Some men just want to watch the world burn

In England, I was a Cockney actor. In America, I was an actor.

I'm forever testing myself. As a person and as an actor, I have no sense of competition.

The American cinema in general always made stories about working-class people; the British rarely did. Any person with my working-class background would be a villain or a comic cipher, usually badly played, and with a rotten accent. There weren't a lot of guys in England for me to look up to.

My mum never understood how much I earned. When I told her I earned a million pounds a film, she said, 'How much is that?'

My closest friends are Roger Moore, who is an actor, Sean Connery, who is an actor, Terry O'Neill, who is a photographer, Johnny Gold, who was the boss of Tramp, and Leslie Bricusse, who is a composer.

To me, growing old is great. It's the very best thing - considering the alternative.