Judi Dench and Ian McKellen taught me how to work hard and respect the theatre.

I didn't choose to be an actress.

When I was starting out, young actresses had the studio system to protect them. Now you have a host of sharks, from your agent to your publicist to your lawyer.

The minute anyone's getting anxious I say, You must eat and you must sleep. They're the two vital elements for a healthy life.

I'm trying to learn to smoke, which is rather weird when everyone is trying to stop. I'm not a smoker. But my character only smokes as an affectation.

I have yet to see a drama that puts forward women who are successful and have a family. Women are nearly always seen as victims.

Some actors get fired up by the sound of the audience. I just want to retreat.

I think people have surgery for psychological reasons more than because of their looks.

I don't buy the tabloids, but you're surrounded by it all and people tell you things they've read. I'd be sitting on a train looking over someone's shoulder and thinking: That's familiar... oh my God, it's me.

The wonderful thing about acting is you move along with your decade. The older you get, the more interesting the parts you get to play and you bring more of your personal experience to the part.

I do think it's important to live in the present because in that way you won't be living in a state of regret.

I used to suffer from excessive pride. Well, I got over that one.

I couldn't imagine playing someone young now; it would be so boring.

I have made a public statement about me and Ralph by being seen with him. I don't need to make any other. You can live the way you want.

As you grow older, your whole life becomes very rich, multifaceted.

Everything has changed. An interview has become such a confrontational thing. It makes you very defensive.

However successful you are, there is no substitute for a close relationship. We all need them.

I do find acting cathartic.

I'm often asked if I regret not going to Hollywood. I'm glad I didn't go, because if I had I wouldn't have my extended family, which is the fabric of my life. Only recently have I realised how special and unusual it is.

Judi Dench and Ian McKellen taught me how to work hard and respect the theatre.

I don't need a piece of paper to suggest that I can commit myself.

Having children with someone is the real bond.

I can feel the 60S looming. In my profession, I've just moved along with my age. By thinking in decades, rather than whether someone's 42 or 47, you can give yourself a whole 10 years to turn yourself around in.

I'll dance to anything: Bob Marley or rap.

Sometimes sushi is just superb, and other times there's nothing like a great big steak. It depends where your taste buds are at the time.

There is not enough celebration of companionship. Relationships aren't just about eroticism and sexuality.

I am not going to share my private life with millions of people. I don't find a need to do that and nobody else close to me does either.

You can love more than one person in your life, but things will be different. There'll be a different dynamic. Needs and desires change.

I consulted a Chinese herbalist and spent two weeks on an island off the coast of Zanzibar. I was away from any kind of contemporary technology.

Roman's wife Sharon Tate had been murdered by Charles Manson the year before, but Roman had been through so much leaving the Warsaw ghetto that he was very strong and private.

The thing about doing anything artificial to your hair is that you have to look after it. So you're always vulnerable to the weather and time.

I am not a fanatic about anything. I do what I can do when I've got the time.

I go on giving interviews because I've been brought up to support the projects I'm involved in. When you've enjoyed working on a production, you want to do them a favour.

I was asked to be in Vogue but I said no. I didn't want to advertise make-up. I didn't want to be seen as a sex symbol.

You have to be careful not to let your fear stop you doing things. It's very exciting to test yourself.

If people think I look good, it's the make-up.

I am pretty self-indulgent.

Too often, older women are seen as victims, but I know lots of formidable women who have marvellous jobs as well as a full erotic life, and children and friends and family.

I maintain the rather old-fashioned view that this is my work and it's in the public arena, but that doesn't entitle everyone to know what happened at home before coming here.

The first thing you have to do is accept that decay sets in and there's nothing you can do about it.

I've never been married and I've no more desire to be married now than I ever have. I hate bureaucracy and I am not religious.

I'm an actress, not a pin-up.

Thank God we're not like America: everyone wants to look like they're 20. In Europe we admire grown-up women. I think men revere older women.

I'm one of the great unemployed looking for the next job. I'm waiting for the right offer. Like anyone, I want something that turns me on inside.

I don't believe in expending energy on something you can't do anything about. If there was some easy way of fixing things, I'd probably do it.

After all my various relationships I find myself now home alone.

An interview has become such a confrontational thing. It makes you very defensive.

Each decade, I've lived in that decade, so I could easily shed the '20s, the '30s, the '40s.

Eat well and sleep well. That will feed your nervous system and your psyche. As you get older, you look how you feel.