Richard Attenborough

“The family is the focal point of our existence. And up until Jane and Lucy's death, there were always 16 of us together for Christmas.”

“There's nothing more important in making movies than the screenplay.”

“I adored my mother. I absolutely adored her and admired her.”

“There is a LIGHT in this world. A healing spirit more powerful than any darkness we may encounter. We sometime lose sight of this force when there is suffering, and too much pain. Then suddenly, the spirit will emerge through the lives of ordinary people who hear a call and answer in extraordinary ways.”

“We used to indulge hopelessly as a family at Christmas. When the children were little, I dressed up as Father Christmas. They knew it was a gag, but they loved it. I remember stealing into their bedrooms at 1 A.M. and filling the stockings up at the end of the bed.”

“I am passionately opposed to capital punishment, and I have been all my life.”

“I want to be remembered as a storyteller.”

“Well, you cannot think of cinema now, and you cannot think of cinema in the UK and not place Chaplin in the most extraordinary elevated context, if there can be such a thing, in that he was a genius, he was unique.”

“I'm not a pyrotechnical director; I'm not good with all those innovative things. What I am interested in is how actors can touch the heads and hearts of an audience.”