Denis Lawson Quotes

This is the best thing that happens to me all night – a pint of cold Guinness.

For the first ten years of my career, or up to the point I did ‘Local Hero,’ I was always trying to be somebody else as an actor.

Going from dialogue-driven ‘New Tricks‘ to a movie like ‘The Machine‘ which has special effects has been brilliant.

I rather like contemporary art.

My first starring role was in ‘Rumpelstiltskin’ and the lightbulb moment for me came when I had to stamp my foot at the end and walk off the stage. Everyone laughed and I thought, ‘this is great.’

My mother was a dancer when she was a kid and I gather she was very good, but was never allowed to go into the profession.

In the ’80s, to get a contemporary Scot who was smart, sexy and funny was very unusual.

I’m more careful now, but in the past I would always have to give 100 percent of myself to every single show.

Doing comedy is my favorite thing.

My son is a lecturer at Bristol University in anthropology. His degree was in, get this, human mating strategies – sex!

I got married on a beach in Italy. It was very romantic getting married in Italian. But I’ve no idea what we agreed to.

It’s unusual when you get scripts not wanting to change things – I’m one of those actors who writers must hate as I’m always wanting to rewrite or swap bits about.

‘Local Hero’ was probably the most enjoyable job I’ve ever done then or since. It’s had a very long shelf life.

‘Bleak House‘ is like the best soap you could ever hope to watch.

A big moment for me came when ‘Singin’ in the Rain‘ came out. It hit me like a sledgehammer – that’s what I wanted to do.

My parents came out of Glasgow during the Depression and both – particularly my father – had very tough childhoods. They fought their way out of it.

I hadn’t read Dickens for a while and doing ‘Bleak House’ was great.

When I was very small, when I was five or six, that’s what I wanted to be. I wanted to be a song and dance man. Then I got a lot of inspiration from going to visit my grandparents in Glasgow, where I’d go to see variety. That made me want to do it as well.

What’s it like to have my trousers pulled down? It’s not as awful as it seems. Doing that kind of thing with an actress like Judith Paris, who pulls them down, is easy, because she is very professional about it.

I studied in Glasgow and, when I was young, I spent four years solely in theatre.

I had this idea when I left drama school that if I could do everything, I’d always be working.

I’d be very interested to direct myself on film. I think it would be almost impossible on the stage.

I never thought that I was intrinsically interesting.

I’ve done a lot of musical theatre, but I equate ‘Mr. Cinders’ a lot with why I became an actor.

To make 800 people laugh for a couple of hours is a wonderful feeling, because you know you’re doing them a lot of good.

Laughter is like surfing; it’s like a wave coming out of the auditorium – before it has died off, you must come in with the next line. But if you come in too soon, no one will hear what you say.

I think of myself as a light comedian.

My wife is a lovely Scotswoman called Karen.

You just wear the clothes, you don’t let the clothes wear you.

I began to tell people that I wanted to be an entertainer. Between the ages of five and 11 there was an intense amount of practical drama going on.