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In college, I was a cartoonist at 'The Daily Northwestern.' So I draw myself. I was an animator. But basically, I went to Northwestern to major in English, wound up in college for two years. Studied animation there. Came to Disney. My first week at Disney was the week that 'Star Wars' came out.

I willed myself through a junior college to a university and, ultimately, a Ph.D.

I was the first one in my family to go to college.

I got the first job and kept going. Once I got a job, I very much wanted to keep getting jobs, basically. I did try to learn what I could in those first couple of decades.

I had so much fun in early days learning about networking, security, scalability and other geeky stuff.

I think the universe was preparing me to be an actor. I never pursued one thing for long, but I was jack of all trades. I was learning everything possible because I knew my father would never shell out money for dresses or parties, but he would always give me money for new courses and books.

My first paying job, when I was 15, I was a day camp counselor.

After serving in the Korean War, I actually started working towards a master's degree in finance.

I wasn't that academic, but I always made sure I was earning money. I never wanted to put all my eggs in one basket. Even when I started doing music, my parents were like, 'You need to work; you can't just live off music.' I always knew that. So I worked until I knew I was going to be financially okay.

It was fun being an actor, but by the time college rolled around, I was ready to try some new things. By the time I graduated, I realized I enjoyed having a normal life and I never went back.