I started off as a theatre designer, and by some extraordinary circumstance I saw something in Stratford-upon-Avon, and realized that that’s the kind of design I want, but also that that’s the kind of designer I’ll never be.
I’ve got what my ma had, macular degeneration, which you get when you get old.
I have a completely new knee. It’s brilliant. I am not feeling my age at all. I feel about 43, a willowy blonde 43 years old with long legs.
This is just the loveliest news. I’m so happy for everybody involved, and so proud to have been part of the wonderful experience that Philomena has been.
I think you’ve got to have your feet planted firmly on the ground, especially in this business, and you must not believe things that are said or written about you, because everything gets out of proportion one way or the other.
I need to learn every day.
I’d rather do a part because I want to, not because great things are expected of me.
I love being part of a company, and telling a story.
I just feel incredibly lucky to be employed when there are so many actors and actresses who are not employed. That’s why, you know, I sometimes feel desperate, in case I’m not going to be cast again.
Work certainly does help fill a void.
I don’t really want to retire. I intend to go on working as long as I can because I still have a huge amount of energy.
I don’t think that care homes are all rotten old places that ought to be shut down.
I am so thrilled to be nominated for something I loved working on every single day.
I would like to work with Jack Nicholson, before it’s too late.
We know about the issue of children being sold and adopted and taken away but what is so extraordinary is how these two people come through something like – how both of them do, in actual fact. I think that she’s one of the most considerable people I’ve ever met, Philomena.
I felt quite a responsibility when I played Elizabeth I but nobody here remembers her! And then I felt a responsibility when I played Queen Victoria but not many people remember her.
Having a daughter and a grandson, I certainly could relate to the fact that this child, who you simply dote on, being taken away from you at an early age, and every single kind of emotion you would have to go through.
Every experience that you experience yourself you use, because that’s our craft.
I played Iris Murdoch, who had not long died, and I felt the responsibility very heavy on my shoulders.
Everything, every part that you approach has to be somehow rooted in yourself. You have to somehow root everything so that it’s not just words coming out of you.
When we are together, there is nothing we cannot achieve’, which is something Michael used to say.