Divine

I'd love to do a perlod piece. Maybe 'Caesar and Cleopatra.' I could do both roles- at one-and-a-half salaries.

I've lasted a lot longer than many thought I would.

I'm honestly very shy and quiet and to myself. Not that too much shocks me anymore.

I'm known all over the world.

I love to eat, it's my main thing, my biggest weakness.

I never planned to do female roles. It just happened. I was typecast.

I always wanted to play male parts.

Things people told me would never happen are happening. I'm clawing my way to the top as a man, no less.

I'm finally living the way I always thought people in New York were supposed to live. I have a bright, sun-filled lovely apartment on the 24th floor with a view of the river and the city. Most of all, I'm happy.

Alfred Hitchcock was right when he said that actors are basically like cattle. Directors just look at us and yell 'Move!'

Even though I travel considerably, I hardly get to see a thing when I am out on tour. It's always the same routine: I get into some town. They lead me to the hotel. I eat. I put on lipstick. Then I go to the club, talk real dirty, sing a few songs and go home. Not a bad way to make a living.

I'm very surprised at my success as a singing star because I can't sing a lick.

My men's clothes are traditional. I don't buy trendy clothes. I buy updated classics double breasted, three-piece suits; slacks and either T-shirts or regular shirts. Everything is monogrammed. I used to hate that more than anything. Now there are D's on everything. It started out as a joke and now, if it doesn't have a D on it, I wonder why.

Designers do a lot of clothes I would like to wear but I can't. If it had to be made up in my size It would look ridiculous. You can't always wear what's in style. You have to realize what looks good on you.

I collect a lot of beautiful tins from around the world, and I'll put things in them and give them as presents.

People don't even know the meaning of the word 'transvestite.'

I never wanted to emulate anyone. Oh, I loved Elizabeth Taylor, Mae West, Lucille Ball. But I never tried to copy. I always wanted to be an original.

The press criticism made me feel at times like I was someone who had landed from outer space and, to my parents, being in show business was the worst thing you could be. Especially because I did drag, they didn't think much of it.

I think of myself as a living cartoon.

I should have been singing since I was 10 years old.

I am a man who happens to play women's parts. And I'm not a drag queen. I'd like to think that I'm several levels above that.

For me, the best thing about drag is getting out of it.

I've been turned down for a lot of TV because they didn't think there was a place for Divine on television.

I always wanted to be in show business or whatever you want to call this crazy world, to be an actor or a movie star or whatever.

It's not easy being a woman. Especially when you're a part-time one. You never really get used to it.

I was very introverted.

When you're a young actor, you take what comes your way.

I love having my picture taken. I love doing interviews.

I have no bad habits, except overeating.

I just didn't feel like a Glen. Not that I'm 'divine.' But it's just become a name like Tom, Dick or Harry. There's no special meaning to it.

I think a lot of people don't really understand. They call me a fat drag queen, which I resent, because I'm a character actor and a very good one.

I think the least of people's worries is a man In a dress.

I've been working now for 24 years. That's a long time to be around for playing only one note, and I'm making a damn good living. And if some still think I'm a woman, that's OK, too.

It comes to a point where a lot of people don't know if I'm a man or a woman. I find it quite a compliment.

I never set out in the beginning of my career just to play female roles.

I don't do Judy Garland or Mae West, and I'm not a female impersonator. I'm an actor.

I don't see what's shocking about a man in a dress.

I've always said in interviews that I am a man I've never claimed to be anything but. Other than for performances, the women's clothing is in a box.

America is a hardheaded place. It's tough to be different here.

I think of myself as an actor or a personality, the personality of Divine, an entertainer.

As far as comfort and convenience, men have it all over the girls. A man can wear the same suit every day of the week with different shirts and ties, but a woman needs an extensive wardrobe. I can understand how women on the go wear pantsuits and slacks.

I love to make Christmas cookies, chocolate chips, peanut butter cookies, pecan pies, coconut macaroons, fruitcakes.

For all those people who always thought I was nothing more than a drag queen, wait until they see what I agreed to look like in 'Hairspray.'

As far as a man, Cary Grant is always suave and debonair and dashing. Sydney Greenstreet for a portly person, or Robert Morley. I think he always looked spiffy.

I always loved that tragic look, the bigger-than-life women. They always have those big glasses and scarfs on, and doctors and nurses always around them. You felt sorry for them, but they had their lips together, no matter what was happening to them. They always looked like movie stars.

I have to work. I have a certain way of life I want to maintain.

I'm a nice guy, I really am.

I am a character actor and one of my characters just happens to be a loud, vulgar woman.

I don't live in drag... I don't sit around in negligees and I don't wear little Adolfo suits to lunch. Of course, if I had a couple of Bob Mackie outfits, things might be different.

I love making people laugh. I just happened to do it dressed as a woman.