I'm not a very good singer. I just know how to present a song, and honey, I think I've been through enough to do it right.

What good is sitting all alone in your room?

No, I'm a theatrical, live performer or a movie performer.

It was like Mama suddenly realized I was good, that she didn't have to apologize for me. It was the strangest feeling. One minute I was on stage with my mother, the next moment I was on stage with Judy Garland. One minute she smiled at me, and the next minute she was like the lioness that owned the stage and suddenly found somebody invading her territory. The killer instinct of a performer had come out in her.

He [Gene Kelly] once told me dancing was a man's game, as much of a sport as baseball itself. And he made us believe that. He changed our minds and suddenly, all of America wanted to dance just like Gene Kelly.

I feel like I haven't done my best work yet.

I have two false hips, a wired-up right knee, two crushed discs and scoliosis. If I don't dance, I seize up.