No one trusts me any more. I spent half the movie Maigret (1988) (TV) arguing with people and I was accused of causing big on-set rows. But what they won`t tell you is I fought for Simeneon. I fought for the maintenance of quality. I don`t believe in lying down on the job. I`ve seen these so-called `nice` actors. Very able fellows like Ian McKellen and Kenneth Branagh. But they`re like bank managers. So sweet and careful. Who needs them? We are suffering a plague of good taste. Give me Sean Penn and Mickey Rourke any day. They project danger. That`s what makes acting - and life - interesting.

Someone asked me once "What is the difference between Tom Cruise now and you when you were a major star?" I said there is a great difference. Look at a photograph of me from the old days and I`m going to one of my film premieres with a bottle of vodka in my hand. Tom Cruise has a bottle of Evian water. That`s the difference - a bottle of Evian water.

[upon being carried out on a stretcher from the Savoy Hotel, to people entering the hotel] It was the food!

"Heston`s the only man who could drop out of a cubic moon, he`s so square. The trouble with him is he doesn`t think he`s a hired actor, like the rest of us. He thinks he`s the entire production. He used to sit there in the mornings and clock us with a stopwatch." - After working with Charlton Heston on Major Dundee (1965)

I can see the difficulties of making a movie. Directors and producers have to put up with a lot of rubbish from temperamental actors.

What I hate about our business today is the elitism. So-called stars ride in private jets and have bodyguards and dietitians and beauticians. Tom Cruise is a midget and he has eight bodyguards all 6 feet 10, which makes him even more diminutive. It`s an absolute joke.

I would give up all the accolades - people have occasionally written and said nice things - of my showbiz career to play just once for the senior Munster team. I will never win an Oscar now, but even if I did I would swap it instantly for one sip of champagne from the Heineken Cup.

[His response to hearing he had been Oscar nominated for This Sporting Life (1963)]: I`ve struck a blow for the Irish rebellion!

No one gave me anything. I fought TB, I fought the devil. But I made people laugh. I don`t want immortality. I`ve lived it all. I`ve done it all.

I`m not interested in reputation or immortality or things like that...I don`t care what I`m remembered for. I don`t care if I`m remembered. I don`t care if I`m not remembered. I don`t care why I`m remembered. I genuinely don`t care.

There are too many prima donnas in this business and not enough action.