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.
No English director would’ve cast me as an officer, I promise you. Not one.
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.
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 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.
I’m not tough anymore, I’m 82.
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 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.
My wife, my daughters, even my grandchildren are funny. You’ve got to keep a sense of humor because anger destroys you.
I try to make everyone around me feel comfortable.
You get paid the same for a bad film as you do for a good one.
I’ve always loved reprehensible people because they’re so much more interesting to play on screen.
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.
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.
You can write shorthand and still look at the guy you’re talking to.
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 spent my entire time reading books and going to the cinema, just to escape.
We can only use British actors because everybody’s got to talk exactly the same.
The old guys like me started in the theatre. I was in the theatre for nine years.