Biography

Father of Liza Persky, Dana Persky and Jamie Persky.

[on working for Joey Bishop on The Joey Bishop Show (1961)] He was a prick. The best story about him . . . he played his own cousin on one episode. He was playing two parts or something and he complained that the cousin was getting bigger laughs than him.

[on Sheldon Leonard] . . . he was a Damon Runyon character. But smart as a whip, great businessman, a real good eye for talent, and as flamboyant as you would expect him to be. I remember we were once in Vegas, and he was dressed in a white suit with a black silk shirt and a white tie and panama hat at the crap table. I was at the other end with his wife Frankie and I looked at him and I said to her, "God, you know, Frankie. Nobody could dress like that." She said, "I wish nobody would."

[on Morey Amsterdam] Morey was a very sweet man. A joke machine. No taste. He wasn't necessarily vulgar or anything, but he just made up jokes that didn't have any substance.

[on Burt Mustin] Burt Mustin was one of the true gentleman of the world. I just loved him. He had a very interesting background. He had been, not at West Point, but I guess The Citadel. He was a real Southern gentleman. I saw wedding photos in his uniform and everything. He had a barbershop quartet and I used to sing with him. He was a great guy. I loved Burt.

[on Billy De Wolfe] . . . Billy De Wolfe was, I guess, one of my favorite people ever. He was just a sweetheart of a guy and brilliantly funny. Most people didn't know that he had been an acrobat at one point. He had a way--he was so grand and it was terrific.