"People believe what they want to believe."
"I lived a very don't-ask, don't-tell life."
"A lot has been written about Tony Perkins and myself and I figured, Let's get it straight. I had a relationship with Tony for two to three years, but those are only threads in the tapestry of my whole life."
"I knew Jimmy Dean. He tested for 'Battle Cry'. Paul Newman tested for 'Battle Cry'. I did nine tests to finally get that role."
"I learned denial from my mother. I just never confronted things and if anybody did, I just would go crazy."
"I said, God, the press and people, they just really hate me and I'm really trying. Geraldine Page said, Listen to this, Tab. If people don't like you, that's their bad taste."
"People place such importance on the external. It's disgusting."
"I wasn't an actor. They they take the externals. Here I was, a kid thrown into Hollywood with a brand-new name, starring in motion pictures."
"The people that really were important, that mattered, had a great foundation. I had no training. I had to learn while doing, and it was really difficult."
"John Wayne treated me fine, but that macho stuff turns me off. It's not real."
"Hollywood cools, and when it cools you have to go to where the work is. I ran off to Italy to do spaghetti westerns."
"I turned into a workaholic to the point of where my health was in jeopardy."
"I did Polyester, and I don't regret one minute of it. It was wonderful."
"Rock Hudson wasn't my type. He's a great guy and had a great sense of humor."
"All the things that happen to people in the industry today, the actors, what they have to put up with, all the people wanting to know every single moment of their lives - I think it's really sad."
"I don't care whether people like me or dislike me. I'm not on earth to win a popularity contest. I'm here to be the best human being I possibly can be."
"I'd work for John Waters again, because he's so off the wall."
"I was born in New York. I grew up in San Francisco, Long Beach, and Los Angeles."
"My nickname, when I was 15 years old in the Coast Guard, they called me 'Hollywood' because I went to the movies all the time. It was such great escapism. That's why I ran away from home."
"I love singing. You know, my mother always used to encourage me, 'Sing, sing,' and I was in a choir in church, yes."
"Divine was like a 400-pound beached whale. He was one of my favorite leading ladies, I've got to tell you. He was really terrific."
"I'm a very private person who grew up with a strict German mother who believed 'loose lips sink ships.'"
"Without a doubt, my sexuality was something that I just never discussed, especially in the 1950s."
"I'm very proud of 'That Kind of Woman' with Sophia Loren, directed by Sidney Lumet, and I loved doing 'Gunman's Walk' because I finally got to play a bad guy."
"There are a lot of people who have the same fears and problems I had as a young man growing up. You read about it all the time. If you can help someone in some way, terrific."
