Traveling to swimming meets took me beyond my small-town existence, gave me a hint of the exciting world outside of my own home.

I always felt that if I made a movie, it would be one movie; I didn't see how they could make 26 swimming movies.

Howard Hughes himself was a regular at the restaurant, and in a way it became his headquarters, too. Howard had recently relocated to Las Vegas, so when he wanted to do business in Los Angeles, he went into the back of our restaurant to use the telephone.

No one had ever done a swimming movie before so we just made it up as we went along. I ad-libbed all my own underwater movements.

Everything about my teenage life was almost ideal.

No one can avoid a challenge in life without breeding regret, and regret is the arsenic of life.

Victor Mature was a big man; he had a great swagger. I liked him and I knew we'd be good together on screen.