Michael Gambon Quotes

I never thought I'd be one of those old hams who favours theatre over everything, but I'm getting that way. Telly and film seemed more fun when I was younger; turning left on planes and washing up in nice places. But there are things that you only learn in theatre.

In England, when we're at drama school, we spend a lot of time learning the craft from playwrights and stage actors, who are very well trained in the basics of acting because they need to get it right the first time - you can't have second or third takes when you're in front of a live audience, unlike in film.

Right now, if you're interested in being a dramatic actor, they're not making that many just regular dramas. Movies have to have some other thing going on.

I've always enjoyed acting. When we were younger, my sisters and I would put on plays for our parents.

Theater is about life, not about television or movies.

I'm doing a play at Trafalgar Studios with The Jamie Lloyd Company - 'The Maids' by Jean Genet with Uzo Aduba and Laura Charmichael, directed by Jamie Lloyd. It's one of my favourite plays by one of my favourite playwrights.

Theatre worked as a big boost and improved my film career.

'Hedwig' was born in '94. I was thinking of a theater piece; Hedwig was one of the characters.

My schedule is completely different doing a play than it is doing a movie, and I actually think it's a much harder schedule because you've got to do it eight times a week and you've got to do it good eight times a week and with different kinds of audiences who are cold or drunk or tired, whatever it is.

I want to be able to play trailer-bound fatties in a Judd Apatow comedy.

I always loved acting and improv and sketch comedy and theater, which I did at a local youth theater.

It's communication - that's what theatre is all about.

In theater, there's a lot of work to do to build the characters. It's a great experience.

I've done a lot of theater, and I know that it's a different audience each time who doesn't know the story, and we have to tell it.

I want to be on set and die hearing those words: Where's Peter?

I'm not an actor who appears on the stage and gives people advice on how to live or what to do and entertains them. It is not my specialty.

If I was on Broadway, I would want to do anything Vaudeville or a biopic.

Directing is something I always wanted to do. I started when I was 13 directing scenes in high school and then plays in college with my theatre company.

I love the simple poetry of theater, where you can stand in a spotlight on a stage and wrap a coat around you, and say, 'It was 1860 and it was winter...'

I kind of got lost down a road of TV and film, so it's great to come back to theatre.

I need to do more on stage. I've got to get my fix!

Movie-making is serious business. The director and the crew are already under a lot of pressure to give their best to the audience. Therefore, the best part for me as an actor is to act well in the movies and make a jolly atmosphere with the co-stars on the sets.

Acting is my job.

Two of the first plays I saw after I arrived in Britain were 'King Lear' in Liverpool, and 'Antony and Cleopatra' at Stratford. One was produced with hardly a backdrop and the other with gigantic scene changes. I was impressed by what connected the two: the words and their life beyond the stage.

People prefer doing films. That is not the case with me. I don't do theatre because I have to but because it makes me feel alive. I enjoy the whole process of rehearsing, though repetition can make it tedious.