A biography for Rowan Atkinsonhasn’t been written yet.
“Mr. Bean is at his best when he is not using words, but I am equally at home in both verbal and nonverbal expression.”
“And what's interesting about him as a comic character is that the custard pie hardly ever ends up on his face.”
“I'm not a collector. I don't like the toy cupboard syndrome that causes so many good cars to evaporate.”
“But generally speaking, I tend to be quiet and introspective.”
“I enjoy racing historic motorcars from the '50s and '60s. The seed of my interest was planted when I was about 12 years old and took over my mother's Morris Minor. I drove it around my father's farm. But my favorite car is still a McLaren F1, which I have had for 10 years.”
“But I always feel that whatever I do, I could do better. I suppose it is perfectionism.”
“When I was doing Bean more than I've done him in the last few years, I did strange things - like appearing on chat shows in character as Mr. Bean.”
“I don't much enjoy Back and Forth. I mean, I think it has its own particular qualities, but I think it's inferior to any of the half-hour ones we did.”
“I want to express myself in a different way. I have a performing inclination.”
“People think because I can make them laugh on the stage, I'll be able to make them laugh in person. That isn't the case at all. I am essentially a rather quiet, dull person who just happens to be a performer.”
“I have to say that I've always believed perfectionism is more of a disease than a quality. I do try to go with the flow but I can't let go.”
“You're about as useful as a one-legged man at an arse kicking contest.”
“Mr. Bean is essentially a child trapped in the body of a man. All cultures identify with children in a similar way, so he has this bizarre global outreach.”
“There is always that age-old thing about England and America being divided by a common language. You think that because we speak English and you speak English that you're bound to understand and like everything that we do. And of course you don't.”
“I suddenly think the job of acting is a difficult one. It's not as flip, irrelevant and shallow a calling as I thought it was in the Eighties.”
“I like to juggle with one ball at a time. Then I put the ball down and do nothing for extended periods of time.”
“As hatred is defined as intense dislike, what is wrong with inciting intense dislike of a religion, if the activities or teachings of that religion are so outrageous, irrational or abusive of human rights that they deserve to be intensely disliked?”
“I think the character does tend to suit an episodic thing, because what's fun about him is that he doesn't care about anyone else, and it's very difficult for a main character - a lead character - in a movie to not care about anybody else.”
“It's a bit disconcerting being treated like Madonna.”
“I feel as though the camera is almost a kind of voyeur in Mr. Bean's life, and you just watch this bizarre man going about his life in the way that he wants to.”