That's been the tragedy of my life, actually. I've always looked younger than I am.

I love to see people blossom.

I was a skinny 17-year-old.

They said my voice was terrible, nervous, and spotty and that I must go away and learn how to use it properly. I must admit I was rather agape, since I had never thought about making my voice better.

If you take away a lot of the pretension and grandness from Shakespeare, a true poeticism is revealed.

I was at a pretty rough school, and the only thing I was good at was art.

I've always thought like I'm really a 3-feet-high comic trapped in a leading man's body... but then I played Nicholas Nickleby, and suddenly I was heroic.

My neighborhood in South London was very Dickensian.

My first acquaintance with 'Peter Pan' was back when I lived in South London. I was at art school, and I needed to earn money, so I got a job as a stagehand at the Wimbledon Theatre, and 'Peter Pan' was on tour there with Donald Sinden, who was playing Captain Hook.

If Shakespeare were alive today, he'd be doing sitcoms.

I thought acting was just going on and remembering all of one's lines.

Rattigan's world demanded unwavering trust in principles, loyalty, and virtue. At the time of this play - Rattigan was writing this play in 1947 about an incident that took place in 1914 - should a boy say he didn't do something, his father would believe him; a British father would take the defense of his son's honor to his grave.

I do one thing Gielgud didn't: I play the ukulele.

After I left the R.S.C., I did a musical, 'Masquerade,' where I played a rabbit. I was the lead.

I love to argue and share bright ideas in a rehearsal room, and when you live with somebody who is working on the same show, the delight can go on all evening!

The loser, the fool, is embraced in England because there is a recognition of silliness there that allows a person to keep his ambitions and desires at a certain distance. Just being in the race is enough.

Mostly, theater becomes blander and blander as everyone wants the same thing they saw before. The good plays are the ones that don't allow you to do that.

Television is an important part of how we communicate.

The hard thing is making sure you work with wonderful people and that you get something out of it so that you can get better as an actor.

The Elizabethan mind wanted and demanded that one word could mean 50 things. What Shakespeare offers us is not ambiguity; it's choices.

Some of the finest Shakespeare has been done recently by college theater programs. I'll tell you what these young kids have: They have a natural authority in Shakespeare. They feel a right to do it. And once they honor the humanity of it, the rhythm of the verse comes with it.

The sense of popularity in an actor is essential.

I've often thought I'm a short music hall comedian stuck in a leading man's body.

You got paid on Friday, go for a late-night poker game, and have no money on Saturday. But the RSC took your rent out of the paycheck, so at least you had a place to sleep.