Someone should have told me I needed to work on my Cockney accent. Nearly everyone in the Mary Poppins cast was a Brit but no one said anything. I was given an Irish coach whose Cockney was much better than mine. Years later I asked Julie [Andrews]: "Why didn't you tell me?" She said it was because I was working so hard.
I wanted to be a magician. From an early age I'd stand in front of a mirror for hours practising my sleight of hand.
Attitude is in the genes. I'm the kind of person who gets out of the right side of the bed. I'm full of ideas and make a list of the things I want to do. Bringing up my family I noticed two of my kids were like me, but the other two woke up grumpy. I'm not sure that's something you can change.
I am hungry for contemporaries. It's disturbing that there aren't many people who can remember what I do. I have a few people I drop by on - like Carl Reiner, my mentor and idol, he's 94. And Mel Brooks. We mostly talk about how the past affects what we're doing in the present. We see the mistakes and the roads not taken. There's very little nostalgia involved.
I had no idea we were poor as a kid. I grew up in the Great Depression so nobody had much of anything. My dad was a travelling salesman and told a good joke. His side of the family all had a light touch when it came to life; I think I inherited that.