Cancer reminds me of a very bad but tenacious performer who, although no one wants to see, insists on doing an encore, having a return engagement, making a comeback and, worst of all, going on tour.
Don't accept or be crippled by the media hype that aging is bad or shameful.
I don't know a great deal about Alzheimer's - just what it does.
Life has sweetness to it and a beauty and a power that I wanted to celebrate.
I'm basically an actress, not a comedienne, and if something comes along that appeals to me, I'll do it.
The first Broadway play I ever saw was 'The Bad Seed' by Maxwell Anderson and with Patty McCormack. 'The Bad Seed' was from an extraordinary novel by William March.
Daddy was a salesman and away a lot, always working. My mom took me to the movies on Thursday nights because it was dish night, when they gave you a free dish along with your movie ticket.
The movie that really 'did it for me' was 'All About Eve.' The backstage feeling, the authenticity, the passion those people had for their lives in the theater. I must say, the movie 'All About Eve,' what a great movie! 'All About Eve' had a profound effect on my life.
I've always been a team player.
Women and young girls are constantly judging themselves by standards that aren't real.
With imagery, as actors know, you can make up anything you want to. You can put yourself in icy water to get rid of this or that.
I danced in choruses from about 1959 to 1967, in 'Take Me Along,' 'Wildcat,' and 'Subways Are for Sleeping.'
When you age, you can do all kinds of roles. You don't have to look great. You can be the mom, the aunt. You can have a small part. You're an actor.
All of us have the same thing coming - death. It's waiting. But I don't want to go. I want to live to be 102!
I wouldn't give people advice except to share with them what I'm doing, which is, You're alive - stay alive.
I really got the 'Rhoda' flavor from studying my stepmother, Angela, who's Italian, not Jewish. There's really so little difference between the speech patterns and family attitudes of Jews and Italians in the New York area, anyway.
