I started dancing before I could talk. Other babies learn to stand and then walk - I just danced.

I'm not romantic at all. I'm a moaner. I should be on Grumpy Old Men. I'm terrible.

Dad was a bus driver, and when he finished work he would repair cars.

When it came to the stylish and graceful art of ballroom dancing, my dad was a king of the clubs, a prowling tiger and a wonderfully natural mover.

I've done everything. I've sung, done records, plays... It just so happened my first professional job was as a dancer. I've done the whole shebang, darling. But dancing was my first professional engagement in 1974. I got paid for it, so that was it, my vocation. But my parents weren't keen. They wanted me to be an accountant in Italy. Or a lawyer. They were furious. I had to run away. I had to leave the country.

In reality, nobody gets successful in America by being lazy.

I'm with people all the time so I often go away on my own.