Roxanne Quimby wanted money and power, and I was just a pillar on the way to that success.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Success was always critical to me. What it meant was winning enough praise and external admiration that I could feel myself to be a logical extension of my Uncle Alex, Uncle Zoli, and my father, in that order.
I made enough money to buy a house. That's crazy, but fame proved ephemeral.
I had to find the courage to turn my life around.
To go back to visit the early days with Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon, when she was the dance captain of 'How to Succeed,' and finding them again 25 years later and working with them on 'Charity.' That was really great fun.
Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon intimidated us all because she walked in and was going to be the dance captain. She was a great star, but she loved that kind of work as his assistant.
I had a wonderful mother who wanted my sister and me to have everything, even though money was a very prominent thing we didn't have. But we had a very happy childhood - pretty much ideal, in fact.
If there's some triumphant end of the story, I guess in a roundabout way I've gotten what I wanted, which is the ability to do interesting things and the wealth to be free.
I should have been smart enough to stay happy. But my ambition ruled my life.
I wanted to step forward and be on TV and for people to see who I really was.
I was utterly without worldly ambition because I knew that all that was needed for a rich, full life was a few shillings a week with which to buy SF magazines and beer.