In the middle of my third Hollywood picture The Magician, the earthquake hit Hollywood. Not the real earthquake. Just the talkies.

No, I was not born with a monocle in my eye.

I used to think then that I was Bohemian, but I know now that I am not. I prefer order and precision to untidiness and looseness.

There must have been something in my nature - I believe, with all my heart, that I have conquered it now - which prevented me from being perfectly happy or making a woman perfectly happy.

My father died. It is still a deep regret to me this day that in choosing acting as my career I was forced to hurt him. He died too early to see I had done the right, the only thing.

For me, half the joy of achieving has been the struggle and the fight, the pitting myself against the world and all its competition - and winning.

An actor remembers his first piece of published praise. It is written on his heart.