A biography for Roger Reeshasn’t been written yet.
“So, suddenly I was an actor. I don't remember being nervous. I learned to be nervous later.”
“Most of my enjoyable times in the theater have been working in a group.”
“I got out of this school and went to Camberwell College of Arts, a terribly prestigious thing to do. I was there to be a painter. And I sketched so well that, a year later, I was sent to Slade School of Fine Art, one of the great art schools.”
“I have a little studio in Chinatown, and I sometimes go there and rearrange my brushes. But I would have to stop acting altogether in order to become a painter. At the moment, I'm still interested and active as an actor and director. Besides, I rather think acting and painting are all part of the same creative urge.”
“I directed Bebe Neuwirth in 'Here Lies Jenny' at the Post Street Theatre. I was gobsmacked - the audiences were extremely knowledgeable, affectionate, interested, and not cynical.”
“Television is an important part of how we communicate.”
“Nothing in the world in perfect. Even a still photograph.”
“History is with us until we learn from the suffering of the past.”
“I don't think perfection is possible. I think you can attempt to reach perfection, but I don't think it's a possible thing. I think perfection is a moving point, and we spend our artistic lives chasing it.”
“I do one thing Gielgud didn't: I play the ukulele.”
“I was a skinny 17-year-old.”
“Some of the finest Shakespeare has been done recently by college theater programs. I'll tell you what these young kids have: They have a natural authority in Shakespeare. They feel a right to do it. And once they honor the humanity of it, the rhythm of the verse comes with it.”
“If you take away a lot of the pretension and grandness from Shakespeare, a true poeticism is revealed.”
“The shields were enormous. In 'Julius Caesar,' I died early in the scene and used to fall asleep under the shield until I was woken up by applause.”
“'Nicholas Nickleby' is 800 pages long. At one time, the theater production was 15 hours long. So it's an interesting process, about what you leave out and what you select.”
“I like working with authors who are a bit pesky.”
“In the Victorian age, actors played Romeo until they were 60 or 70 years old.”
“Rattigan's world demanded unwavering trust in principles, loyalty, and virtue. At the time of this play - Rattigan was writing this play in 1947 about an incident that took place in 1914 - should a boy say he didn't do something, his father would believe him; a British father would take the defense of his son's honor to his grave.”
“There's something very fine and lucid and rich in this tradition of the English actor.”
“All this thing that L.A. doesn't have any love for the theater isn't true.”