I loved doing My Favorite Year, which was great fun, and The Ruling Class, which I made with all my chums.

It's such a relief for me to sit in front of a tape recorder and not be using it to learn my lines.

Films were never in my budget. Didn't occur to me till much later. I hoped for a long, good life, which I've had and I'm having as an actor. I didn't expect the rest.

It's very inconvenient because every time I finish, let's say, a chapter of a book, I think I'm going to ring Richard and then realize: Oh, Christ, I've buried him. I buried him last year.

Acting has been described as farting about in disguise.

I'm not an actor, I'm a movie star!!!

I'm a professional and I'll do anything - a poetry reading, television, cinema, anything that allows me to act.