numerous sequels. However, after the limelight faded, the 65-year-old credits keeping a level head with surviving the peak of his Hollywood fame . Though, he admits that it wasn't always easy.

Speaking with Page Six over the weekend, Guttenberg now admits: "My god, I drank the Kool-Aid several times and went out and bought a Ferrari and had my times where I thought I was a big deal."

"And you get to the end of that tunnel and you realize you’re not that big a deal and that nobody’s that big a deal," he continued. "The biggest, the biggest star in the world is not a big deal. The biggest CEO in the world is not a big deal. Because you’re fungible. You’re human. You have a limited amount of time to dance on this earth. Try to do the right thing all the time."

Guttenberg says that the biggest lesson he's learned is to try to be nice to people, kind, and thoughtful, "and everything else works out."

"I think by osmosis, I was able to realize that you have to have a great deal of balance when you're walking on the edge of a razor," he said of Hollywood. "And show business, fashion, politics ... the gangster life, that's all a razor. And it's exciting and fun but it's a dangerous game, so you have to keep your head."

Guttenberg also attributes his father, a former US Army Ranger and New York City police officer, for helping him stay grounded. "My dad would say to me, ‘Anytime you want, get your marbles and leave. You don’t have to stay in this thing,'" he recalled. "And I thought that was great."

He also stressed the importance of having an "out" in the back of his mind, that if he ever got fed up with the lifestyle, that he could always get out of it.

Perhaps not not coincidentally, Guttenberg parodied himself in a 2010 episode of the Starz comedy Party Down , giving similar advice to Megan Mullally's character Lydia, who was trying to pivot her daughter to child stardom. "Success is a lifestyle you need to prepare for," he told her. "You read in the tabloids every day, some schmuck hits it big and falls to pieces, because he wasn't ready for success."

"You've got to educate yourself. I was very, very lucky, someone showed me the way," he continued. "I learned to live well—fine wine, clothing, art."

Clearly, those are words he's taken to heart. Guttenberg details more about his Hollywood experience and relationship with his father in his upcoming memoir, Time to Thank: Caregiving for My Hero , hitting shelves on Tuesday, May 21.