What's really important for me is, as an old man, I'm known by my own generation and the next generation know me, too.
It's what you don't see that keeps you on the edge of your seat in any kind of film - leave it to the imagination of the viewer.
Films are now made by accountants. They pick a pretty young female or male face out of the air and give them a part - not because they think that person is right for it or is ready for it, but because they think that person will make them money.
I have made a lot of movies, but I don't see any point in talking about films I don't think are terribly good. I have been in a few. I don't know any actor that hasn't.
Before 'Lord of the Rings,' some people would have just classed Peter Jackson as a horror director. But there is a mind there.
Somebody once asked me how I found Peter Jackson, and I said: 'Well, I parted his hair, and there he was.'
When I first read 'Lord of the Rings,' I wanted to see a film of it. But at that time, the technology wasn't there; there was no such thing as CGI.
I didn't want to be known as a man who only made horror films. I made some - very few.
I made three films with Boris Karloff. He was absolutely wonderful.
Comedy is the most difficult thing to do. Easily the most difficult.
If I had any deadly secrets, I wouldn't still be alive.
Ian Fleming was my cousin, you know. He was in naval intelligence.
I knew Vincent Price from films - he was a big movie star - but the first time I met him was when we filmed 'The Oblong Box.'
I've worked with Tim Burton five times, and it's just like being part of a family; life doesn't get much better than that.
Acting as a profession came to me by chance: in 1946, after the war, I was having lunch with my cousin, who was the Italian ambassador, and he asked, 'What are you going to do now you're out of uniform?' I said, 'I'm pretty inventive, and I can imitate people,' and he said, 'Have you thought about being an actor?'
You can learn Elvish, if you want. It's a language like Italian and English. You can learn to read it, you can learn to write it, and you can learn to speak it.
When I was very young - around the age of nine - my family used to go to a house in Somerset that my stepfather rented every summer. There was fishing, lakes and riding.
I don't really like long flights any more - I find them too tiring. Flying always involves the same things these days - huge crowds at airports, waiting around, late take-offs, weather problems, and so on. I don't really enjoy travelling. I don't imagine anyone does except young children.
The saddest country I went to was Romania, years ago, during Ceausescu's rule.
I don't play long parts. They must be short parts, but they've got to be parts that mean something, that matter, where people will notice when I'm on the screen, and people will remember the character after they've seen the film.
