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

-Michael Caine

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When You Reach The

Michael Caine

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

You Cannot Have One Bathroom. And It Don't Matter How Much You Love Your Wife And Everything, 'cause You Wind Up With No Room At All. You Just Get A Little Corner And You've Got A Toothbrush And Your Paste And A Shaving Brush And A Razor. And You Can Never Get In There. So You Must Have Two Bathrooms. You Really Must. I Think It's Essential.

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

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?'

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

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

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

Funny Things Happen To You In Movies For Silly Reasons.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

Obsession Is A Young Man’s Game.

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 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 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.

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

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

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 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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

I Try To Make Everyone Around Me Feel Comfortable.

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.

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

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

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.

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 Just Try To Play More And More Difficult Roles.

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.

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

I'd Like It To Be Remembered As You Had Some Fun. We're Only Here [living] For Some Fun. I Think If You Learn Something, All Well And Good, But We're Only Here To Give You Some Fun. Along The Way, You May Find Out Something.

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

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.

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

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

I Spent My Life In The Library Reading Books.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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 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 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.

You Have To Remember, I Never Became Successful Or Wealthy Till I Was 30.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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!'

When I Was 6 My Father Went To Fight In The War, So He Was My Big Hero. I Thought He Was The Greatest Thing.

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.

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.

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.

Do You Know That The Harder Thing To Do And The Right Thing To Do Are Usually The Same Thing? Nothing That Has Meaning Is Easy,"easy" Doesn't Enter Into Grown-up Life.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

Sometimes, In A Part, Everything Comes Together.

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

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

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

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

As An Actor, I'll Play Anything.

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.

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

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

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'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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

God Willing, Even I Might Scrape A Nomination.

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

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

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

I Always Exposed The Weakness Rather Than The Nastiness.

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

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

I've Always Played Very Human Sort Of Characters.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

You're Never Too Old To Be Crazy.

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.

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

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

...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.

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.

What It Is Is That Comedy Is Underrepresented In Every Actor's Life, Because It's So Bloody Difficult To Write. Anyone Can Write, And Then You Leave It To Special Effects To Make It Look Good. But Comedy, You've Got To Do Some Writing.

I'm A Frustrated Stand-up Comic. If You Hand Me A Microphone And I Get One Laugh, Then I'll Go On For 20 Minutes.

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

I Never Regret Anything. I Always Said That When I'm Old, I Want To Be Sitting There Regretting The Things That I Did And Not The Things That I Didn't Do; And Now I'm Old, And I Don't Regret Anything! I Had Fun. I Had Fun, And I'm Still Having It.

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

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

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

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

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

Respecting Others

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

Ive Read An Awful Lot Of Books, Ive Read Alot Of Awful Books

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.

Anyone Can Write. But Comedy, You've Got To Do Some Writing. You Get One Comedy Script To Every 20 Dramas.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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