Tom Cruise tells Oprah he wants more challenges

By Andrew Stern

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Hollywood's stars paid tribute to Tom Cruise on Monday's Oprah Winfrey television show, with the actor saying he hoped for more challenging roles and to work with the likes of Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro.

In the second of two interviews with Cruise, Winfrey aired highlights since the actor's breakthrough role 25 years in 1983's "Risky Business," including a seemingly death-defying stunt from "Mission: Impossible 2" in which a bare-chested Cruise leaps across a rocky cliff.

Cruise said he dangled from a thin wire during four days of shooting the scene.

The movie clips were interspersed with videotaped congratulations from a long lineup of celebrity friends and co-stars, including actors Will Smith, Dustin Hoffman, and Renee Zellweger, director Steven Spielberg, soccer player David Beckham and his wife, Victoria.

Cruise repaid the compliments in full, saying he hoped to work with "so many" other actors, among them Pacino and De Niro.

"I'm actually surprised how much I've accomplished," the 45-year-old actor said, responding to an audience member's question about whether he had done everything he set out to do.

"I feel really privileged to do what I do, and I thank you for allowing me to entertain you," he said. "As you go along, you think, 'how can I keep challenging myself even more?'

"I feel at home on that movie set. A lot of times I show up before the crew. And I feel this is what I'm supposed to do."