I certainly don’t disparage someone whose attitude towards their work is utterly different from mine – that’s up to them.
I have got prostate cancer, and I have to keep monitoring that. It’s no problem, it’s under control and I’m very cool about it, but other people are dying from it.
I’m not quite as cool as I would like to be, really.
Godot is whatever it is in life that you are waiting for: ‘I’m waiting to win the lottery. I’m waiting to fall in love’. For me, as a child, it was Christmas. At least that eventually came.
I’m fortunate to be famous for two rather imposing characters like Magneto and Gandalf.
The strength of British theatre should be that these actors in their middle years know what they’re doing and are good at it. Not rich, not famous, but making a living.
I’d never read ‘Lord of the Rings’ until I was asked to play Gandalf, so I didn’t really know it was a frightfully famous book.
I am lucky, I don’t have aches and pains. I do Pilates regularly, which is a series of stretching exercises, and I recommend it to anyone of my age because the temptation is not to exercise when you get older. Well, you should.
Splendid architecture, the love of your life, an old friend… they can all go drifting by unseen if you’re not careful.
I have little routines in the theater. Once I’ve established something, like the order of putting on makeup and a costume, I have to invariably do it in the same order every time, even if I only did it by chance the first time round.
Acting is a very personal process. It has to do with expressing your own personality, and discovering the character you’re playing through your own experience – so we’re all different.
The battle going on over gay marriage in America reveals an awful lot. The Bible belt – people hate gay people. Because the Bible tells them? No, the Bible tells them an awful lot of things that they ignore.
It’s only fair that stable gay relationships of long standing should have the same rights and responsibilities as married couples. I know the image of gay marriage is to some people horrific and ludicrous.
What I particularly like about Broadway is the camaraderie and the friendship of other people in other shows. Everybody knows you’re opening and cares about you. There’s a real village atmosphere.
The conventional wisdom is that if you are gay, you cannot play the romantic straight lead in a movie.
I’m not someone who wears shades all the time and ducks into a darkened car in case I’m recognized – that would be absolute misery.
Even now, there are young actors who want careers as romantic leading men, and the best thing is not to reveal you’re gay.