Citas

[in a 1971 interview] The star thing is over. I've knocked around quite a bit in the past few years and now I'm just another actor looking for work. Acting is what I know and what I do best . . . I'm trying to find a new niche . . . something to help erase that bland image the studios gave me in the Fifties. I'm looking for roles that will establish me as a more mature actor.

[about his love for Montecito, California] It's like the French Riveria without the French. I thank God every day I'm able to be there.

[on Gary Cooper] Coop was a lovely guy. His sense of humor was kind of within. He'd do something he knew was funny. He laughed inwardly. It was a delight! He's say things, then chuckle within himself. He was wonderful, low-key, like Fred Astaire, an absolute gentleman. These are quality, quality people. They have their own atmosphere about them. Coop's was very laid-back and easy.

I still don't look at it as if I've come out. Coming out, what does that mean? What I'm concerned about is people as human beings. Are you a decent human being? What are you contributing? That's important.

I think marriage is just between two people and their maker, period. Doesn't concern any of us, whether it be a woman and a woman, a man and a man, or a man and a woman, I don't care.

I had a very grounded family. My mother was very structured. She used to say, "There is yes and there is no and there is no in between." Tell that to people today. And I had a brother that I looked up to that was terrific. When negative things happen, you just have to believe that somewhere under the pile of crap is a pony. You just gotta be positive, 'cause there's too much negativity around.

What you are as a human being inside is what's important. My mother told me, "Don't get concerned with the externals." Everyone today is concerned with how they look, how they're presented. Strip it away.

When things stop happening, it is a shock. But you have to go with the flow of things. You have to understand, "This is happening. It can't be forever. This is the now. It's the way it is. Life is not the way you want it to be -- it's the way it is." "I want this," "I want that," "I want this," "I want that" -- there's too much of that.

It's all very important, but the real important thing is, I think, not labeling a person. The first line in my book is, "I hate labels." It's who we are as human beings. What kind of human being are you? Are you a contributor?

When you're as young as I was and you're thrown into all of that and everyone's going [makes kissing sounds], it's really going to take your head and send you on a journey. You're not going to hate it, but you're just going to try to have the wherewithal to find your balance, hopefully. How could you not love being at home up in Lake Arrowhead with Kay Starr singing her hit song "Side by Side" and Judy Garland on the floor, and the two of them doing a duet? You'd be an idiot not to go for it and love it.

[1956, on the breakup of his coast-to-coast romance with Lynn Dollar] She's a nice girl, but I couldn't afford the phone bills.