Donald Sinden Quotes

I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve been in theater, films, television, radio, tragedy, comedy, farce – I’ve been in a musical and in music halls, in pantomime. I was once ringmaster in a circus.

You come across quite ordinary, nondescript people in daily life, and I don’t see why you should be subjected to them on the stage, too.

I grew up in Ditchling. It was an idyllic village at the foot of the South Downs. In those days, the village was full of artists and sculptors.

I remember once saying in a television interview that the only things I hadn’t been in were the opera and the ballet. Two days later, I got a call from Lord Harewood, of the English National Opera, saying “Would you like to be in ‘Ariadne auf Naxos?'”

James Agate, a great critic of the day, advised me that the way to learn your job properly was to learn Shakespeare, so I went to Stratford. It really sorts out the men from the boys.

I need to know who the audience are in any particular play. It’s no good forgetting that they’re there.