Quotes from Julie Walters

My grandmother lived with us for a short time while I was a child. Old people tend to be slightly more eccentric - they can behave the way they want.

I'd like to think there'll be too much of real life going on for me to want to do much acting.

I wanted above all else not to be like my mum.

It's getting better but men still earn more and there are more jobs for them. Ageism is a big thing. Parts for women disappear as you get older.

There were people asking 'Can women be funny?' People still ask that. It's like asking: 'Can women breathe in and out?'

I was the little, funny one. I felt I was the child among grown women.

I always loved my mother, felt loved, but she was judgmental. Her father in Ireland didn't approve of women generally, and she took on his values. She believed her own mother was foolish.

It's getting better generally, daily, especially in TV, for women in acting and age and looks count less. As more women come into the business. Change of any sort takes a long time to happen.

Jane Austen was an extraordinary woman; to actually be able to survive as a novelist in those days - unmarried - was just unheard of.

Sixty felt like a big landmark. Not in a dreadful sense, but none of the other birthdays have bothered me. It's got labels on it - OAP, retirement - and I just wanted to take stock. I wanted to be in my greenhouse at home and at least give myself the opportunity of not working again.

I don't know if you can change things, but it's a drop in the ocean.

We have to take risks with art. If we don't, it all becomes a bit boring

Some people have a terrible stretch between family and work. It is a difficult thing to achieve.

I'm more selective now I've got a family. I don't want to work all the time. My daughter's 12; I don't want to miss out on her life. Soon she'll be a teenager; she won't want me around.

It seems that when you get to a certain age you almost give yourself permission to misbehave and say what you think. People allow it, with very old people.

I didn't come into the business to get awards or titles.

That's why I'm an actress - escaping into a world.

Being a mother adds another emotional dimension, a feel for children that I didn't have before I had one. They were a pain before.

Stage is the most exciting. Film is lovely, because it's like a family.

Shakespeare - it's not funny. No matter how they try to make Shakespeare funny, when it's meant to be funny it's not funny.

When I think of the future, I think of doing my washing so I've something to wear tomorrow.