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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.

-Michael Caine

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The American Cinema In

Michael Caine

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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.

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Movie Actors Earn Their Living And Learn Their Craft Through Listening And Reacting.

I Have Been Rich And I Have Been Poor. I Know Which One I Prefer.

The Three Actors I Admire The Most Are All Dead. Humphrey Bogart, Spencer Tracy And The French Actor, Jean Gabin. They're All Very Natural, Sort Of Masculine Without Being Overly Macho.

I'm A Sort Of Boy Next Door. If That Boy Has A Good Scriptwriter.

I've Never Been Out With A Married Woman, Never. I Respect Others' Properties.

Respecting Others

I Had Been In That Part Of The World As A Soldier In Korea, So I Had Been Interested In Vietnam.

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.

This Is Your Life, Larry. Learn To Enjoy What You've Got.

A Man's Body May Grow Old, But Inside His Spirit Can Still Be As Young And As Restless As Ever.

If You Put Someone On Screen Long Enough, They Become The Hero.

I Don't Want To Be An English Actor Doing The Greatest American Accent You've Ever Heard. I Want To Be An American Doing Nothing.

Movie Acting Is About Covering The Machinery. Stage Acting Is About Exposing The Machinery. In Cinema, You Should Think The Actor Is Playing Himself, If He's That Good. It Looks Very Easy. It Should. But It's Not, I Assure You.

I Love The Start Of Autumn When The Trees In My Garden Change The Colour Of Their Leaves In One Last Dazzling Display.

I Think Life Has Got To Develop As You Get Older, And I Don't Want To Be Wandering Along Doing The Same Old Thing. I Want More Out Of Life.

I'll Always Be There Because I'm A Skilled Professional Actor. Whether Or Not I've Any Talent Is Beside The Point.

I've Made The Transition From Star To Character Actor And I'm Thoroughly Enjoying It.

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?'

I Won An Academy Award For 'the Cider House Rules,' Playing An American.

In My Day, The Drug Was Alcohol And The Weapon Was A Fist, So It Was Very Sort Of Innocent And Primitive. Now You've Got Drugs, Guns, And Knives, Which Are So Lethal.

I Need A Challenge 'cause I Don't Get The Girl Anymore.

I Have A Knack Of Making Villainous People A Little Bit Sympathetic, A Bit Of Fun On Screen.

I Don't See Myself As Anything. I Just Wander Around Getting On With My Life.

I Was A Repertory Actor, Which Meant That I Did A Play Every Week. I Was A Different Character Every Week; For A Year, I Was Doing 40 Or 50 Characters.

For All My Education, Accomplishments, And So Called 'wisdom'... I Can't Fathom My Own Heart.

When I Look In The Mirror, I See Someone Who's Happy With How He Looks, Because I Was Never One Of The Handsome Hollywood People. And I've Had Success As I've Gotten Older, Because I'm Able To Play Characters. I No Longer Get The Girl, But I Get The Part.

How Can I Change Me To Suit The Script?

Oh, What A Shock. My Career Must Be Slipping. This Is The First Time I've Been Available To Pick Up An Award.

I'm Not Tough Anymore, I'm 82.

I Never Listened To The People Who Said I Should Give It Up, Which Is The Main Advice I Got.

The Standing Ovation Threw Me. ... To Be Held In Such Regard In A Town So Full Of Talent Is Quite Something.

If You Held A Pistol At My Head, I Couldn't Tell You Who They're Going To Vote For Best Actor.

But The Whole Point Of The Sixties Was That You Had To Take People As They Were. If You Came In With Us You Left Your Class, And Colour, And Religion Behind, That Was What The Sixties Was All About.

My Career Is Going Better Now Than When I Was Younger. Now I Get The Part. Back Then, I'd Get The Girl.

My Wife, My Daughters, Even My Grandchildren Are Funny. You've Got To Keep A Sense Of Humor Because Anger Destroys You.

For Cider House Rules, I Was Doing A New England Accent.

Wherever I Live, If There Isn't A Restaurant I Want To Go To Of A Certain Type, Then I Open It. That's All. For Selfish Reasons.

To Disappear Your Complete Self Into A Character Is Quite Difficult. I've Tried It 85 Times, And I've Succeeded Two Or Three Times.

At Age 11, I Went To A Jewish School. I Speak Yiddish. I'm Church Of England Protestant. My Father Was Catholic, And My Mother Was Protestant. My Wife Is A Muslim.

Not Only Is Acting More Than A Part-time Job, It's More Than A Full-time Job. It's A Full-time Obsession.

Comedy Is Underrepresented In Every Actor's Life, Because It's So Bloody Difficult To Write.

A Man Should Dress In A Way That You Don't Notice. He Looks Good And You Don't Know Why. But It's The Tailoring, The Materials, And The Clothes.

I Was So Poor For So Long That I Didn't Use Anything. I Didn't Drive Cars, I Didn't Eat Very Much. So, I Figured The World Owed Me A Debt, So I've Been Eating Very Well And Have Had A Very Big Car For A Long Time. But I Still Haven't Caught Up With My Youth.

To Me, Growing Old Is Great. It's The Very Best Thing - Considering The Alternative.

You Can See All Sorts Of Things In Film Acting If You Know Where To Look And What To Look For. One Thing I Often Notice Is That The Actor Is Looking For His Mark, The Place Where He Has To Stand To Be In The Right Place In The Shot.

First Of All, I Choose The Great Roles, And If None Of These Come, I Choose The Mediocre Ones, And If They Don't Come, I Choose The Ones That Pay The Rent.

My Problem Was That I Was Blond. There Were No Heroes With Blond Hair. Robert Taylor And Henry Fonda, They All Had Dark Hair. The Only One I Found Was Van Johnson, Who Wasn't Too Cool. He Was A Nice, Homely American Boy. So I Created My Own Image. It Worked.

When You're A Young Actor You Ring Your Agent Every Evening. It's Not Like When You're In Hollywood Where You Do One Picture A Year. You Just Hope You Get A Day On Television.

My View Of Actors Is That Basically They're All Harmless Lunatics Who'd Be On The Psychiatrist's Couch.

Youre Only Supposed To Blow The Bloody Doors Off!

I Had An Extraordinary Belief In Myself. For Years People Told Me To Give It Up And Even Though I Was Poverty- Stricken, I Never Thought I Should Give It Up.

Presenting The Oscars Was The Most Nerve-racking Job I Have Ever Done In Show Business. It's Very Much A Live Show: They Have Comedy Writers Waiting In The Wings, And As You Come Off Between Presentations, They Hand You An Appropriate Gag To Tell.

You've Got To Be Flexible. Directors Do A Massive Amount Of Planning And Homework, And If After All That Your Director Decides To Throw It All Out Of The Window And Shoot Spontaneously, Then You Must Follow His Lead.

It’s A Lesson In Life—don’t Look Back, You’ll Trip Over.

I Sit Waiting For Things That I Can't Refuse.

There Are Loads Of Black Actors.you Can't Say: I'm Going To Vote For Him, He's Not Very Good But He's Black, [so] I'll Vote For Him. You've Got To Give A Good Performance.

Hollywood Is A Cross Between A Health Farm, A Recreation Center And An Insane Asylum. It's A Company Town, And I Happen To Like The Company!

Lunatic Asylums

Someone Said To Me The Other Day: "well, You're Eventually Going To Live Until 110." And I Said: "well, Who's Going To Keep Me? What Age Do I Retire? 100?" How Are You Going To Live All Those Years And Who Is Going To Keep You Doing It? I Have A Couple Of Grandchildren Now So I'm Banking On Them.

I'm Not In The Lifetime Achievement Area Yet-i'm Still Battling It Out In The Trenches.

I Always Say To My Wife, Don't Tell Anyone I Watch This [shows Like The X Factor And Pop Idol], But It Fascinates Me Because I've Done So Many Auditions And Been Knocked Back.

Maybe It's Time We All Stop Trying To Outsmart The Truth And Let It Have Its Day.

If I See Any Injustice Done, I Have A Big Enough Mouth And The Position To Open Up About It.

I Was Born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite. Imagine Signing That Autograph! You'd Get A Broken Arm. So I Changed My Name To Michael Caine After Humphrey Bogart's 'the Caine Mutiny,' Which Was Playing In The Theater Across From The Telephone Booth Where I Learned That I'd Gotten My First Tv Job.

In My Opinion, Everybody Is Getting Older And Older. We Have A Great Deal Of Dementia Because Nobody Grew Old Enough To Get It.

To Be A Movie Star, You Have To Invent Yourself.

The Best Research For Playing A Drunk Is Being A British Actor For 20 Years.

I'd Never Been In One Of Those Great Big Blockbusters.

One Of The Great Things With Comedy Is That There's No Such Thing As A Mediocre Comedy; It's Either Uproarious Or Crap. That's The Problem.

I Must Admit, The Only Reason I Joined An Amateur Dramatic Society Is Because I Couldn't Get To Kiss Any Girls - I Was Chasing Girls All The Time - And So I Thought If I Join It, There Might Be Some Love Scenes. And There Was A Particular Girl And I Thought I Might Get To Kiss Amy. I Never Did Get To Kiss Amy But I Did Get To Kiss Elizabeth Taylor, So It Was All Right, A Lot Later.

I Don't Have To Work. I Suppose I Should Retire. But I Enjoy Working.

When You Reach The Top, That's When The Climb Begins.

They Use Those Monitors Now, And Sometimes You'll Be Doing A Shot And Then Suddenly You See Yourself On One Of Those Monitors, And I Always Say Turn The Monitor Round, I Don't Want To See Myself On The Monitor. I Never See Myself 'til The Movie's Finished.

If Someone Is Very Upper-class, You Have A Stereotype Of Him Which Is Probably True. If Someone Has A Working-class Accent, You Have No Idea Who You're Talking To.

I've Always Played Very Human Sort Of Characters.

I Spent My Entire Time Reading Books And Going To The Cinema, Just To Escape.

I Heard My First Laughter On Stage, When I Was About 10 Years Old. It Was Gold Pantomime And I Remember I Was Playing Baron Fitznoodle, Who Was The Father Of The Ugly Sisters In "cinderella." And I Walked On And Got A Great Big Laugh And I Thought That Was Fantastic, Until I Looked Down And Found That My Flies Were Open. And So I Always Check My Flies. I Even Check My Flies On Radio.

I Always Exposed The Weakness Rather Than The Nastiness.

I Just Try To Play More And More Difficult Roles.

I Spent 30 Years Of My Life Not Being Wanted At All For Films.

You Don't Retire From The Movies. The Movies Retire You.

Am I A Car Aficionado? No: For Me, Cars Have Always Been Just For Transport. I Didn't Even Know Anyone Who Had A Car Until I Was 14 Or 15.

Nobody's A Criminal To Himself. I Never Play A Criminal Like A Bad Person.

I Used To Get The Girl; Now I Get The Part. In 'the Quiet American' You May Have Noticed I Got The Part And The Girl. It's A Milestone For Me, Because It's The Last Time I'm Going To Get The Girl.

If You're Blond, As I Am, And You Have Blond Lashes, You Have To Wear Mascara, Otherwise You're Invisible On Stage.

My Mother Had Heard All About Miniskirts But Had Never Seen One So I Took Her For Lunch At Alvaro's [in Chelsea]. We Walked Down The King's Road And Waited 10 Seconds For Our First Miniskirt And A Girl Came Along With Her Skirt Tucked Round Her Arse. I Said: 'what Do You Think, Ma?' And She Said: 'if It's Not For Sale, You Shouldn't Put It In The Window!'

Great Acting Is About Listening To What They Are Saying ....not Waiting To Deliver Your Lines.

Theater Acting Is An Operation With A Scalpel, Movie Acting Is An Operation With A Laser

I Don't Have To Work, Really, But I Do Enjoy Working, And I Do Enjoy Getting Paid.

I Started With The Firm Conviction That When I Came To The End, I Wanted To Be Regretting The Things That I Had Done, Not The Things I Hadn't.

If You're An Actor And You Don't Act For A Long Time You Sort Of Think, I Wonder If I Can Still Do It.

We Can Only Use British Actors Because Everybody's Got To Talk Exactly The Same.

When I Was A Young Actor I Was In A Lot Of Film Doing One Day Work And Two Days' Work, And They've Included All Those Titles, Which I Don't Even Remember. I Think I've Played The Lead In About 75 Movies.

I'm The Happiest Grandfather In The World, I Promise You.

My Wife Comes With Me On All The Movies, But She Is Not An Appendage To A Film Star Or Anything Like That. She Is A Completely Intertwined Partner. She Is The Other Half Of Me. Also, We're Still Very Much In Love With Each Other. We Always Have Been, We Always Will Be.

And To Tom Cruise, For If You Had Won This, Your Asking Price Would Have Gone Down So Fast. Do You Have Any Idea What Supporting Actors Get Paid? We Get Only One Trailer, A Small One, In The Back.

I Am A Great Admirer Of Other Actors, But I Never Compete With Other Actors. I Always Compete With What I Did Last, And I'm My Own Most Vicious Critic. So I'm Always Trying To Do It Better.

I Don't Like Getting Up Early In The Morning And Learning All That Stuff. I Work With Offers That I Can't Refuse.

There Was A Certain Moment. I Was About 61 - Two, Three Or Four, And I Got A Script. And I Sent It Back To The Producer Saying - "i Don't Wanna Do It. The Part's Too Small." And He Sent It Back To Me, He Said, "you Shouldn't Read The Lover. You Should Read The Father.

I'm Every Bourgeois Nightmare - A Cockney With Intelligence And A Million Dollars.

Growing Up, There Was Only Classical Music On Bbc Radio. We Had To Listen To The American Forces Network In Germany, Which Played Pop Songs, Or The Pirate Radio Boats Off The Coast.

That To Me Is What My Idea Of Film Acting Should Be. There Shouldn't Be Any Acting. You Should Just Be Watching A Real Person.

The First Actor I Ever Saw Was The Lone Ranger. I Thought: "that's What I Want To Do."

Use The Difficulties - If You Can't Avoid Them

80 Percent Of Any Gang Is Not There To Attack Someone. They're There So No One Will Attack Them.

My Understanding Of Women Goes Only As Far As The Pleasures.

I Spent My Life In The Library Reading Books.

Nobody Did A Campaign For Me. I Was Nominated Out Of The Blue And Won Out Of The Blue. So That Was It.

I Had Been Nine Years In The Theatre And Hadn't Had Massive Success. My Only Thing Was I Wanted To Be An Actor And I Didn't Care When, Where, Or How Much For.

The First Thing I'll Do If I Want To Look Really Crappy Is, I Don't Wear Any Makeup At All.

Every Magic Trick Consists Of Three Parts, Or Acts. The First Part Is Called The Pledge. The Magician Shows You Something Ordinary. The Second Act Is Called The Turn. The Magician Takes The Ordinary Something And Makes It Into Something Extraordinary. But You Wouldn't Clap Yet, Because Making Something Disappear Isn't Enough. You Have To Bring It Back.

If You Really Want To Become An Actor, But Only Providing That Acting Doesn't Interfere With Your Golf Game, Political Ambitions And Your Life, You Don't Want To Become An Actor. Not Only Is Acting More Than A Part Time Job, It's More Than A Full Time Job. It's A Full Time Obsession.

I Don't Do It Often, But I Do Cry. I Also Laugh A Lot; People Tell Me I'm Funny And I Do Like To Laugh.

I Just Love To Go Home, No Matter Where I Am, The Most Luxurious Hotel Suite In The World, I Love To Go Home.

At 69, I Got The Girl! And It Wasn't A 68-year-old Girl, Either.

I Don't Want To Sound Like Disgusted Of Tunbridge Wells, But I Do Think There Should Be Some Sort Of National Service For Young Men.

I've Done A Lot Of Radio In My Life. I've Done Radio Plays For The Bbc When I Was Young So I Was Absolutely Used To That Style Of Work, Of Working With The Voice. I Have A Very Distinctive Voice So It's Always Great For Me Because I Open My Mouth And Everybody Knows Who It Is.

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.

It's Funny, People Ask Me, 'what Would You Consider The Most Romantic Track On Your Record Mr Caine?' And I Say 'swollen' By Bent, And They Say 'i Think He's Off His Rocker!'

I Have Enough Money Not To Do Pictures Ever. I'm Seventy Years Old. I Don't Want To Get Up At 6:30 In The Morning And Learn Ten Pages Of Dialogue To Do With A Bunch Of Creeps I Don't Like. It's Gotta Be Fun For Me.

I'm Doing The Next Batman. I Have To Become Obsessed About What Is Offered To Me.

About Superman And Batman: The Former Is How America Views Itself, The Latter, Darker Character Is How The Rest Of The World Views America.

I Come From The Slums; I Come From A Hard Background; I Come From A Poor Family; And I Was A Soldier.

We Should Vote For The Welfare Of The Country, Not For The Welfare Of The Party.

I Learn The Whole Time. I Think It Would Be Dull If I Thought I Was Going To Work And Wouldn't Find Something New. We Always Learn.

If You Go Away On Location For Three Months And Your Wife Stays At Home, You've Made A Whole New Load Of Friends And She's Made A Whole New Load Of Friends And You Get Home And You're Kind Of Strangers.

My Dialogue Coach Said To Do A Texas Accent, You Lean On The Next Word, And That Was The Clue To Me.

My View Is That You Should Always Remake Failures Because Then You've Got Nowhere To Go But Up.

The Old Guys Like Me Started In The Theatre. I Was In The Theatre For Nine Years.

I'm Looking For Me To Disappear, And The Acting To Disappear, And All You See Is A Real Person.

I Just Work In Order To Improve Myself As An Actor Which Is What I've Always Done.

It's Vital To Have Your Own Space So You Aren't Constantly In Each Other's Pockets.

You Don't Sacrifice Your Individuality; You Sacrifice A Lot Of Freedom.

What A Lot Of People Dont Realize About Gangs, In My Opinion, Is That A Gang Is Not There To Attack You. Eighty Percent Of The People In A Gang Are There To Stop Anyone From Attacking Them. You Join A Gang For Protection, Not To Go Out And Hit Someone.

There's Quite A Lot Of Bad Stuff Written About Me. My Wife Even Says A Lot Of Bad Stuff About Me. But She Is Wonderful.

I'm The Audience's Representative On Earth.

Acting Is Not A Competition; Everything Must Be Done For The Good Of The Film Or Else Everybody Loses.

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.

I Was Watching Cartoons On Television And A Commercial Came On For One Of The Batman Series Where I Played A Butler. And Then My Grandson Looked Up At Me And He Said, "do You Know Batman?" I Said, "yes." He Said, "really," I Said, "yeah." I Said I Know Him Very Well. And He Told All The Boys At School, He Said, "my Grandpa Knows Batman. Does Your Grandpa Know Batman? Ok, No. Mine Does.

Things Are Not Quite What They Seem Always. Don't Start Me On Class, Otherwise You'll Get A Four-hour Lecture.

When You're A Movie Star And You're Young, You Are Always Playing Someone Who's A Better Fighter, A Better Lover, A Better Everything Than You.

Playing Someone

You Don't Make Any Money When You're My Age. The Stars Get It All. That's A Lie, Actually.

When It Comes To Politics, I Believe You Have To Cut The Cake So That Everybody Gets A Piece, But At The Same Time, You Have To Keep In Mind That Somebody Has To Make The Cake.

People Say To Me, Why Did You Do Those Films, And I Say, For Money. It Wasn't For Diamond Rings Or Kidney Shaped Swimming Pools In Beverly Hills, It Was In Order To Improve The Lot Of Everyone Around Me.

As An Actor, My Attitude Towards Using Of Film Versus Digital Is, If You Have Film, Filmmakers Have To Cut Eventually So You Don't Have To Learn All That Dialogue. With Digital, They Can Just Go On Forever And It's A Nightmare. So, I Like Film - Nice Short Takes.

I've Done My Job And I've Got The Picture Out There, And I'm Very Happy With It.

I Read Books Like Mad, But I Am Careful To To Let Anything I Read Influence Me.

I'm Always Slightly Envious Of People Who Become Extremely Rich Without Anyone Knowing Who The Hell They Are, Like Financiers.

I've Always Loved Reprehensible People Because They're So Much More Interesting To Play On Screen.

My Most Useful Acting Tip Came From My Pal John Wayne. Talk Low, Talk Slow, And Don't Say Too Much.

A Lot Of Movie Stars Are Not Great Actors; They're Just Very Good-looking. And When They Start To Age And They Don't Have The Looks Any More, Then It's Over.

I Didn't Want To Come In The Movie Every So Often, Every 20 Minutes Saying, 'dinner Is Served, Would You Like Coffee?'

I'm Very Much More Choosy Now. I Do Stuff That I Really, Really, Really Like.

I Didn't Know What I Knew. I Wasn't Aware Of What I Knew.

I See Myself As 38, But You Don't Notice It.

I Can Never Be The Hero Now. You Have To Be Young And All That Stuff. I Used To Be The Hero.

No English Director Would've Cast Me As An Officer, I Promise You. Not One.

I Wear A Baseball Cap All The Time, Which I Would Never Normally Wear, And I Walk Very Fast.

If You're A Movie Star, You Get The Girl, You Lose The Girl, And Then You Get Her Back. But If You're A Character Like Me, You Lose The Girl, Then You Get Another One, Then You Get Another One, Then You Lose Them All, Then You Lose Your Life.

A Lot Of My Best Parts I've Been The Second Choice For, So You Never Get Too Egotistical About Anything.

I Don't Think Human Beings Are Bad. They're Weak. And That's What Makes 'em Bad.

The Quiet American Is Anti The People Who Took Them Into The Vietnam War.

Just Because I Have Made A Point Of Never Losing My Accent It Doesn't Mean I'm An Eel-and-pie Yob.

No Matter What The Reason, If You Start To Scream And Shout, You Look A Fool, And You Feel A Fool, And You Earn The Disrespect Of Everyone.

To Be A Movie Star, You Have To Carry A Movie. And To Carry A Movie Where You Play The Title Role Is The Supreme Example.

January Is The Garbage Can Of Movies In America, Directly After All The Oscar Contenders Have Been Out.

I Try To Make Everyone Around Me Feel Comfortable.

A Lot Of People Said, Who Do You Think You Are? I Told Them I Know Exactly Who I Am And I'll Tell You Exactly Where I'm Going.

You're Your First Best Audience, Long Before Anybody Else Hears You. So Don't Be An Easy Audience. Keep Asking For More.

By The Time The Oscars Are On I'll Be Seventy. How Many More Chances Am I Going To Have To Get Nominated For An Oscar?

Hey, I Always Say: If You Want A Quiet Life, Become A Monk.

I Feel That I Helped The Working Class By Just Saying There Are No Barriers, Which I Consider To Be True.

I Usually Control The Environment I'm In, But My Control Is Very Quiet And Subtle.

I Have Never Seen It (jaws 4) But By All Accounts It Is Terrible. However, I Have Seen The House That It Built And It Is Terrific.

I've Never Taken Drugs - If You Take A Drug Of Your Choice, You Get Some Ecstatic Feeling.

Books Were My Window On The World. Growing Up At The Elephant And Castle, Which Was Very Rough, My Paradise Was The Library.

I Enjoy Making People Laugh. The Trick Is To Tell Them Jokes Against Yourself. If You Praise Yourself, Your Stories Aren't Funny.

I've Been On Movies Where I Literally Couldn't Hear What The Other Actor Was Saying. It's Very Awkward.

I Felt A Tremendous Sadness For Men Who Can't Deal With A Woman Of Their Own Age.

Alfie Was The First Time I Was Above The Title; The First Time I Became A Star In America.

The Trouble With Women? Elbows.

For Me, The Performance Was Always Playing Different People. And So When I Got Older, Was No Longer The Romantic Leading Movie Star, It Became More And More Interesting For Me, The Characters I Played, You Know?

If You're A Gardener You Don't Need A Gym. [...] You're Always Carrying Large Sacks Of Manure All Over.

Save Your Money. You're Going To Need Twice As Much Money In Your Old Age As You Think.

God Willing, Even I Might Scrape A Nomination.

My Own Mentality Is That I've Retired. They Send Me These Scripts And If I Absolutely Have To Do It, Then I Go To Work.

As An Actor, I'll Play Anything.

I've Been In Every Disco In The World. I Saw A Picture Of My Wife Shakira And I Dancing In Studio 54; I Didn't Even Know Someone Had Taken That Picture.

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 Feel Like 35. At 35 You're Old Enough To Know Something And Young Enough To Look Forward To What You Can Do With The Knowledge. So I Stayed At 35!

I Don't Think You Retire From Movies; Movies Retire You.

If I Work With A Bad Actor, My Reaction Is To Immediately Become Worse Than They Are.

I'm Hoping There's An Afterlife. As You Get Older, You Hope Even More Fervently.

You Start Pretending To Have Fun, You Might Have A Little By Accident.

There's Only Two Things I Hate In This World. People Who Are Intolerant Of Other People's Cultures And The Dutch.

I Never Look Back At All. All Of My Sentiment And Emotion Goes Into My Family. I'm An Extremely Family Oriented Person And I Have A Very, Very Happy Family Life. That Doesn't Just Include Blood Relations. I Have Friends Who Are Close To Me.

I Learned About Life Before I Went Into The Theater, Which Is Why I've Been So Happy. I Was A Soldier.

I Prefer To Remake Flops. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Was A Remake Of A Flop, And The Quiet American Is A Remake Of A Flop.

I Was In Korea. I've Noticed All My Life I See Elderly People Who Have Been Close To Death In An Illness And They're Absolutely Cured And They Say, Now I Know How To Live My Life. I've Seen Death. That Happened To Me When I Was 19. It Was A Terrible, Terrifying Thing. And I Live My Life Like Those People Decided To Do When They Were Old. So, Since I Was 19, I've Had The Most Fun Possible Every Single Day, Even When I Had A Rough Life. It Was The Army Which Taught Me About Life, And The Theater Which Taught Me How Good It Could Be.

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.

I Regard Myself As Someone Who Is Retired But Who Occasionally Goes Out To Work. In Fact, I'm Offered So Much Good Stuff That It's Not So Occasional.

In England, I Was A Cockney Actor. In America, I Was An Actor.

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