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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.

-Michael Caine

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When It Comes To

Michael Caine

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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.

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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.

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.

Do I Believe In God? Yes I Do. When You've Had A Life Like Mine, You Have To.

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.

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.

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

My Circle Of Friends Are Not Actors At All. None Of Them Are Actors, Really, Because They're Are Not Available. They're Always Off Somewhere.

Circle Of Friends

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.

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

Be Patient.of Course It Will Come. It Took Me Years To Get An Oscar.

One Of The Main Things About Cockney Is, You Speak At Twice The Speed As Americans. Americans Speak Very Slow.

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.

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.

My Father Was A Fish Market Porter. So I Grew Up On Fish, Because He Used To Steal One A Day, I Grew Up On The Very Best Fish That Money Could Buy, 'cause He Only Stole The Good Stuff.

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

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

In Real Life, I'm Afraid Of Heights - And People Who Get Moral Convictions... Adolf Hitler In London.

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

I Admired Marlon Brando As I Grew Up. I Though He Was One Of The Finest Screen Actors Around.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

Be Like A Duck. Calm On The Surface, But Always Paddling Like The Dickens Underneath.

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

You Can't Get Blase About Something You Haven't Done Yet.

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

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

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

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.

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.

English Is Clipped In Speech. Texas Is Exactly The Opposite.

In My Early Days, I Didn't Know What A Good Film Or A Bad Film Was, And I Was Trying To Make Some Money. As It Happens I Was Lucky. I Made Some Good Films.

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.

Use The Difficulties - If You Can't Avoid Them

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

When I'm Doing An Accent, You Shouldn't Notice It For A While, If I'm Doing It Right.

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

Respecting Others

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

I've Had Such A Great Time, I'd Like To Come Back As Me - And Do It All Over Again.

Obsession Is A Young Man's Game, And My Only Excuse Is That I Never Grew Old.

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

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

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 Am Often Asked Which Of My Films Has Come Closest To My Own Ideal Of Performance, And I Always Answer, 'educating Rita.'

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!'

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.

The Trouble With Women? Elbows.

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.

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

I Regard The Theater As A Woman I Loved Dearly Who Treated Me Like Dirt.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

I Want To Stick Around With The Big Boys. I Don't Want To Be In The Old Folks Home.

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

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

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?

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

I Did Everything. I Ran My Life Exactly As I Wanted To, All The Time. I Never Listened To Anybody. I'm Pig-headed.

I Don't Meet Stockbrokers Or Carpenters Or Coal Miners; I Spend All Day With Actors, Composers And Photographers.

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.

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.

I Wouldn't Make An Anti-american Film. I'm One Of The Most Pro-american Foreigners I Know. I Love America And Americans.

The Greatest Luxury Is Not Driving. I Didn't Own A Car Until I Was 30, And That Was A Rolls-royce, So It Was Cheaper To Insure A Chauffeur. I Never Want To Drive Again. My Mind Is Always On Other Things. I Hate Parking, And I'm Very Short-tempered And Would Get Road Rage, I'm Sure.

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

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

I'm The Audience's Representative On Earth.

If You Think You're Going To Be Up For An Oscar, You Schedule Your Moviemaking.

When Becoming A Character, You Have To Steal. Steal Whatever You See. You Can Even Steal From Other Actors' Characterizations; But If You Do, Only Steal From The Best.

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'm Trying To Work Only With Established, Respected Directors. I Took A Lot Of Bad Scripts And Worked For A Lot Of Lazy Directors, And It Was Discouraging To Go To The Screenings And See That The Director Had Added Nothing, The Editor Had Added Nothing, There Was Nothing To See.

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.

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.

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

You Get Paid The Same For A Bad Film As You Do For A Good One.

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

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.

You're Never Too Old To Be Crazy.

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

I'm Forever Testing Myself. As A Person And As An Actor, I Have No Sense Of Competition.

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.

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

In Film, Other Actors' Performances Really Are Not Your Concern. If The Other Actor Isn't Giving You What You Want, Act As Though He Were.

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.

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

I'm Not A Betting Man, And Even If I Was, I Certainly Wouldn't Bet On This! I Would Not Bet On The Best Actor.

If You're A Movie Actor, You're On Your Own - You Cannot Control The Stage. The Director Controls It.

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.

You Can Write Shorthand And Still Look At The Guy You're Talking To.

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 Am In So Many Movies That Are On Tv At 2:00 A.m. That People Think I Am Dead.

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

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

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

If You're A Leading Actor You Don't Work With Another Actor. You Work With A Lady.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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 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 Spent My Life In The Library Reading Books.

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.

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

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.

...some Men Aren't Looking For Anything Logical, Like Money. They Can't Be Bought, Bullied, Reasoned, Or Negotiated With. Some Men Just Want To Watch The World Burn.

You Must Always Steal, But Only From The Best People. Steal Any Trick That Looks Worthwhile. If You See Vivien Leigh Or Robert Deniro Or Meryl Streep Do Something Stunningly Effective, And You Can Analyze How He Or She Did It, Then Pinch It. Because You Can Be Sure That They Stole It In The First Place.

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?

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

God Willing, Even I Might Scrape A Nomination.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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 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.

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

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!'

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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 Think It Would Be Great For The Academy To Recognize Old Age.

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.

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

Don't Sit As If You Have Nothing To Say. You Should Be Bursting With Things To Say. You Just Choose At This Particular Place And Time, Not To Say Them.

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.

Some Men Just Want To Watch The World Burn

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 Try To Make Everyone Around Me Feel Comfortable.

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

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

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.

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 Never Bring A Role Home With Me. The Moment They Say, 'it's A Wrap,' It's Gone Completely. I'm A Totally Ruthless Professional, And Life Is My Family, Not My Work.

I Don't Work Very Much, And I Just Sit Here Waiting For A Script That I Can't Refuse - And I'm Not Talking About Money.

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

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

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 I Have The Secret Of A Successful L.a. Restaurant, Especially Now That So Many Europeans Live There. You Have To Have A Place Where They Can See Out The Windows, See The World Passing By. Europeans Fancy That.

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

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

There Is No Point In Competing With Young Talent...i Just Concentrate On Getting Better Each Day.

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've Been Acting A Long Time, And I Can Play A Cockney Gangster Or A Womanizer In My Sleep Or Standing On My Head. But What I Try To Do Is I Try To Find Characters That Are As Far Away From Me As I Possibly Can And Then Make Them Real. A French Nazi Is About As Far Away From Me As I Can Possibly Get Without Actually Going To Mars Or Something.

The Basic Rule Of Human Nature Is That Powerful People Speak Slowly And Subservient People Quickly - Because If They Don't Speak Fast Enough, Nobody Will Listen To Them.

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

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

As An Actor, I'll Play Anything.

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

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

I Don't Have Any Regrets Because I'm Very Optimistic, And Live Each Day As Though It's The Last.

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.

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.

In The Sixties, Everyone You Knew Became Famous. My Flatmate Was Terence Stamp. My Barber Was Vidal Sassoon. David Hockney Did The Menu In A Restaurant I Went To. I Didn't Know Anyone Unknown Who Didn't Become Famous.

I've Got A Lot Of Back-up Because My Father Was A Catholic, My Mother Was A Protestant, I Was Educated By Jews And I'm Married To A Muslim. So I Won't Lose Out On A Technicality.

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