"Who wants to see me as 'Hamlet'? Very few. But millions want to see me as Frankenstein so that's the one I do." "If I played Hamlet, they'd call it a horror film." "Teeth are a vitally important part of an actor's equipment. I have over 30 toothbrushes at home and always keep a good supply at the studio." "I hate the word 'hate'." [on the wig he had to wear for _Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974)_ ] "It made me look like Helen Hayes". "You have to have a sense of humour, darling, to be alive. Even a bit mad. It helps to be mad." - (1991) "People look at me as if I were some sort of monster, but I can't think why. In my macabre pictures, I have either been a monster-maker or a monster-destroyer, but never a monster. Actually, I'm a gentle fellow. Never harmed a fly. I love animals, and when I'm in the country I'm a keen bird-watcher." - ABC Film Review (Nov 1964) "There is little chance for a person to exercise the imagination today in this complex, programmed society we have." "Since Helen passed on I can't find anything; the heart, quite simply, has gone out of everything. Time is interminable, the loneliness is almost unbearable and the only thing that keeps me going is the knowledge that my dear Helen and I will be united again some day. To join Helen is my only ambition. You have my permission to publish that... really, you know dear boy, it's all just killing time. Please say that." - Radio Times 1972 "You cannot make a film like this without integrity. To make the audiences believe in you, you must believe utterly in what you are doing." - (1972) "My criterion for accepting a role isn't based on what I would like to do. I try to consider what the audience would like to see me do and I thought kids would adore Star Wars." "Strangely enough, I don't like horror pictures at all. I love to make them because they give pleasure to people, but my favourite types of films are much more subtle than horror. I like to watch films like Bridge Over the River Kawi, The Apartment or lovely musicals." - (1980s) "As far back as I can remember, I had a passion for 'dressing up' and playing games of 'Let's Pretend', which are, of course, the basic principals of acting, and if you are lucky enough, you get paid for so doing, hard work though it may be." "When Helen passed on six years ago I lost the only joy in life that I ever wanted. She was my whole life and without her there is no meaning. I am simply killing time, so to speak, until that wonderful day when we are together again." "Television is rather a frightening business. But I get all the relaxation I want from my collection of model soldiers." "There are all sorts of reasons why I don't do much work in the theater, the main one being that after two performances I feel I've given all I can. I hate repetition, I really do. It's like asking a painter to paint he same picture every day of his life."