Age is just a number. It's totally irrelevant unless, of course, you happen to be a bottle of wine.

The problem with beauty is that it's like being born rich and getting poorer.

Show me a person who has never made a mistake and I'll show you somebody who has never achieved much.

If you feel well and happy, your face will reflect this, but if you are down in the dumps and having a miserable time, your face will soon show this, too. In fact, you get the face you deserve by the time you're forty, and one of the keys to looking and feeling younger is being active.

The body is like a car: the older you become the more care you have to take care of it - and you don't leave a Ferrari out in the sun.

I don't look my age, I don't feel my age and I don't act my age. To me age is just a number.

If life throws you a lemon - make lemonade.

It's no one's fault to be born ugly, but, honestly, must it be worn as a symbol of pride?

I'm a fiend for costume jewellery and have countless pairs of rhinestone or diamante earrings, which are so flattering when they catch the light. I love the designers Alexis Bittar and Kenneth Jay Lane, and I always go to jewellers Butler & Wilson.

We live in a quick-fix society where we need instant gratification for everything. Too fat? Get lipo-sucked. Stringy hair? Glue on extensions. Wrinkles and lines? Head to the beauty shop for a pot of the latest miracle skin stuff. It's all a beautiful £1 billion con foisted upon insecure women by canny cosmetic conglomerates.

You can't help getting older, but you can help yourself from becoming old and infirm, in mind as well as body.

Doing 20 minutes of stretching, light weights and floor exercises three times a week takes the same amount of time as a long coffee break - and eating a tuna fish salad, sardines on toast or scrambled eggs is surely preferable to a Big Mac or KFC.

I eat an avocado every day. It's amazing for your skin. It's one of the super-foods, and I'm just so into eating properly and healthily.

I think bare legs in winter are idiotic. Unless your naked pins are toned, tanned and veinless, it's best to cover up. There is nothing more elegant in winter than dark tights worn with matching knee-length boots and a belted trench coat.

The sad truth is that most of my husbands turned out to be convincing liars.

Having had five husbands, I guess I should know a thing or two about marriage.

Certainly there are dozens of over-50 actresses who look great: Sophia Loren, Susan Sarandon, Ursula Andress, Stefanie Powers, Raquel Welch, Barbara Eden, Joanna Lumley, Linda Gray - the list is endless, and these are just the actresses! I have many friends in their 60s, 70s and 80s, not in the limelight, but who all look absolutely stunning.

My father is Jewish, and I look exactly like him... My mother is British, but she's of French extraction.

I don't know why people are so obsessed with age anyway. I mean, 90 is the new 70; 70 is the new 50 and 50 is the new 40; so the whole act-your-age thing? Only up to a point.

I received an OBE from the Queen, which probably doesn't mean anything in America but is quite nice in England - the Order of the British Empire for services to drama.

When I was 49, I posed for Playboy - I was very flattered to be asked. I was quite honoured, really, considering that most of the models they feature are in their twenties.

One of the main secrets to staying young is staying healthy. I've sometimes had to suppress a smile when some young lady, who has obviously not taken care of herself through diet or exercise, says admiringly, 'Ooh, I hope I look as good as you do when I'm your age!' Although it's intended to be complimentary, it's actually a back-hander.

I've always maintained that there is a very fine line between a daring, sexy older woman and mutton dressed as lamb.

I've spent years when I've not been in the limelight at all and I'm perfectly happy living my life without being swooped on by paparazzi.

Well I've written four beauty books as well.

I consider you as old as you look and feel. And in that case I feel - I feel I'm about 39, like Jack Benny.

Gone are the days when a gentleman lightly took your hand in his and brushed his lips across it, or tipped his hat to acknowledge you as he chivalrously stepped aside to let you pass.

I think dieting is bad for you.

I never thought I was particularly good looking. But when I see old photographs, I realise that I was. I do wish I had known that at the time because beauty is power. I didn't realise how lucky I was to be young, beautiful and in Hollywood. It didn't hit me. Every day I woke up, went to the film studio and just got on with it.

My mother was a domestic goddess and Mother Earth figure. She was sweet and placid - just what the perfect wife was supposed to be and I was determined not to be.

I say, 'Use it or lose it.' I have my own fitness regime, which is centred around stretching, free-weights and fast walking. I also have a trainer half of the year, as I spend my summers in the south of France where I swim a lot.

Most ankle strap shoes are seriously unattractive, cutting the line of the leg as well as cutting off the circulation! Try dancing in them - your feet will look like a pair of overdone hotdogs afterwards.

I've made no secret of the fact that I often wear wigs and have in fact launched my own 'Dynasty' range, named after various characters. I find this saves a ton of time - as well as my own hair.

When I finish dressing before a night out and have put on all the accessories, I usually look at myself in the mirror long and hard and then end up removing something. Whether it's a belt, bracelet or a bauble, less is always more.

I mean, even my dressing room at the studio has candles and cushions and cashmere rugs and things.

I've never chased fame. I came into this business to be a theatre actress. I was nine when I first appeared on stage. But I can't say I would turn my back on fortune. I'm someone who enjoys the benefits of money.

I used to not be confident. My father certainly didn't add to my confidence. When I was 17 or 18, I was voted the most beautiful girl in England by the association of press photographers. When they called Daddy for a comment, he said, 'I'm amazed. She's a nice looking girl, but nothing special.'

I'm extremely happy in my life. I consider myself to be very blessed.

Every time an article is written about me or any of my contemporaries who's had the fortune and discipline to look good at a certain age, I am struck by the tone of astonishment, and the certainty that something is being done secretively to beat the devil.

Botox, I think, is poison, I would never put it into my face, and I'm needle-phobic. I spend a lot of time keeping my face out of the sun and taking care of my skin and wearing make-up.

I like to remember phone numbers because it keeps your brain active. If you don't use it, you lose it.

My grandmother spoiled my father rotten, and he grew up expecting women to do whatever he wanted. When he married my beautiful mother, Elsa, he expected her to give up her career as a champion ballroom dancer and become a good wife and mother, which she dutifully did.

I have girlfriends who've had Botox and been left with lumps in their faces. And the lips, don't even get me started.

I've never been that keen on Shakespeare.

Yes, I love playing cartoony characters. Been known for that.

And I used to write novels and little stories and compositions and I - but I put them away because I started acting when I was 17. So there wasn't much time.

But I have had to give up certain things in my life. One is shopping. Two is lunch with the girls. Three is cocktail parties, and four is studying my lines.

Every woman should wear make-up. It takes years off. I'm wearing lots of false eyelashes today, and to me, lipstick is the best cosmetic that exists.

If I need to cheer myself up, I will put on some fabulous '40s musical on video. But I'm very lucky; I seldom get depressed. Without question, I'm a 'glass half full' person. In fact, it's three-quarters full!

I do think it's very important, if you're going to spend the rest of your life with somebody, to know that you really like them. Because when the pheromones wear off, which of course they will, you have to have a strong basis.