I am never going to stop playing the villain. I would be foolish to do so because the audiences apparently enjoy watching me, and who am I to say no?
We don't live in a particularly attractive world. I don't really remember, except as a small boy, anything but a pretty grim world.
There is something sad about malevolence, to be wicked. I have always tried to make that come across in the villains I have played.
I still think 'The Lord of the Rings' is the greatest literary achievement in my lifetime. Like so many other people, I couldn't wait for the second and then the third book. Nothing like it had ever been written.
I don't think anyone has ever succeeded in putting Ian Fleming's James Bond up on the screen. The closest in my opinion is Pierce Brosnan.
Ian Fleming was my cousin, and he wanted me to play Dr. No, but by the time he got around to remembering to tell the producers, they'd already cast someone else. Spilt milk!
I was attached to the SAS from time to time, but we are forbidden - former, present, or future - to discuss any specific operations.
I was always interested in enchantment and magicians and still am.
The saddest country I went to was Romania, years ago, during Ceausescu's rule.
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.
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.
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.
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.'
Ian Fleming was my cousin, you know. He was in naval intelligence.
Comedy is the most difficult thing to do. Easily the most difficult.
I made three films with Boris Karloff. He was absolutely wonderful.
I didn't want to be known as a man who only made horror films. I made some - very few.
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.
Somebody once asked me how I found Peter Jackson, and I said: 'Well, I parted his hair, and there he was.'
Before 'Lord of the Rings,' some people would have just classed Peter Jackson as a horror director. But there is a mind there.
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.
We don't always get the kind of work we want, but we always have a choice of whether to do it with good grace or not.
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.
A whole new career opened up for me when I was in 'Lord Of The Rings' and 'Star Wars.'
I've done a lot of films that have become iconic, not necessarily because of me.
As far as I am concerned, Don Quixote is the most metal fictional character that I know. Single handed, he is trying to change the world, regardless of any personal consequences.
The secret to a long marriage in the film industry? Marry someone wonderful, as I did. And always have her come along on location.
I turn to the 'Telegraph's' obituaries page with trepidation.
I'm much softer than people think. I don't present to the world an emotional face. I'm pretty good at self-control, but I am easily moved.
The first 'Charlemagne' album is metal, of course, but what I sang was more symphonic.
