A biography for Keith Allenhasn’t been written yet.
“Journalists have so much newsprint to fill, the details are the last of their considerations.”
“I hardly ever drink.”
“I hate technically constructed actors. In fact, I hate anything technically constructed, unless it's a bridge.”
“I love reading when I'm on holiday.”
“I'll take anyone to task about UB40. They were as important as Bob Marley in getting reggae into the consciousness of British youth at that time. I'm proud to be their number one fan.”
“I guess there's a part of me that loves institutionalism. And borstal is tailor-made for you to buck against. It was perfect.”
“You can't learn how to have presence. I walk into a room and people say 'I wonder where he's been?' When other people walk in, they say 'I wonder where he's going?'”
“My hero in adulthood would be Michael Bryant, who's dead, bless him. His memory lives on. He was an actor at the National, and a wonderful man.”
“I'm probably the biggest show-off in the world. But I also happen to be an artist. You can be both, you know.”
“I'm very good at pretending to be subservient; I'm really good at it.”
“I didn't really do any acting until I was about 28. I just did odd jobs.”
“I'm very old fashioned. I'm from an era where your phone is in the house so if you are pottering in the garden then you won't hear it ring.”
“Unlike virtually everyone else, I know how to work a room. That comes in pretty handy. If you're not getting any laughs, then at least you can make people watch you.”
“It must have been horrible for my parents to see me go from public school to comprehensive to detention centre to borstal. I was busy ploughing my own furrow, but I must have been a terrible worry to them, and for that I am sorry.”
“Jeremy Corbyn... love him. Right person, right time. He's like a poultice, drawing Blairite disease out of the Labour party.”
“I don't suffer from what I believe a lot of actors suffer from, in that they have to do certain things to be an actor, like endlessly study the script and endlessly think about the character. I wouldn't advise that to anybody.”
“I loathe the very thought of airports and also airlines taking as much from you as possible and giving very little back.”
“Anything to do with Heathrow is a nightmare.”
“I am certain things to certain generations. Lots of people remember me from the 'Comic Strip,' there was the 'Vindaloo' song for the 1998 World Cup, then it was playing the Sheriff of Nottingham in the BBC's 'Robin Hood.'”
“I can't have wet wool next to my skin because it really affects it.”