Your new film, “Gimme Shelter,” is the latest of more than 65 features that you’ve acted in. What’s the secret to longevity? The secret is never forgetting that you’re a journeyman actor and that nothing is your final thing, nothing is your greatest thing, nothing is your worst thing. I still consider myself a novice.

Did you know the film’s star, Vanessa Hudgens, before you took the project? No, but it’s wonderful to work with a new generation. It’s great to know that talent keeps coming. I still run into kids who will ask me, “How do you become a star?” Well, that’s a great question — I don’t have a clue.

When you look at the scope of contemporary black cinema, do you feel you helped make it possible by breaking down barriers? I feel a great sense of pride, but I don’t think I contributed anything to that. My first impression of a breakout black character was in “Die Hard,” the black kid who played the hacker taking care of the control board downstairs. When you have black guys playing different kinds of roles, it’s just sort of spreading the goodies, you know? Everybody gets some.

You made your film debut as a member of the B-52 bomber crew in Stanley Kubrick’s “Dr. Strangelove.” How did that happen? George C. Scott was playing Shylock in Shakespeare in the Park when Kubrick came to look him over. I was also in the play, as the Prince of Morocco, and Kubrick said, “I’ll take the black one, too.” That’s not what he actually said, but that’s the way I like to put it.