I'm very much a loner. I don't like long relationships with people and I always keep people at a distance.

Acting's entertainment. It's not brain surgery.

I'm having a great life. And I'm 73 and they still phone me up and ask me to do a job here and there.

I thought I did play one villain, Hitler, [who is] like Lecter in some ways, but he's a mythical figure, anyway.

I don't know what acting is, but I enjoy it.

I can't stand directors who try to micro-manage everything. When it happens these days I just walk off set, saying if they don't like the way I'm doing it they can get someone else.

If you're in a successful play and the play is working well - I mean successful because the audiences like it, the audiences respond well - it's a pleasure.