My part had three lines. I said, `You look wonderful, sir,` three times. All my friends said, `Do not take that role - and do not understudy. You`ll regret it the rest of your life.` I did both of those things, and I`ve never regretted it once.
My education was doing good plays and also stinkers. When you do a stinker, you learn how to act. I like having to audition. It`s nice to do rehearsals. But it`s with an audience that you get to love it!
I remember going to Bob Preston`s dressing room because I was losing a laugh - as you do in a long run. He said, `Give me the script. That`s where you`re going off the road.` That`s comedy. It`s never the line itself; it`s in the foundation.
I loved the gentlemanly way they treated each other. It was unlike anything I was used to. I started helping them strike the set and, at 11, began taking acting classes privately.