My career is chequered. Then I think I got pigeon-holed in humour; Shakespeare is not my thing..

I'm so moved to hear Celia Johnson again, so lovely..

I'm not my mother. And so I'm not raising my kids in the same way. I don't respond in the same way. We don't spend our days in the same way because I….

Where you get people who want to take a picture of you or take a picture of them with you..

I like the ephemeral thing about theatre, every performance is like a ghost - it's there and then it's gone..

I had been feeling a little rum. I didn't think it was anything serious because years ago I felt a lump and it was benign. I assumed this would be to….

My kids are really learning everything from scratch. It's our job to be their tour guides and camp counselors and orientation people. That's a weird ….

There was nobody in the family who had ever done anything like that before. My brothers - I had two brothers. They were twins. They both became archi….

I know there is something out there and like most people, I tend to believe in it more when things go bad..

I'm far, far, far from that. But of course, that's one of the joys of acting is that you can move up in the world, even if - you know, in the charact….

I believe that I am past my prime. I had reckoned on my prime lasting till I was at least fifty..

Little girls, I am in the business of putting old heads on young shoulders, and all my pupils are the crème de la crème. Give me a girl at an impress….

Don't be defeatist, dear, it's very middle class..

The drama school was in Oxford - and it's funny to think of it, but in those days when I started out the University was nearly all male. And they cer….

There are responsibilities which are parental responsibilities and those are the types of things we prepare the next generation for, but no one tells….

The performances you have in your head are always much better than the performances on stage..

I'm hopeless - all I know is that time is going past so fast..

An actor is somebody who communicates someone else's words and emotions to an audience. It's not me. It's what writers want me to be..

When you get into the granny era, you're lucky to get anything..

I feel now like a hinge between generations, which is strange. It just happened recently. I think it's because my daughter is so much like me at her ….

Alan Rickman was such a terrific actor, and that was such a terrific character that he played. And it was a joy to be with him. We used to laugh toge….