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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Truly charismatic people, in my experience, don't come along very often.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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 am pretty self-indulgent.

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

I didn't choose to be an actress.

I do find acting cathartic.

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

I have made a public statement about me and Ralph by being seen with him. I don't need to make any other. You can live the way you want.

I have yet to see a drama that puts forward women who are successful and also have a family... they are nearly always seen as victims.

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

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.

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

I'm an actress, not a pinup.

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'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'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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

I like working in theatre now and I think that once you've done a certain amount of films most actors love working in the theatre because of the camaraderie.

In films people basically work for the camera, you know, and that's why actors can hate each other and not be speaking to each other and still look as if they're in love because really they're loving the camera loving them.

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 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 turned down a lot of films.

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

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

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