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My dad has always been very proud of me but I think I have exceeded his expectations. When I told him I wanted to be an actor and moved to New York City, I think he assumed I would be playing the guitar on the subway and collecting spare change in my guitar case. The fact that I’m not doing that means that I’m a huge success.
When you’re nearing 35, going, ‘Hey Dad, I can’t make these payments,’ just isn’t cool.
Dad really had little to do with the songs, except to perform them.
I wanted to be an actress. I think it had a lot to do with being a kid and watching how every time my dad would stand up to talk people would applaud… that was pretty cool.
My dad was the baby. When he was born they were already successful. They sent him to business school – he probably would have loved to have been a poet or a writer or something, and he was very creative.
My dad was born in Chicago in 1908… his parents came from Russia. They settled in Chicago, where they lived in a little tiny grocery store with eight or nine children – in the backroom all together – and my grandmother got the idea to go into the movie business.
My dad told me that no one could ever make it as a writer, that my chances were equivalent to winning the lottery – which was good for me, because I like to have something to prove.
From my dad I learned to be good to people, to always be honest and straightforward. I learned hard work and perseverance.
My dad is very successful in his business. He’s always been big in having hobbies and having little ways to get away. He always made time for hunting and fishing. He always encouraged me to do it.
We had our first earthquake over here recently. That was a bizarre feeling. I just became disoriented and I remember my dad freaking out. Nothing broke or anything.