Drug Courts

I’ve done them all, and I’m not talking about stage, screen, and television. I stopped taking drugs in the 1970s and stopped smoking in the 1980s. I ceased drinking in the 1990s when I needed a liver transplant and my doctors told me they wouldn’t do it if I continued drinking. So, I stopped, got the transplant, and became a friend of Bill W. Stopping was the best thing I ever did, second to marrying Maj. My substance abuse started, like most people’s, in high school through peer pressure. It progressed while I was on the stage and in the Air Force, where alcohol was the drug of choice. The problem continued as I worked in motion pictures where the day ended with drinks. When I ? nally made it big in television, I was drinking a case of champagne a day. I tell myself that I did this because of my insecurities about being at the top, but it also tasted good. Looking back and having read some of the things in this book, I realize that I have the addictive personality and the genetic predisposition to be a substance abuser. All that was necessary was a situation in which I was near drugs and had peer pressure to get me going.