"I don't like my voice that much. I think I'm a much better actress than singer. Singing is like going to a party at someone else's house. Acting is like having the party at your own house. When you go to someone else's house for a party, it's not your responsibility at all, but when you have the party at your own house, there's a lot of responsibility. Everyone has to have a good time. So for me, acting is deeper."

"In this business you have to be tough, and if someone pushes me really far I can certainly be impossible. I've always said, 'If you're nice they walk over you and if you stand up for yourself they call you a bitch.' "

"I'm not a role model, nor have I ever tried to be a role model. The only thing about me as a role model is I've managed to stay here and be working and survive. For 40 years."

"I'm like a bumper car. When I did an infomercial I was fodder for every TV comedy show. I couldn't get a job. People said I was a huge joke. I've been a joke so many times. I've been on my way out since I started, but I'm strong willed. My mother is so much tougher than I am and my grandmother is so much tougher than my mother."

"I haven't a clue why I've lasted so long. There's no reason. There are many people more talented than me. I think it's luck."

[People magazine, 9/1/85] "I was a shy ugly kid who led a big fantasy life. I thought I was an angel sent from heaven, to cure polio. When Dr. Salk [Jonas Salk] did that I was really pissed off."

"The trouble with some women, they get all excited about nothing - and then they marry him."