“Before 'Grease,' John Travolta was a big star from 'Welcome Back Kotte...” — Didi Conn Quote

Before 'Grease,' John Travolta was a big star from 'Welcome Back Kotter'... but that's not where I met him. I met him at unemployment when we first moved to California.

My teachers encouraged me to audition for some professional work during our summer vacation. I landed my first job. It was for the National Theatre Company's Mimika Pantomime troupe. I ended up touring with them for the next two years.

I went to Midwood High School in Brooklyn and then to Brooklyn college for 1 1/2 years.

We all want our children to be the best they can be; and one of the blessings of having an autistic child is that you notice every little achievement, and it becomes cause for celebration.

I lived in buses. I didn't really have anything else. I didn't feel like a female, and I ended up really kind of isolated. Everybody thinks you're so happy and so wealthy and such a big star, but you're really kind of lonely and don't know how to stop it.

It's an institution that was born with my brother Chetan and me. I did it for him. I was becoming a big star in the late 1940s, and he needed a company to make films. So when he left Navketan, I brought in Goldie, and when Goldie left, I carried on alone. No book on Indian cinema is complete without mention of Navketan.

I never said, 'I'm going to be a big star.' I said, 'I'm going to be a good actor.' And that took the pressure off.

I don't want to get any bigger - what does a 'big star' mean? I just want to be loved.