Quotes from Felicity Kendal

For me, compatibility is a sense of humour, being able to laugh together; that is very important.

I don't think, until you've actually lost somebody you really love, that you can go through that door that allows you to be grown-up.

From the early days of the Raj, Shakespeare had been woven into the fabric of India's education, and my father understood that in a culture rich with storytelling and fantastical tales, Shakespeare's characters and storylines resonated in a powerful way.

There is one sure way of telling when politicians aren't telling the truth - their lips move.

Success breeds success, and failure leads to a sort of fallow period.

My father was my trainer, my teacher. He was closer to my sister in the sense that she adored him and he adored her. He was more like my pal. Because of the 13-year gap, I think by the time I came along, it wasn't a big deal. I wasn't spoilt or cherished, I was just put to work.

I think in the acting world you either manage that transition to older roles, or you stick with what you've always done and then discover nobody can bear you doing it as an older person.

It's difficult to say what attracts one person to another. It's always a combination, isn't it? I've always found people interesting because of the way they think, and a sense of humour is irresistible.

Looking back, I got the bed I wanted and I lay in it. I didn't want to go to America. If you want to join that world, you have to go and live there, and that was something I could not have done. I am very much about family. It doesn't matter where I live, but I feel very needful of my people around me. Besides, theatre is my first love.

The girl-next-door image is a sort of joke; for years, I couldn't get any roles other than as somebody dark.

I love gentle, gorgeous classical music such as Mozart.

When I was much younger, I sometimes felt rejected by feminists because of an image that I sold because it paid the bills. Any fool could tell my hair is dyed.

Every woman feels she is too old and has missed the boat.

As we have more women in power, so the plays and the TV dramas are reflecting what's happening.

So many roles for women demand that you make the audience fall in love with you or sympathise with you.

It was in India that I started my acting career, courtesy of my parents, long before I set foot on stage in England. They headed a company of travelling players performing Shakespeare up and down the land.

I am used to looking good. In a way, if I thought I looked like the back end of a bus, I probably wouldn't have done 'Strictly Come Dancing' and gone out there in public.

The problem men seem to have, and women, too, is that they have this very structured idea that we should find a partner and settle down and be, you know, faithful. And yet clearly this is really, really hard for anybody to do!

I can be very difficult if people are not professional, or lazy - or the opposite, which is take themselves too seriously.

When I was little I always thought I was marked out, special, on the verge of something momentous. I used to tingle with anticipation.

I wouldn't trade anything for family time. To me, it is more important than everything else, and I have a very deep-rooted belief in it, which is influenced by my Jewish faith. That's a very great source of who I am and what I believe in.

After making my stage debut aged nine as Macduff's small son in 'Macbeth,' I had played a number of parts, from 'Twelfth Night's Viola to 'The Merchant Of Venice's Portia'.