I would rather five people knew my work and thought it was good work than five million knew me and were indifferent.

When I'm really into a novel, I'm seeing the world differently during that time— not just for the hour or so in the day when I get to read. I'm actually walking around in a haze, spellbound by the book and looking at everything through a different prism.

I do think I'm a character actor.

It used to be that I was always paranoid or a loser or something so there's usually something that you seem to associate yourself with at one time or another.

'La Dolce Vita' made we want to go to Rome and, if not jump into the Trevi Fountain, at least watch someone else do it. Maybe that's why I married an Italian...!

My grandmother was a minister as well, which was not that common in the 1930s.

To work effectively in a film, you have to repeat and work consistently. Basically, you shoot a big master then you do close-ups. You're supposed to be in the same moment, the same 30-second moment, for a day.