Simon Callow Quotes
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Shakespeare wrote all there is that we need to know about dementia in 'King Lear.
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When the BBC decided to bring Doctor Who back as a feature film a few years ago, one national newspaper ran a poll to ask its readers who should be the new Doctor, and I topped it.
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Like many Catholics, I was very affected by the personality of Jesus and that impression, pious as it was, has stayed with me.
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There is something essentially sanguine about me, which I am inclined to attribute to the fact that I was born by caesarean section. It must affect you.
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You could say Shakespeare is so extraordinary precisely because he was so ordinary. He had all the usual anxieties and understandings of what it is to have children, lose children, get married, struggle to make a living and so on.
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The elderly are all someone's flesh and blood and we cannot just shut them in a cupboard and hand over the responsibility for taking care of them to the state.
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Jesus is absolutely at the centre of Western civilisation and part of my fascination with him is, why? What is it about this particular man and his story?
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I went to Queen's University Belfast and stayed nine months, then I ran away to be an actor.
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Artists probably should have some impenetrable aspects of themselves.
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My mother wanted me to be a teacher. She had this vision of me walking across the quadrangle in an Oxford college wearing my academic gown.
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Many actors have protested about mobile phones going off in theatres, but the real menace now is people texting during a show. It may only disturb a few people around them, but for me, as an actor, when I spot them answering their emails, I am outraged.
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I would say critically of myself that I am somebody without secrets. Sometimes acting depends on you having a secret. I don't think I've ever had that.
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I don't practise any religion but I am deeply interested in the answers that mankind has come up with to explain the human situation.
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To enter a theatre for a performance is to be inducted into a magical space, to be ushered into the sacred arena of the imagination.
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I actually wanted to be a writer long before I wanted to be an actor.
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If there were ever two sentences that you will not respond well to, 'Don't move. There's a snake behind your foot,' is it.
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I hated Sundays when I was growing up in Streatham, south London. Everything closed down and stopped.
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When children have grieving parents it's also common for them to feel an obligation to cheer them up and make them happy.
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My mother wanted me to go to church to meet women. That's wrong, ain't it? 'Praise the Lord! Hey, how ya doing? Nice dress. Look, I'm going to go over there and get some of this wine and crackers, want some?'
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Very often my weekends are spent performing on Saturday, on stage in the afternoon and again in the evening.
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I am never bored, never short of anything to do and I don't even ever feel lonely. I am quite gregarious and I get out and about a lot, but sometimes it is just wonderful to be on your own.
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In elementary school, in case of fire you have to line up quietly in a single file line from smallest to tallest. What is the logic? Do tall people burn slower?
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I've come to this conclusion: What makes a great actor is great need. A huge need of acting.
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Having caught a glimpse of what I might be able to do with my talent, I feel a tremendous obligation to try to fulfill it.