It was in 1969, and I thought, wow, you know, I really didn't want to do a TV series. You know, I had my own act, and I was performing in Vegas and doing all of these exciting things.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Then when I got to Hollywood, the first musical I did was Festival in 1977.
It's been real weird. It wasn't how I expected my life to turn out. Especially, mainly pertaining to the show. It never crossed my mind that one day I'm gonna be big and famous and have my own TV show, you know?
I did 'Showtime at the Apollo' when I was 10, and it was the first time that I'd ever performed on TV, and it felt great.
I have done a series in the '60s, '70s and '80s.
This was in '79. I got pretty restless there, sitting around with a lot of people sitting around smoking cigarettes and talking about films, but nobody really doing anything.
I wanted to go back on 'Dancing With the Stars,' I did it. One of my favorite shows is 'Hawaii Five-0.' I went on, guest starred. I wanted to be in a film, did 'Tasmanian Devils' in Vancouver. Wanted to host a show, boom, did it.
I think it was 1987 - something like that - or '86, and I thought, 'When you go equity and you're gonna get paid, you'll finally be able to make a living.' But it was not to be so. I always bartended and waited tables so I ended up not doing theater for about a year because nobody would hire me.
In 1962 I was 17, so I was definitely watching the dance shows on television.
I started making movies in 1977, and I didn't even think about the idea that I would ever be on a television show. Once I finished the 'Guiding Light,' I was like, 'I'm done with television!'
It was June 4, 1979, the first time I went on stage. I didn't know I could do it but I knew I couldn't not do it. I quit everything in my life and this was the one thing I couldn't quit.