I could always open shows, perform through the middle, and close shows.

I never accepted the idea that I was all through. I guess no person who has once been a star can do that, ever.

Somehow, the things my mother wanted to do, the release in evangelism she sought with such frenzy, were transferred to me.

When I act I try to express the suffering or joy I've known during my lifetime.

The greatest acts in colored show business had long made Harlem their home and favorite stamping ground.

Whenever I played Columbus, Ohio, I dropped in to see my close friend, a medium who had mysterious powers. Her Indian guide was Mohawk.

There's no hypocrisy in Hell's Kitchen.