Quotes

[on why he refused to see his own films] I was too ashamed of them.

[during his 1960s nightclub tour] I want to keep going until I drop.

[In 1957] I don't know why people still want to believe that Jeanette MacDonald and I were a couple off the set. There's no truth to that rumor, at all. She's happily married to Gene Raymond and I'm happily married to Anne. I guess people want to believe that what they see on the screen is reality while in actuality, it's just a movie!

[reacting to seeing himself in an elaborate costume and makeup onscreen] Get him. Ain't he purty?

[In 1934, about his career] I engaged a dramatic coach and began to study the technique of acting on the screen. That same day I discovered how little I really knew, and I've been studying ever since.

[about some of the films he and Jeanette MacDonald were offered in their later career] We've been asked to do what might be called "B" pictures. Rather than do that, we decided to leave it on a high note.

[to a reporter a couple of days prior to his death] I'll go on singing until I drop because I love it.

[his last words onstage as he was having a stroke that would prove fatal] Will you bear with me a minute. I can't seem to get the words out. [after asking his accompanist to play "Dardanella"] My face is getting numb. Is there a doctor here?