laurence-olivier-award-winners

"I always said that 'Send In The Clowns' was the best gift I was ever given. But I've always thought before I decide I don't want to do theater anymore, I'd like to have a vehicle that gave me the scope to do something beautiful. Maybe this is it."

"Of course, she came across as supremely confident, but in private she suffered quite crippling stage fright that she never really got over – only managed – so that makes her career even more remarkable."

"I was quite an athlete, my muscles were strong from dancing, so the tail was just fine. I swam like a porpoise."

"I would sooner play in a good British picture than in the majority of American pictures I have seen."

"Glynis has light brown hair, blue eyes, and is five feet four inches in height. Dancing is still of great interest to her and is her favourite recreation, coupled with the collecting of good syncopated numbers: Glenn Miller's In the Mood is her favourite. Her favourite classical composers are Grieg, Mozart and Debussy. Riding, tennis and ice skating are her sports, and her ideal holiday is one spent in a mountain resort where there is plenty of night-life. Her favourite reading is autobiographies, preferably those of celebrities she knows personally."

"Glynis Johns is already a professional actress. She got her chance two years ago when the child principal of a children's play fell ill and she took over the part without a rehearsal. Last year she made a hit in the emotional child's part in Elmer Rice's "Judgement Day," and her naturalness in putting over the temperamental storms of Midge Carne puts her high up in rank of child character actresses. Several London critics have compared her to Bonita Granville. She has an intelligent little face which has character without prettiness and, properly handled, should do interesting work."

"Glynis powered her way through life with intelligence, wit, and a love for performance, affecting millions of lives. She entered my life early in my career and set a very high bar on how to navigate this industry with grace, class, and truth. Your own truth. Her light shined very brightly for 100 years. She had a wit that could stop you in your tracks powered by a heart that loved deeply and purely. Today is a somber day for Hollywood. Not only do we mourn the passing of our dear Glynis, but we mourn the end of the golden age of Hollywood."

"Relatives cannot help you in the studios. You stand or fall by your own efforts. My father and I have only ever worked in one picture together – that was Halfway House – and the producer was casting a father and daughter. Perhaps it was natural that he chose us, but my father did not get me that job, neither did I get him his."

"I like being a woman, and it may be small‐minded of me, but I also like being given flowers, having the door opened for me, being cherished by a man. And a woman should look after a man, mother him. It's give and take. It evens out. I'm a complete romantic – and very happy to be one."

"I'd tread very softly in that area. Very softly. I certainly wouldn't rush into anything again, and I'd have to have an awful lot in common with anyone I'd consider marrying next time. Why so many marriages? It was absolute conservatism on my part. I was brought up to feel that if you wanted to have an affair with a man, well, you married him. I have friends who, if they'd followed that rule, would have collected an awful lot of pieces of paper by now."

"In classical theatre in Europe, everybody plays all kinds of parts. Juliets go on to play the Nurses; they don't want to play Juliet again. I think we've got to remember to grab onto our perks, whatever is the good thing about each age. Each stage of life should be a progression."

"Acting is my highest form of intelligence, the time when I use the best part of my brain. I was always told, by my married friends, for example, that I could apply that intelligence to something else, some other aspect of living, but I can't. I don't have the same flair in other things."

"There were situations that were hard for parents to turn down. It's difficult to turn down a chance to star with Laurence Olivier, to say, 'No, she has to go to school'. They had a big decision to make ... I was interested in everything. I wanted to be a scientist. I would've loved to go on and on at university. But you can't do everything in life."

"For me, most relationships with men have been like pregnancies – they last only nine months. One of my marriages lated only three months. It wasn't a marriage at all but a serious mistake."

"Glynis’s CV stands up strongly when compared to fellow actors of her generation and younger like Angela Lansbury, Judi Dench, Joan Collins and Maggie Smith, who all received Damehoods – so it would be nice if the government could make the same gesture for her as she turns 100."

"I went through this period where I was just obsessed with makeup and I wore a ton of it, and then I suddenly realized how much I was wearing, and the fact that I was spending all this money. I think now I'm just trying to be more comfortable with what I have rather than having to cover up. But I do love putting makeup on for a night out."

"It was really shocking; it was the first time I had ever been dragged into something like that. And it wasn't just me, it was my family. I had seen the absurdity of what I was being accused of, and what my partner was being accused of. I decided for my own health that I was not going to try and convince these people otherwise. I just wasn't going to do it."

"For an era when women were expected to conform, these women are totally in charge of the show. To read a piece of material from a period drama told from the woman’s perspective is just so unique."

"a quite wonderful woman and actress, which were indivisible in her case."

"I never thought I was subject matter for an Oscar. How wonderful to be given it, I’ve been killed with kindness."

"It was as if all the lights had suddenly gone up. It is true even in her own living room."

"I think I'm going to be overexposed after total anonymity."

"Peggy while receiving oscar award in 1985."

"While we watch her, we view the world through the eyes of a great person."

"Peggy joked in an interview in 1984."

"I happened to be seeing my doctor the next day for a check-up so while he was down there I said, 'By the way, my wife and I have had a little disagreement, I am circumcised, aren't I?' He took a closer look and said, 'Not! I am Jewish, and definitely know the difference!'"

"I knew that I wanted to be visible about my sexuality, because in all the territories that Netflix goes out in, there might be a boy somewhere that goes, “Wait, what?” Which is what I didn’t have when I was young. All I know is that I’m happy to keep working really hard and if there are opportunities for representation, and to make that point, then that’s something I’ll always strive to do."

"It’s about redressing the balance of access to roles. There just aren’t that many gay roles, so when straight actors go to take that space up, it’s eliminating the chance for other [gay actors]. We know there has been a history of needing to be closeted to succeed and be famous, especially in acting. And the idea of not being able to believe heterosexual relations and narrative, if you know one of the actors is gay… everyone should be able to play absolutely everything. But let’s blow away all the cobwebs, and one of the hang-ups and shadows of the past is that we need to be a lot more open to the idea of sexes playing different sides. There have been amazing performances by straight people playing gay and by gay people playing straight."

"Any actor who thinks they're a sex symbol? Cringe."

"In 20 years, you don't want to be famous. You want a sustained career."

"[I loved] the romance genre being given this platform — it’s always been seen as quite a lightweight literature. Of course, it’s fluffy because it’s accessible and it’s hopefully something that you can bathe in. But at the same time, it can really tap into very human, very private and very high-stakes human experiences."

"He’s the nicest person you could ever hope to meet. But when he acts, he can have an edge, which can feel dangerous in a great way. An unpredictability."

"It is good to see a romance story getting the respect it deserves — people can relate because everyone gets the chance to fall in love at some point. Hopefully."

"Of course I thought that in order to be happy I needed to be straight. I reached a point where I thought, Fuck this, I'd much prefer to hold my boyfriend's hand in public or be able to put my own face picture on Tinder and not be so concerned about that than getting a part."

"I think there’s something incredibly sexy about consent generally."

"I was aged about five and I went to see Oliver!. I remember announcing to my family something very cliched like, I want to be up there one day."

"Theatre has often saved the day for me and that’s why I’ll forever think I’m a theatre actor more than anything else."

"I have three older sisters who definitely encouraged me to lark around. I’m pretty sure they spent their Sundays dressing me up (in suitably androgynous clothing) and forcing me to sing Sister Sledge. They were my heroes growing up."

"When you’re working with a genre like romance, which is about something fundamental which connects all humans, it’s so important that we can allow everyone to see themselves in that story, and that wasn't necessarily there for me growing up."

"There’s a lot of pressure on romance, I think, because you have to be so truthful. But that’s what you want, isn’t it? You just want to find the truth in everything."

"It's thrilling from beginning to end. And the last scene of Act I (which is now two guys) will completely shatter you, as well as it being one of the funniest scenes on record. All due to [Jonathan Bailey], the guy who plays Jamie, the Amy-equivalent."

"But with every job I’ve done that I’ve really enjoyed, I’ve never really ‘seen’ myself in it. If you can see yourself in something, you’ve probably already worked out your performance or the why. But if there’s that friction, then it means you’re going to come up with something new."

"I've never gone in as the overdog, and that's liberating and I don't want that to ever change. I just want to allow my own experiences to come through."

"It is a private matter [sexuality], but if there are opportunities to say something . . . I wonder if, if it would be beneficial to someone else, that responsibility is on you. It’s complicated."

"I’ve never doubted I would have children. It’s not something I’ve ever wavered on."

"Theatre is all about people. You can love a play and character and can be the right person to tell that story. But if you don’t click with the other people in the play, it won’t work."

"Oh my God, are you kidding? I’m not saying for one second that I’ve been this sort of candyfloss gay who has cartwheeled around London. It’s completely brutal. And at moments really confusing. [But] there’s absolutely no way I’m not going to be visibly out. Even four years ago there wasn’t any actor in my peer group, really, that you could see playing straight roles."

"Leadership is about authenticity and transparency. And being there. Being there as much as you can. There's a fearlessness to it."

"LGBT people are not that different - we're just as anxious and just as flawed and just as desperate to fall in love as everyone else."

"Jonny operates at a different voltage. He's a meteorite of fun with an incredible amount of energy and playfulness. Smoldering at one turn and then utterly innocent at the next, but all the time playing with this sense of untapped danger. That is the quality I love most about Jonny as a person and as a performer: his danger."