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I met Patti Smith, which is not Hollywood, but that really blew my mind. I love her. We were at a very small party, too, on a boat, and I totally fanned out. I told her that I loved her, and wasn't cool at all.

I met Patti LuPone and Elaine Paige in a party. I didn't speak too much with Patti, but she was lovely with me.

Jenny McCarthy was the one I thought could turn me straight. I thought that if I could just get my shot with her, it could happen.

My first job was on Broadway. Then I went into the Navy. When I came out of the Navy, I went back to Broadway and a friend of mine, Lauren Bacall, was in Hollywood filming with Humphrey Bogart. She told one of her producers I was great in my play, and he saw it and cast me in 'The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'.

Angie Dickinson in 'Hollywood Wives' took me under her wing. If you look at that cast, I was definitely an 'outcast'... so to speak. Most of them were of the same era, or just so much more experienced that I was.

I had a very hard time accepting myself as a character actress because I wanted to be glamorous and a leading lady like everybody else. I looked in the mirror and thought I looked pretty good, but casting didn't ever see me that way.

I loved all the other movies, and I loved all the other movie stars, but I was very aware of the fact that I didn't look like Marilyn Monroe - although I still wanted to be Marilyn Monroe. Then Josephine Baker popped up, and she wasn't the maid - she was the star of the show. To me, it was mind-blowing.

I had met a young lady who wanted to be in the theater. It was Judy Holliday. She had somehow fallen down the steps of the Village Vanguard, which still exists today.