To me, 'Educating Rita' is the most perfect performance I could give of a character who was as far away from me as you could possibly get and of all the films I have ever been in, I think it may be the one I am most proud of.

I'm looking for me to disappear, and the acting to disappear, and all you see is a real person.

I've never been competitive with other actors. I've been competitive with myself and I'm my own worst critic, a terrible critic I am, and unless I get something right, I feel very unhappy.

We can only use British actors because everybody's got to talk exactly the same.

I regard the theater as a woman I loved dearly who treated me like dirt.

I don't worry about the last shot or the next shot. I concentrate. Every shot gets a clean slate. And when a shot is over, I wipe it out absolutely. Tell a joke or something. If you worry about how you looked, how well you did, you'll go insane.

I want to stick around with the big boys. I don't want to be in the old folks home.