Quotes

[on Gregg Barton] Gregg was a good man. Ironically, he played just the opposite characters in pictures. Perhaps his reason being most "heavy" parts had more to do, and for the most were better parts. He was truly a good actor. He was so well liked by all that knew him. I clearly recall one night. We were at a party. In the course of the evening a rather elderly lady came to me and said in no uncertain terms, "Mr. Simmons, I've seen you in several shows along with my dear friend Gregg Barton. And I'm sick and tired of seeing you try to beat the tar out of him. He's a very nice young man and deserves much better. Please pick on someone else". That says it all. The people who knew Gregg knew him for what he really was. A very nice, honest, good person. To this lady he was everything a gentleman should be. Gregg was such a fine actor he could portray quite the opposite very convincingly.

[on Eddie Dew, who directed many episodes of Simmons' series Sergeant Preston of the Yukon (1955)] Eddie was a prince of a guy, one of the nicest men that ever lived. He directed all of the earlier summer episodes with the horse, and many of the winter shows. He'd been on Broadway as a singer, had a beautiful voice.