I have a respect for Elvis and my friendship. It ain't my business what he did in private. The only thing I want to know is, 'Was he my friend?', 'Did I enjoy him as a performer?', 'Did he give the world of entertainment something?' - and the answer is YES on all accounts. The other jazz just don't matter.

Most orgies that you go to, I have found, most of it is sad. All that wildness, all those laughs were like the shining silver and gold paper on packages, but there was nothing inside.

I wasn't anything special as a father. But I loved them and they knew it.

My talent was the weapon, the power, the way for me to fight. It was the one way I might hope to affect a man's thinking.

Tap dancing all started with the old clog waltz.

Real success is not on the stage, but off the stage as a human being, and how you get along with your fellow man.

My mother was born in San Juan. So I'm Puerto Rican, Jewish, colored and married to a white woman. When I move into a neighborhood, people start running four ways at the same time.