- Back in the days of Bellbird (1967) it was a great school for young actors. It was a school for experienced stage actors as well. These days if a kid looks OK they get the job. We find out if they can act later. Learning how to teach the kids is very important.
- Playing against the character was always good for Harold [Bishop]. I've always said use what you've got. If you've got a face that wobbles around a bit, use it get a laugh. People are always trying to be what they're not, but if I'm fat and a bit funny to look at when I do things like that, OK let's get a laugh, let's make it work.
- I love the silly old fart but as an actor, I would like to stretch myself beyond that because you're in danger of becoming the character you play, especially for so many years, so I want to get away from that.
- It's like the young kids come up to me and say, 'You're like my granddad', or, 'You're just like my father'. If I can grab that and turn it into something where I can say, 'Go and hug your father' - I never hugged my father, I only kissed him for the first time 10 minutes after he died.
- One day, I realised I didn't want to do it anymore and I always promised myself that if that day happened, I wouldn't be fair to Harold if I did keep doing it because it would become false.
- I shocked myself as well as [producers] because I would have been in danger of thinking, 'Gee, I'm creating something here that... I'm digging a hole that I'll never get out of'. It turned out that yes, that's what happened, but I just didn't wake up to it.
- I love retirement too much. It's a pity not everyone can afford to do so. It makes you stop and have a good look at yourself.
- In my mind I am still a jobbing actor and I can't get used to the fuss that is made about Harold.
- I've never been very confident in my ability to act but I see some people on the silver screen and I think, 'I think I could have done that'. Who knows.
- I've really not broken into the movie world and I really would love to do a movie before I hang up my voice.
- I watched young people from the shows that I was in leave when they were not being asked to leave and go on to do bigger and better things and I thought they were mad walking away from the money. And now I know why they did it.
- He is somebody that I always wanted to play. He is a little collection from all the wonderful old English actors that I used to admire and it just seems funny that I am being rewarded like this. It is good fun, I love it.
- [on his colleague Gerda Nicolson] A wide-ranging, thinking person whom few people could equal as an actor; I have never seen anyone prepare for a part as Gerda did ... Sometimes, Gerda would take a breath and say, "Listen, m'dear". And you would take a breath, because you knew she had been thinking about something. It was always "m'dear", and once that happened you had to listen.
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