What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Listening to Renata Tebaldi sing Puccini’s “Un bel di.”

What is your greatest fear?

Losing my hearing.

Which living person do you most admire?

My wife.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

Arrogance.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?

Greed.

What is your greatest extravagance?

Buying expensive things to make it look like I’m richer than I am.

On what occasion do you lie?

Whenever I think it’s going to do me more good than telling the truth.

Which living person do you most despise?

I don’t despise. Anything beyond “pissed off” is a waste of time and energy.

What or who is the greatest love of your life?

Julie and Henry.

When and where were you happiest?

Ever since Julie and I got married and Henry the cat took up residence.

Which talent would you most like to have?

I’d give my soul to be a great tenor.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

My family and a certain amount of success in my chosen fields of endeavor.

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

To lose one’s sense of humor.

Where would you like to live?

Comfortably in myself.

What is your favorite occupation?

Pretending.

What do you most value in your friends?

Loyalty.

Who is your favorite hero of fiction?

Tarzan and Cheetah.

Who are your heroes in real life?

Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday.

What is it that you most dislike?

Compromise when you know you shouldn’t.

How would you like to die?

Slaying dragons.

What is your motto?

The 11th Commandment as set forth to me by Gene Fowler on his deathbed: “Thou shalt not give up.”