I can't say that I deserve longlife; I don't. I've just been around long enough. They say, "My God, she's still here."

My memory about names and places now is dreadful. But lines, I can remember.

Psychologically, you learn the values that are inherent in the dialogue, and you learn to apply it to the way you read the lines. That's acting. You're not yourself saying those lines, you're somebody else.

Im in a very enviable position, being able to work like this 45 years later. Its always beginning! I never have a sense of finishing up, just new things beginning. When I die, theyre going to carry me off a stage.

I don't care whether it's a chance meeting or playing a role that you thought was totally wrong but you did it anyway. It will often turn out to be the thing that will lead you to the role which is sublime.

I've worked with the greatest actors, and they're all gone. This is what's so desperate to me.

I have never directed. But I think I could. I have thought about it. I'm a bit long in the tooth to start.