I was standing on Fifth Avenue in 1957, waiting for the light to change, when I saw on the other side of the street an English actor, Kenneth Haigh, then the toast of Broadway, starring in Look Back in Anger. Beside him was the prettiest girl I’d ever seen. Wearing glasses.
The light changed and we started to cross the street. The girl was slim and copper-haired. As we passed each other, going in different directions, we looked at each other for an instant. She had green eyes and a retroussé nose, and seemed very good-humored, as though the world was a fascinating place. If I could ever have a girlfriend like that, I thought, at the age of 16, I’d be happy.
