I was a window dresser for Burton’s once. What really put me off was the area manager coming round and saying, Charles, I think you’re a natch at this.

Most films are written and made with a hero around 35, or even 25.

We had five goats, two dogs, a cat and racks of commentaries on Shakespeare.

A handful of older, romantic leading men, like Sean Connery, Jack Nicholson, and Robert Redford are still landing parts.

I was a window dresser for Burton’s once. What really put me off was the area manager coming round and saying, Charles, I think you’re a natch at this.

Your senses are reeling all the time. Finally you find something to write and the very next day you go out and see something else which totally contradicts what you’ve written and every conclusion you’ve come to.

A car to pick me up every day, a chair with my name on it, everybody being very polite… what can you do except sit back and watch it all, try to take it all in?

If I talk about Charles Dance I am talking about something else, something I operate and wind up and have to make an impression with and use to transmit someone else’s screenplay.

You have to attempt to be objective about yourself.

You have to be selfish to be an actor.

When you get to a certain age, the work begins to thin out.

I’m playing one of the principal roles, which gives you more clout and more confidence.

I phoned this number and said, Please, sir, I want to be an actor.

It’s a question of keeping one’s eyes and ears open and watching how other people play the game. They’re watching me too, to see what my attitude is like.