Francesca annis quotes

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 didn't choose to be an actress

Fame and stardom sat very easily on Elizabeth Taylor's shoulders.

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.

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

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.

Truly charismatic people, in my experience, dont come along very often.

I’m the same weight now as I’ve always been-even before having children-but I have to say there’s been a redistribution of the flesh!

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.

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.

Exposure makes you famous, not just good work. Famous is being plastered everywhere.

I don't want three million people digesting my private life over their cornflakes.

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

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

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.

Having children with someone is the real bond.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

I've always kept fit but I've been doing gym and yoga and will be throwing my stilettoes away for a while!

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.

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 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 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.

It's not so much the dressing up, but I love the idea of moving and existing in a different time.

I don't think the media circus has ever been a shock to my life seeing as I was with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor when I was 17.

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

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.

I do find acting cathartic.

I am pretty self-indulgent.

Everyone has class, one class or another.

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.

Everything is about class in England, whether it's upper, lower or middle. Why should that be?

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.

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.

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

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

It's funny, this thing about happiness. It's a commodity that was imported from America in the Fifties. I see myself simply as living my life. . . . I feel it's pushing your luck to define how happy you are.

I never pursued being 'famous.'

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.

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

My parents were hugely supportive like that. I was always the best - it's so embarrassing, isn't it? I was always the best at everything.

I've never been too afraid of what other people have said, especially when I was younger, but I suppose that was the arrogance of youth.

You can be revered for all sorts of qualities, but to be truly charismatic is rare. Elizabeth Taylor was, for me, one of those rarities.

We all know now that people can look good for their age. It isn't so extraordinary, I don't know why people go on about it so much.

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

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.

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.

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

From one till seven, when we moved to England, I spoke only Portuguese. But I can't speak a word of it now.

I was always going to be a dancer - I drifted into acting.

The funny thing is I'm not bothered or sad about being on my own - after all I've never had a husband.

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

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

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

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.

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

I was seen dancing at school by a director, who asked me to be in a TV play. And it had a huge impact. So I think thats what really started me off.

I don't regret the passing of time. I try to live in the present, which should mean my life's full.

I don't really have an image of myself. Now, is that true? Well, maybe I do and it's different, which is why I get shocked when I see how other people experience me. I see myself primarily in a domestic setting.

So many stars lose their way, and with success become more neurotic, not less so.

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.

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

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