Michael Gambon

I'm an anorak. I've always been an obsessive collector of things. Richard Briers collects stamps. I collect cars and guns, which are much more expensive, and much more difficult to store.

I've always tried to be an actor who... I just plod on and try to keep my mouth shut, mind my own business. I find the whole thing about people's lives... I can't understand it. I'm always astonished that people want to know anything about me.

I just hate the idea of being well known. I know that is almost impossible if you're an actor who has done okay, but I've always fought against it.

A child did approach me in a restaurant in Cornwall, but he thought I was Gandalf.

I belong to quite a lot of learned societies. We collect firearms and discuss them at dinners and clubs and things.

Every part I play is just a variant of my own personality. No real character actor, of course, just me.

I've played quite a lot of crooks and killers, and that's quite interesting. Then Dumbledore is the complete opposite, isn't he? He's a nice old man.

There were no spells at my school, just a smack in the mouth.

I learn the lines that JK Rowling or whoever writes them, and say them.

You get used to being lazy doing films, but classical theatre's going to finish me off.

There's no subtext in Harry Potter really; it's all magic, anything can happen. Why do I say this? Because it's a magic spell. It's quite nice in a way. There is a real freedom to it.

There's no subtext in 'Harry Potter,' really; it's all magic - anything can happen. Why do I say this? Because it's a magic spell. It's quite nice in a way. There is a real freedom to it. Doesn't say much for acting, does it?

Paul Schofield said something like, 'If I'm not acting in a play, I don't really exist.' Those weren't the exact words, but he meant it's only when I'm acting in a play that I've got something to say about the world. And then why should I talk, when people can come to see it?

Maybe that is why kids like Dumbledore: because he is funny rather than a miserable old sod with a long white beard.

Television has dried up for my generation, so it's plays and films. You get used to being lazy doing films, but classical theatre's going to finish me off.

My only memories of school are of being beaten, of being hit in the playground, of masters poking their fingers in my chest all day.

I just play him as myself, I don't ease myself into any role really. I stick a beard on and play me.

I'm very flower-like. I love classical music. I go to ballet and I cry. There's nothing so beautiful.

I am a theatre actor, but the last ten years I've taken parts in movies because it keeps me in money.

I promise myself that I would go and do a play every year.

Richard was in heavy, heavy costume, he could hardly sit, you know, and I turned up and they put me in two layers of silk, so I played him much lighter - you know, floating around in a pair of slippers, a bit of a hippy.

Yeah, I like causing trouble. It's the teddy boy in me. I used to be a teddy boy. Feeling slightly inferior and wanting to cause a bit of bother and get some action going on in the room rather than get bored stiff.

I live in fear of being a contented passenger. I'd rather get parts I can't play.

When I was doing 'Tales from Hollywood' at the National, I was invited to dinner by the choreographer, Kenneth MacMillan. He told me I had the heart of a dancer and asked me if I'd like to come on at the end of 'Romeo and Juliet' as a friar. I said I'd love to, but sadly, MacMillan died shortly after.

Oh yeah, I'd love to be a comedian. I've done a lot, but always in the confines of plays.

Television has dried up for my generation, so it's plays and films.

There are more important ways of earning a living, aren't there? Like being a neurosurgeon. But some plays are very important, aren't they?