Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
One of the functions of drama is to teach.
I'm quite sharp but not particularly academic.
I can't understand why TV tries to appeal to youth.
What a wonderful life I've had - absolutely amazing.
As a child, we lived in flats, and I was never allowed pets.
America is very generous, but it's also a bit wacky, you know.
People are fed up with broadcasters pushing the boundaries too far.
In television, I was first cast as a cavalry officer because of my name.
'Jewel in the Crown' is the biggest exposure I've ever had on television.
I've played quite a lot of real people, and it carries a special responsibility.
Slower television actually credits the audience with a higher level of intelligence.
It's not legally possible to put an image of a member of the royal family on the Tube!
American writers reduce the length of time devoted to exposition and character development.
You wouldn't read 'Anna Karenina' and try to work on the computer at the same time, would you?
I seem to get cast as one of two extremes. Either I play the butch heavy or totally nice guys.
When I get thinking, I get very knotted up. I chew things over a lot and take things quite seriously.
After a West End run, in which I was promoted to Laertes, I joined the RSC in 1972. I had fulfilled my dream.
By early 1971, I had been acting professionally for 18 months - theatre work and my first telly, an episode of 'Dr. Who.'
After 'Jewel In the Crown,' I hardly worked at all for about six months - which came as a bit of a surprise, I have to admit.
Performing King Charles in Mike Bartlett's astonishing play in London and New York has been one of the high points of my career.
I especially like the Padstow area and the south coast near Portloe. It's lovely, though I do wish it was a bit closer to London.
There is something about the way I photograph. People often say, 'Are you cross with me?' My eyes can look sort of... like a wall.
Drama at Bristol was an academic course: you were judged on your A-levels, and there were no auditions. I did a BA General degree.
My wife is a fantastic traveller. She's good fun and very optimistic. Even if things get bad, she's good at seeing the light side.
Occasionally, there are programmes - like 'The Office' or 'Gavin and Stacey,' perhaps - where you get the feeling everybody's seen it.
I adore Biarritz. I first went there in the Eighties, and my wife and I liked it so much that we ended up buying a holiday home there.
Your response to literature is to do with maturity; if you don't respond to a book or a poem when you are 12, you might when you are 13.
When I have a good performance, I'm wrecked at the end of it. I feel completely empty, and tears are pouring down my face - I'm just gone.
What makes Biarritz special, as far as I'm concerned, are the fantastic coastline, the beaches - such as the Cotes des Basques - and the sea.
Sometimes I Rollerblade to work, but it's most lovely in the park, and it's really quite safe there. I do it quite carefully, and I wear all the gear.
When I grew up, in the time of 'Look Back in Anger,' the theatre was very exciting, a place where you felt that social comment could lead to social change.
Fame changed my life completely because, for a while, I was in a position to choose what I did. I miss that aspect. But I always felt uncomfortable with it.
When you're in a good play and a good production, you find that you're in something that has a life beyond you. You think, 'Oh my goodness, this play's alive.'
I love Stevie Wonder for his sense of rapture in the music. He can swing through a zappy tune, lift your heart, or drift into a sad ballad with consummate ease.
I like jazz, and Martin Taylor and his band have it all, including a wonderful saxophonist and very fine accordionist, so you get a rather unusual range of sound.
For sheer excitement, a weekend in New York is unbeatable. Arrive on Friday morning, leave on Monday night, and don't worry about jet lag - just buzz for four days.
I'm not a big fan of the Mediterranean, but being in the Bay of Biscay, the sea is forever changing, and on a clear day, you see as far as Spain. It's incomparable.
Of course there is a danger of typecasting, and since 'Jewel in the Crown' appeared, I have had countless offers to play sadistic policemen and middle-class misfits.
The worst nickname I ever had was Tim Pig-ears-Smith. I had big ears. When I was younger, it was more pronounced. So I felt huge sympathy towards Prince Charles over that.
People wrote about me and started calling me a star, and I just hated it. There are aspects of it that are great - I mean, you can ring up any restaurant and get in, can't you.
Perhaps it's an accident of nationality, but the English treasure subtlety and appreciate not having everything spelled out for them, while Americans want everything made apparent.
You had to be there at the time to understand the wild creative energy of the Fab Four, and this contains forays into Indian music as well as classics such as 'When I'm Sixty-Four.'
You never learn to act in front of a camera. You never learn anything in front of a camera. But you learn to act in a rehearsal room with a good play and a good cast and a good director.
I like songs to mean something as well as sound good, and Paul Simon is a maestro. While Art Garfunkel was a voice and moved on to other things Simon remained the genius lyricist and composer.
The Almeida's artistic director, Rupert Goold, brought me Mike Bartlett's 'King Charles III' with the slightly apologetic warning that it was in blank verse, but, of course, that appealed to me.
I earn a lot of money in England doing voice-overs, especially in documentaries. Turn on the Discovery Channel here, and you'll hear my voice a lot. It subsidizes my vice of acting in the theater.
I never wanted to do film. I don't have the right face, and I don't like stardom. I like the fact that I have this wonderful thing that gives you status, but I'm most interested in doing decent work.
When I was 16, we moved to live in Stratford-Upon-Avon. That was the year of Paul Scofield's 'Lear.' I think he is still widely perceived as the only actor who has got his flag at the top of the mountain.
The 'reality' shows on television, the Internet, these things have encouraged people to behave with less and less restraint. We are broadcasting our emotions in public in a way that has never happened before.
Understand me, Hollywood miniseries are very popular in England. But British miniseries make a tremendous mark on the national consciousness. They become part of the national culture and mythology... at least for a time.