What is your most marked characteristic? People tell me it’s my smile. When my face is in repose, I can look quite serious or sad.
What is your idea of perfect happiness? Filling out this Proust Questionnaire. I try to be in the moment.
What is your greatest fear? Being onstage and forgetting why I’m there.
Which living person do you most admire? My partner, who’s helping me with this Proust Questionnaire.
With which historical figure do you most identify? Eleanor Roosevelt, Harriet Tubman, Sappho.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? Impatience.
What is the trait you most deplore in others? Cruelty.
What is your greatest extravagance? Amazon.com.
What is your favorite journey? I adore Greece. My second favorite is London, where I did a show. Queen Elizabeth attended, and I remember her turning to her companion, Lord Mountbatten, and smiling at something I said.
What talent would you most like to have? To be a fabulous singer.
What is your greatest regret? Regrets, I’ve had a few, but then again, too few to mention.
What or who is the greatest love of your life? My partner, Jane Wagner.
What is your current state of mind? Mindfulness is what I seek, but weltschmerz is my current state.
If you could change one thing about your family, what would it be? I wish more of them were alive, especially my mom and dad.
What do you consider your greatest achievement? I feel I still have to achieve it; however, time’s running out.
If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, what do you think it would be? A goddess like Venus de Milo but with both arms.
If you could choose what to come back as, what would it be? A doctor without borders. Or maybe Ava Gardner.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? Did I mention weltschmerz?
What is your favorite occupation? Working on a good part or a good production.
Who are your favorite writers? Eudora Welty, Toni Morrison. There are so many writers who have touched me. My partner, Jane Wagner. Virginia Woolf, Lillian Hellman.
What do you most value in your friends? That they’re my friends. I trust them and they trust me.
How would you like to die? In my sleep, “dreaming android dreams of electric sheep.”
What is your motto? I have a transcendental mantra that I am supposed to keep to myself.
Where would you like to live? Outside the box—always.