Upon telling his family he wanted to go into show business: "My dad hit the roof and I hit the road, simultaneously." "I don't know who the hell Paul Lynde is or why he's funny, and I prefer it to be a mystery to me. An actor shouldn't undergo psychoanalysis, because there are a lot of things you're better off not knowing." "I always wanted to be Anna May Wong. She seemed so much more exotic and exciting than plain ordinary folk. But no-go. I wasn't fated to be Wong, just white." "I have so many friends who were lovers. After they got married, it was over." "I'm used to living alone, and I like it that way. You become so selfish living alone...I'd make a terrible husband anyway." "I don't meet enough women outside show business, and I wouldn't marry anyone in this field." [in 1969] "Sometimes, I think you're better off not being married today. When you see your married friends split up, it's devastating. Call it scared! Call it an obsession. But I took it for granted I was going to marry a girl I went with for nine years. That is, until I received her wedding invitation." [in 1974] "I was in 'Bye Bye Birdie' on Broadway - played the father. I was in the film version, but they should have retitled it 'Hello, Ann-Margret!' They cut several of my and the other actors' best scenes and shot new ones for her so she could do her teenage-sex-bombshell act." "I had a drag scene in Doris Day's 'Glass Bottom Boat.' An elegant gown. Actually, it was more expensive than any of the ones Doris had to wear. That day that I came in fully dressed and coiffed, I was the belle of the set! Everybody went wild! Doris came over and looked me up and down and told me, 'Oh, I'd never wear anything that feminine.'" "I always wanted to be Anna May Wong. She seemed so much more exotic and exciting than plain ordinary folk. But no-go. I wasn't fated to be Wong, just white."