Quotes

[on his early days as an entertainer] There were many hungry days. God bless those hungry days. They teach you a lot.

[to the Hollywood studio that offered him a role in a movie] You have one formula. A hero. A dame. An Indian and a bad Mexican. The hero has to kill the Indian and the bad Mexican to win the girl. No wonder your pictures do not make money. You cannot hurt the feelings of 350,000,000 Latins. You came to me. I didn't come to you. I have my terms.

From the seminary, I went to live with an uncle. He decided we needed an airplane pilot in the family business. I came to the United States to study aviation, and later went to Mount Union college. I got a scholarship to study singing under Deanna Durbin's former coach in Hollywood. My uncle wired that I was fired from the family business because it had no room for clowns.

[1969] I have been in 103 Mexican movies. Hollywood came after me. I dictated my terms because I had confidence.