Quotes

On playing a character: You can't relate to a superhero, to a superman, but you can identify with a real man who in times of crisis draws forth some extraordinary quality from within himself and triumphs but only after a struggle. Real courage is knowing what faces you and knowing how to face it.

I don't think I've drunk one since I've left the Bond movies. Every bar you go in, there's always some wisecrack, "Oh, yours will be a Martini, shaken, not stirred!" You get sick and tired of that. - on all of the vodka martinis he would get whenever he walked into a bar, while he was playing Bond.

I felt as free as a bird. - describing driving down Sunset Boulevard and seeing a billboard that had Sean Connery, Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan on it, but no Timothy Dalton.

It's very important to make the man believable so that you can stretch the fantasy. Whether people like this kind of Bond is another question. (on his approach to the role of James Bond)

When I saw those posters of Pierce standing there, I suddenly thought to myself, Jesus, I don't have to stand there with a gun to the side of my head anymore! I suddenly found the most tremendous sense of liberation, and I started to feel more like myself than I'd felt in years! I suddenly felt free! (describing his feelings on whether or not in retrospect he made the right decision not to make the James Bond film GoldenEye (1995))

I don't think that Bond is a role model or that he should be a role model. He's only part of a particular kind of story. I don't think anyone should grow up wanting to go around killing people. I don't think anyone should grow up wanting to be a secret agent.

Roger Moore was brilliant but the movies had gone a long way from their roots; they had drifted in a way that was chalk and cheese to Sean. And I think Daniel Craig will work well. I think he's going to be terrific, he's got danger and vulnerability.

I think most people thought it was a pity I wasn't allowed to grapple so much with the ladies. And he wasn't allowed to smoke; I think I managed to get a few puffs in, which they then cut out.

He's terrific. I think Casino Royale (2006) is a huge step forward - a leap forward. It's great and Daniel's great. He got a lot of stick when he was doing it. There was a lot of negative press. He was criticized by people who didn't have a clue what was in the script or what he was going to look like in the film, which was deeply unfair. I said how wrong everyone was at the time because he's a very gifted actor. I'm pleased that the movie turned out as well as it did.

That's something I think about constantly because it has to be for a purpose, it's not just self-indulgence. People often say, "Well, it's just the way I express myself." That's no good, that's narcissistic, juvenile. You work to express the piece because you believe the piece has value and that can be communicated to other people who will see something new of life because of it. You must believe that it will in some small or big way make a difference to their lives.

There was a time when Sean Connery gave up the role. I guess I, alongside quite a few other actors, was approached about the possibility of playing the part. That was for On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969). I was very flattered, but I think anybody would have been off their head to have taken over from Connery. I was also too young. Bond should be a man in his mid-thirties, at least - a mature adult who has been around. I was not approached for Live and Let Die (1973), but there was a time in the late 1970s, when Roger may not have done another one, for whatever reason. They were looking around then, and I went to see Mr. Broccoli in Los Angeles. At that time, they didn't have a script finished and also, the way the Bond movies had gone - although they were fun and entertaining - weren't my idea of Bond movies. They had become a completely different entity. I know Roger, and think he does a fantastic job, but they were different kinds of movies. Roger is one of the only people in the world who can be fun in the midst of all that gadgetry. But in truth my favorite Bond movies were always Dr. No (1962), From Russia with Love (1963), and Goldfinger (1964).

[on GoldenEye (1995)] I was supposed to make one more but it was cancelled because MGM and the film's producers got into a lawsuit which lasted for five years. After that, I didn't want to do it anymore.

Richard Burton was Welsh; Tom Jones is Welsh, and we Welshmen like to think of ourselves as heroes - on screen and off!

[2017, on Roger Moore's passing]: I knew Roger as a kind and generous man. He was a wonderfully engaging and successful actor.

A lot of people think I was born in Belper but I wasn't - I had great growing up years there though. I was born in Colwyn Bay, so many people think I must be Welsh but it is not quite as simple as that. I'm not really Welsh other than being born there, although it must be said there have been many great actors born in Wales and I don't mind one bit to be named among them.

The truth is I was born in Colwyn Bay because my parents happened to be there at the time. My father was an advertising executive, that was his career, but he was also a captain in the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II and had been stationed in Colwyn Bay. I was nearly four when the whole family moved to Belper, with my father back into his advertising career and working in Manchester.