Get Out! GAY Magazine – Issue 463

You’ve had an incredible, crazy
career. Can you think of the best
moments or moment in your career?
There were several high points....of
course a lot of other points too... it
depends which way you were looking.
I think probably getting the Golden
Globe, although they’re still asking for
it back. Fuck them it’s all mine. They
didn’t like my name or my husband...
fuck them.
I never said I was a great actress what
happened was it was the New Star of
the Year category. The film “Butterfly”
was very me....no holes barred kind of
thing. The Grammy nomination was
kind of cool because I lost to Tina
Turner.
If you have to lose to anyone that’s a
cool person to lose to.
Going on tour with Sinatra, of course
everybody thinks we were having
an affair but.....I won’t comment...I
did something called “Too Short to
be a Rockette” and it was sort of
autobiographical and they asked
people who I worked with to record
little clips and talk about me. It didn’t
really go anywhere but it was a fun
show. So they asked the people that
I worked with like Burgess Meredith,
Bea Arthur, Frank Sinatra, Benny
Goodman.... Milton Berle, .... people
wanted to hear about my life because
it’s so fucked up and interesting. A lot of
it was a lot of fun.
Can you recall a moment that change
the trajectory of your life?
Yes, when I met my husband to be.
My first ex-husband. Before that I
started in show business when I was
like eight. I was a very shy little girl, I
don’t know what happen I re-morphed.
I was going to parochial school in
Forest Hills. The nuns thought I was
socially retarded. I was an only child,
I had a heart condition, and I was
sheltered by my mother. So I went to my
pediatrician who recommended to my
mother to send me to a kids dramatic
school program to bring me out of my
shell. She sent me to the American
Academy of Dramatic Art where I took
weekend classes. I was playing a mean
little princess at the Academy and my
luck Burgess Meredith was scouting
for a little girl to co-star with Tallulah
Bankhead in a Broadway show. I went
to audition and I got the part. That
was the beginning of my career. I did a
whole bunch of shows including Fiddler
on the Roof, I was the youngest child.
I did “Sound of Music”, and other
shows. I toured with “Applause”, with
Alexis Smith when I was about 17 or 18.
Anyway I met my first ex-husband when
I was with my manager Arthur Miller
when I went to audition for “To Kill A
Mockingbird.” He wanted to stop and
see his friend and asked me to wait. I
sat in the lobby and the next thing you
know he came out and got me and
brought me in. He asked me what I was
doing and I explained that my next gig
was in Ohio. He told me he had to be
there on business and then he wanted
to come and see my show. He did but
I was busy that night and he wound up
taking my mother home. He actually
wooed my mother but I went and
married him instead. He always used to
say that I married him to get away from
my mother, and it was really true.
Really?
When I married him all of a sudden I
was Cinderella. He owned Cartier at the
time so I could walk into Cartier and
get anything I wanted. I could walk in
and get million dollar necklaces and
the limousine was always waiting for me
when I came downstairs. There was a
helicopter, an airplane and it was really
kind of a fiasco in a good way.
I remember at the time people loved
to talk about it. How did you feel
about that?
He was 27 years older than me so it
was inevitable. At that time he was
one of the richest men in the world.
When you’re 24 and the guy is 50 and
charismatic and has everything, he
was like a father to me. He gave me
everything that my mother never gave
me. He actually respected me. What did
I care if everyone talked it was my life,
and that’s their problem. It’s my life.