The saddest country I went to was Romania, years ago, during Ceausescu's rule.

I've always acknowledged my debt to Hammer. I've always said I'm very grateful to them. They gave me this great opportunity, made me a well-known face all over the world for which I am profoundly grateful.

In Britain, any degree of success is met with envy and resentment.

I've seen many men die right in front of me - so many in fact that I've become almost hardened to it. Having seen the worst that human beings can do to each other, the results of torture, mutilation and seeing someone blown to pieces by a bomb, you develop a kind of shell. But you had to. You had to. Otherwise, we would never have won.

I've done a lot of films that have become iconic, not necessarily because of me.

There are many vampires in the world today - you only have to think of the film business.

I think acting is a mixture of instinct, imagination and inventiveness. All you can learn as an actor is basic technique.