I was always lonesome. The only time I felt accepted or wanted was when I was on stage performing. I guess the stage was my only friend: the only place where I could feel comfortable. It was the only place where I felt equal and safe.

I think that I have every right to write a book. I think I'm interesting. I have perspective about me.

When you get to know a lot of people, you make a great discovery. You find that no one group has a monopoly on looks, brains, goodness or anything else. It takes all the people - black and white, Catholic, Jewish and Protestant, recent immigrants and Mayflower descendants - to make up America.

Hollywood is a strange place if you're in trouble. Everybody thinks it's contagious.

Someone might come close to dying, and they'll enjoy life much more than everyone else. I came close to the death of my sports career, and I enjoy everything coming my way.

Retirement from work has depressed many a man and hastened his death.

I learned that, with grief, you have to take it one day at a time and learn how to find the happiness amid the heartbreak.

I was this kid, and I was scared to death of all these pros around me... My head would shake, and my hands would shake, and I discovered if I kept my head down and looked up, my head would not shake, so I started to do that when I could, when it was appropriate in a scene.