I can't think I've ever loved anybody quite as much... My mother was my life, really; she was my entire world.

Nine books have been written about me, and there's not a word of truth in any of them.

'Richard III' is a really difficult play to film - it's involved, often obscure. I felt it absolutely necessary to do more simplification than I've ever done before.

Nobody is going to pretend that I am younger than I am. Apart from anything else, it is in the papers all the damn time - every time I have a birthday.

A man's prime interest in life must be his work.

I suppose, unconsciously, I used all my wives to further my journey up the ladder.

It took me two years to walk around a chair with ease; it took me another two years to learn how to laugh onstage - and I had to learn everything.

I often think that could we creep behind the actor’s eyes, we would find an attic of forgotten toys and a copy of the Domesday Book.

You must have – besides intuition and sensitivity – a cutting edge that allows you to reach what you need. Also, you have to know life – bastards included – and it takes a bit of one to know one, don’t you think?

Scratch an actor and you’ll find an actor.