I began painting well before I started doing comedy. In fact, when I came out of the war in 1946, I enrolled in art school in Dayton, Ohio. I painted for three years, and then show business took hold.
I decided to become a painter when my first four paintings where all published and attracted a great deal of interest. I exhibited one of them and it was sold.
I never really considered acting as a career. I kind of fell into it. Originally, I wanted to be a painter.
My main thing was painting; I was just going to do that.
I grew up wanting to be a painter and paint pictures.
I still have agents in France, Los Angeles and Amsterdam who call and suggest parts. I'd love to keep on doing both painting and acting until the end of my days.
I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.
When I left school, I wanted to be an artist, specifically a painter.
But painting can be too lonely... I like being with people too much to have ever made that my life's work.
Coming out of college with a degree in fine arts and painting isn't worth much any more.
It's hard to live just by selling paintings.
I wanted to be a painter.
At 18 I began painting steadily fulltime and at age 20 had my first New York show at the Macbeth Gallery.
I will be a historical painter.
