Gleason Quotes

I did the Ed Sullivan show four times. I did the Steve Allen show. I did the Jackie Gleason show.

Look at Gleason in The Honeymooners. He was humorous but the way he lived wasn't really humorous. He was a bus driver. Who wants to be a bus driver? He didn't have any money and he was not famous. But despite that, the show is humorous.

Stars wide of belt often cultivated a gentlemanly grandeur, a groomed refinement that filtered through their fingertips - the dainty fidgets of Hardy's plump digits, Orson Welles performing magic tricks with nimble dexterity, Jackie Gleason lofting a teacup to his lips as if he were Lady Bracknell - or through a fine set of twinkle-toes.

Gleason became like a mentor of mine. I had Gleason helping me on television, Godfrey on radio.

How could you get angry with Jackie Gleason?

Jackie Gleason said that comedy is the most exacting form of dramatic art, because it has an instant critic: laughter.

Gleason used to rack balls for me when he was a kid in Brooklyn and in Long Island.