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.

Oh yeah, I’d love to be a comedian. I’ve done a lot, but always in the confines of plays.

There are some actors who are rehearsal actors, and some who are not. I am not. Having said that, I don’t know what I am talking about.

I live in fear of being a contented passenger. I’d rather get parts I can’t play.

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.

I’m very flower-like. I love classical music. I go to ballet and I cry. There’s nothing so beautiful.

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.

For an actor to remain a child is rather important. It’s a childlike, dreamy thing, acting, if you think about it. It’s the sort of thing children fantasise about, playing cowboys and Indians in the street. I think that acting is just a highly refined development of that.

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?