I’ve always been terrified about being bored. I always think being bored is the worst thing. The only strategic decision I ever made as an actor was to try and make each job as different as possible.

To be challenged means to strive. I’m almost certain that’s true.

When I look back on my career – if that’s what it is – it looks a bit like a crazy quilt, and I think it’s just really because, when one job has finished, I’ve never really been in a position where I had three or four options.

There are many actors who have inspired me: Spencer Tracy for his incredible elegance and, of course, Cary Grant. But, there’s also an Italian actor I admire a great deal: Alberto Sordi.

Character actors aren’t a brand in the same way that high-profile leading men are.

I’ve worked with actors who treat the first two takes like rehearsals. And that’s okay. If the camera is on you and we’re doing a scene where I’m off camera, I’m treating that as a rehearsal.

I love working fast. I don’t relish the director who wants to do 25 to 30 takes, or the actors who insist on doing 25 or 30 takes.

The big stars I felt a kinship with were never the romantic leads. It wasn’t Steve McQueen or Robert Redford – it was people like Walter Matthau and Anthony Quinn. My big hero was Tommy Cooper.

I’ve been acting for 25 years, living out of suitcases on theater tours or film locations.

And I think it’s because good cons are all based on the victim’s need, and the successful con artist is the one, I guess, who can exploit that. I remember reading something about this, that one of the great traits of confidence tricksters is the level that they flatter their victim.