There are more important ways of earning a living, aren't there? Like being a neurosurgeon. But some plays are very important, aren't they?
— Michael Gambon
I see film roles as lovely presents that come along now and again. I feel really lucky and say thank you very much. And if they fly me to L.A., I think, 'God, I must really be doing well.' I've worked with De Niro and Brando and Pacino, and that's made me feel very lucky. But the films have never meant a lot to me.
I sometimes think the theatre is more demanding because it requires things you don't have in films, like it requires you to make the people in the front row believe you and not look an idiot to them while the people right at the back can hear you.
I'd love to be a comedian. I've done a lot, but always in the confines of plays.
I've played quite a lot of crooks and killers, and that's quite interesting. Then Dumbledore is the complete opposite, isn't he? He's a nice old man.
Television has dried up for my generation, so it's plays and films. You get used to being lazy doing films, but classical theatre's going to finish me off.
I like causing trouble. It's the teddy boy in me. I used to be a teddy boy. Feeling slightly inferior and wanting to cause a bit of bother and get some action going on in the room rather than get bored stiff. Does that make sense?
I fell in love with Alan Ayckbourn the day I met him and, starting with 'The Norman Conquests,' went on to do eight plays with him. He tells you just what you want to know and has a brilliant way of solving problems.
Yeah, I like causing trouble. It's the teddy boy in me. I used to be a teddy boy. Feeling slightly inferior and wanting to cause a bit of bother and get some action going on in the room rather than get bored stiff.
I belong to quite a lot of learned societies. We collect firearms and discuss them at dinners and clubs and things.
A child did approach me in a restaurant in Cornwall, but he thought I was Gandalf.
Every part I play is just a variant of my own personality. No real character actor, of course, just me.
I learn the lines that JK Rowling or whoever writes them, and say them.
Television has dried up for my generation, so it's plays and films.
You get used to being lazy doing films, but classical theatre's going to finish me off.
The theatre starts every night at half past seven, and I like the rhythm of going to the theatre, parking the car, going to the stage door; I've grown up with all of that. I'd love to do more theatre - I mean, I shouldn't be telling the world that I can't remember lines any more, but I find it more and more difficult, so I don't know.
All actors say they're concerned about the state of the theatre, but what they're really concerned about is that there'll be less work around.
I can't remember any of the films I've done. You go from one to another, and they all blend in to a big mass. You remember the costumes because you remember how you felt - that Western I did with Kevin Costner where I wore the big hat and the two guns, I remember that.
Theater actors are just tolerated. You have to be a movie star to be a celebrity.
There were certainly no spells at my school. More like a smack in the mouth.
I've had a private pilot's license for years and flown all round the U.K. and over to France.
I want to be good all the time, so I feel anxious. But if you weren't like that, you'd be dead, wouldn't you? If you went out happy down the road, la la la. I've never been like that. I don't want to be.
I find it difficult to remember lines. When I'm doing a long speech for television, I sometimes have an earpiece with someone feeding me the text. But I can get by in the theatre if I study hard for a couple of months.
I live in fear of being a contented passenger. I'd rather get parts I can't play.
I've always tried to be an actor who... I just plod on and try to keep my mouth shut, mind my own business. I find the whole thing about people's lives... I can't understand it. I'm always astonished that people want to know anything about me.
I just hate the idea of being well known. I know that is almost impossible if you're an actor who has done okay, but I've always fought against it.
I am a theatre actor, but the last ten years I've taken parts in movies because it keeps me in money.
I promise myself that I would go and do a play every year.
There were no spells at my school, just a smack in the mouth.
People should be shrouded in mystery. Especially actors. No, hang on, maybe actors should be blown up.
Certainly, I seem to need to do a play a year. I feel wrong if I haven't got one planned.
I have been in five Harry Potter films and never read a 'Harry Potter' book. If you are an actor, all you have is the script you are given. If you read the book, you might get disappointed about what's been left out.
My only memories of school are of being beaten, of being hit in the playground, of masters poking their fingers in my chest all day.
Maybe that is why kids like Dumbledore: because he is funny rather than a miserable old sod with a long white beard.
I don't play classical guitar. But I do in my mind. I've got it on a stand.
When I was doing 'Tales from Hollywood' at the National, I was invited to dinner by the choreographer, Kenneth MacMillan. He told me I had the heart of a dancer and asked me if I'd like to come on at the end of 'Romeo and Juliet' as a friar. I said I'd love to, but sadly, MacMillan died shortly after.
I'm very flower-like. I love classical music. I go to ballet and I cry. There's nothing so beautiful.
I'm an anorak. I've always been an obsessive collector of things. Richard Briers collects stamps. I collect cars and guns, which are much more expensive, and much more difficult to store.
Paul Schofield said something like, 'If I'm not acting in a play, I don't really exist.' Those weren't the exact words, but he meant it's only when I'm acting in a play that I've got something to say about the world. And then why should I talk, when people can come to see it?
Oh yeah, I'd love to be a comedian. I've done a lot, but always in the confines of plays.
I just play him as myself, I don't ease myself into any role really. I stick a beard on and play me.
Richard was in heavy, heavy costume, he could hardly sit, you know, and I turned up and they put me in two layers of silk, so I played him much lighter - you know, floating around in a pair of slippers, a bit of a hippy.
There's no subtext in 'Harry Potter,' really; it's all magic - anything can happen. Why do I say this? Because it's a magic spell. It's quite nice in a way. There is a real freedom to it. Doesn't say much for acting, does it?
