Quotes from Helen Mirren

They're called 'action scenes' because they do the acting for you. You don't have to act in action scenes. The action does it all for you. It's great.

When you're young and beautiful, you're paranoid and miserable.

People with Parkinson's are not some weird people on the edge of human experience.

The most important thing is to bring people with Parkinson's into our world and for the public to have a real understanding of it, as they're beginning to have with autism.

Sometimes nudity is sexy. Sometimes it's not. Sometimes being clothed is more sexy than being nude.

People become more interesting from about 25 - they develop character and their personalities come out.

Flesh sells. People don't want to see pictures of churches. They want to see naked bodies.

It'll be the Internet and piracy that will kill film. There's a philosophy that the Internet should be free, but the reality is that piracy will destroy the film industry and film as an art form because it's expensive to make a movie. Maybe you'll have funky little independent movies, and it'll go back and then start up again some other way.

I was part of the first generation of girls and women to be educated and go to grammar school even if we didn't have much money. Then that generation went, 'OK, great', and went into medicine or the police, and hit this wall of discrimination from older men who hadn't caught up.

I am in a fabulously lucky position in that I get to wear beautiful, beautiful gowns for functions, which I can then give back. That way, they're not sitting in my wardrobe with me looking at them and feeling guilty. I love that, and I think when people have a fabulous function to go to, I'd recommend renting.

In Shakespeare's day it was women who were being burned at the stake as witches... not men. The men were thought of as alchemists. But women doing the same thing would be a witch and would be burned.

I feel the written word, poetry and literature is just one of the most beautiful things that human beings do. So we have to fight for it.

It has nothing to do with clothing or makeup. Just put your shoulders back and chin up, and face the world with pride.

I'd describe myself as a Christian who doesn't believe in God.

I'm a would-be rebel. The good girl who'd like to be a bad one.

Working away from my husband for long periods is good and bad. It stops us taking each other for granted and gives us space, but I miss him terribly.

Patience can be a good thing - but not necessarily. Sometimes it's not so bad to be impatient. I'm a little bit too polite.

I'm not a republican any more. Not so voraciously anyway - I'm not in favour of the concept of monarchy, but I do see the good in it if there's a good person in the role.

The great marriages are partnerships. It can't be a great marriage without being a partnership.

American actors who voice animated movies are so brilliant at it, because by the nature of American speak, it's full of energy and full of commitment. And as a British actor, we have to kind of learn that.

I'm not a communist, of course. But I do think that everything is down to economics. Capitalism doesn't change.

You can't control how other people see you or think of you. But you have to be comfortable with that.

When I came into the acting profession, it was quite hierarchical. You didn't sit at the same table as the leading actor. Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir John Gielgud... these were very, very intimidating and powerful people.

A woman with knowledge is something that frightens the status quo quite a lot.