One longs to be funny, to make people laugh. Laughter is such a sign of approval, isn't it?
Tom BakerThe success of a close friend is often wounding, especially if he has been poor for so long.
Tom BakerI've never ever read a script. I really must read Macbeth, because I was in it once. I got a lot of laughs in that, I can tell you.
Tom BakerI never read the scripts at all carefully and never wanted to know what was going on, because i felt that being a benevolent alien, that's the way it should be.
Tom BakerIt never occurred to me that I’d be typecast, although I was. And I never thought of the role as a commercial product, because I was… well, I was playing this slightly messianic alien. He isn’t violent, he doesn’t get his leg over the girl, he doesn’t steal, and he’s rather wry, and adorable, and mysterious. He’s lived for 900 years or something. He lives the life of the old patriarchs of the Old Testament. That’s not commercial. He’s special.
Tom BakerWell, I think if more people had more applause, it would make them feel better. I often give my wife a round of applause. If the meal is very good I give her a standing ovation.
Tom BakerPoliticians are just Daily Mail journalists writ large, aren't they? They're always telling us what's going to happen, and we know they don't know!
Tom BakerI've learned It's the important little baby steps, which teaches us, how to grow. Moving up just one small notch, will help us more, than we know.
Tom BakerThe thing is I'm very interested in bad taste, as anyone who's ever seen me perform or had dinner with me would know.
Tom BakerThe very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. Instead of changing their views to fit the facts, they try to change the facts to fit their views.
Tom BakerActors are able to trick themselves into treating anything as if it's fantastic. It's a kind of madness really.
Tom BakerMy capacity as a monk was to passionately believe utter nonsense, and when you're an actor you have to do the same thing. Also, Christianity used to have a lot to do with self-loathing and an acceptance of criticism and things like that which is terribly important for actors.
Tom BakerRespect is more than giving consideration of one's feelings. It is showing common courtesy for another human being.
Tom BakerWell, I think people don't recognise my face because I'm so much older now, but it is astonishing that people can recognise a voice. I do sometimes get recognised, and indeed a lot of people do come and see me.
Tom BakerI'm really not an actor of any kind. I've always seen myself as an entertainer, someone who makes people laugh. That's all I've ever wanted to do. 'Doctor Who' has always just been me, really.
Tom BakerYou know, you're a classic example of the inverse ratio between the size of the mouth and the size of the brain.
Tom BakerWe are pre-disposed for fantasy, there is a natural impulse for human beings to want to get off their heads or out of their heads in something in a substance or a drink or an idea or a religion which will comfort them and make life exciting.
Tom BakerPlenty of clever children have to pretend to be not clever or else they get bullied by the thick.
Tom BakerBeing Doctor Who, I used to look at the clock and know at half past four we were going to stop rehearsing - and that was a sad moment for me because I wanted to stay in this beautiful, unreal world.
Tom BakerNot only don't I know who I am, but I'm very suspicious of people who do know who they are. I am sometimes ten or twelve people a day, and sometimes four or five people an hour!
Tom BakerLis Sladen was very important to me, you know. When I joined the little world of 'Doctor Who', Lis was already a star.
Tom BakerI've been involved in one or two successes in classical plays but nothing to touch the excitement and the glamour and the gratification of being a children's hero for so long.
Tom BakerLife is like the rungs on a ladder. The reason they are placed so close together is that we can learn to take baby steps and reach our destinations safely.
Tom BakerI have no regrets about being 'Doctor Who'. It was the greatest thing that ever happened to me.
Tom BakerWe have newsreaders behaving like actors, lowering their voices if it's a sad story, as if we didn't know it's a sad story. There isn't a single cool newsreader.
Tom BakerI have never described the time I was in Doctor Who as anything except a kind of ecstatic success, but all the rest has been rather a muddle and a disappointment. Compared to Doctor Who, it has been an outrageous failure really - it's so boring.
Tom BakerPrecious moments are small elements of time, we show and share love and kindness, with those we care about.
Tom BakerInstead of the 1997 film directed, written, by James Cameron with Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane creating a love story and a large diamond with a beautiful song “My Heart Will Go On” sung by Celine Dion. What about the real love story that took place that night between the passengers themselves, and many crew members knowing they would also give their lives. Adding another meaning for “SOS” Service, Obedience, and Sacrifice.
Tom BakerI used to always be putting my hat on children being photographed and then getting home and discovering I was riddled with lice. That used to happen very, very regularly. I used to get headlice all the time.
Tom BakerA great tribute, is expressing the great love for a Grandmother we share with our children.
Tom Baker