It's much harder to act in a bad film than in a good one. A terrible script makes for very difficult acting. You can win an Academy Award for some of the easiest acting in your career, made possible by a brilliant script.

If you're blond, as I am, and you have blond lashes, you have to wear mascara, otherwise you're invisible on stage.

The old guys like me started in the theatre. I was in the theatre for nine years.

I think what is British about me is my feelings and awareness of others and their situations. English people are always known to be well mannered and cold but we are not cold - we don't interfere in your situation. If we are heartbroken, we don't scream in your face with tears - we go home and cry on our own.

I'd never been in one of those great big blockbusters.

If you think you're going to be up for an Oscar, you schedule your moviemaking.

The difference between a movie star and a movie actor is this - a movie star will say, 'How can I change the script to suit me?' and a movie actor will say. 'How can I change me to suit the script?'