Samantha Bond Quotes

The big thing that Moneypenny changed was the amount of charity work that I was able to be involved with.

If I pop off and do something drastic, everyone's going to realise because they know I'm 50. Anyway, middle-aged women are sensational.

'Downton' is one of the best jobs in the world, and I'm looking forward to the next series for Maggie Smith's wicked sense of humour.

I'm an appalling flyer. I get very tense, although I no longer weep uncontrollably for no reason - I just sob if there's turbulence.

My nickname is Bondy. But not because of the Bond films - it was my surname a long time before I did those.

One of my earliest memories is of being about three and a half, climbing through the legs of a man who I didn't know was the famous actor, Patrick Magee.

Sometimes I'll work through the crossword sections of three separate papers.

Something like 'Sex And The City' was insulting - women all clawing on to their youth when there's such ripe territory in honestly exploring women's lives as they get older.

I always have bananas with me for energy.

I think that as you get older, you become aware of everything that could go wrong.

The middle-aged woman is the ground bed of the audience that watches television, and yet they are absolutely invisible.

I've been married to the same man - even after the separation - longer than most people in this business. I'm sick to death of people mentioning it.

Inside my heart, there's a 12-year-old girl who has always wanted to be Ginger Rogers.

The bravest thing I've ever done is fly to New York. I'm simply terrified of aeroplanes - I am the woman you see weeping at the airport.

My best friend is my husband.

Not a lot of people know this, but I'm very good at mathematics. When I was an angry teenager, I used to sit in my room and do quadratic equations to calm myself down.

I love Manhattan.

It's one of the oldest theatrical adages: never work with children or animals.

My father Philip was an actor and appeared in everything from 'The Onedin Line' to 'Hedda Gabler' with Dame Diana Rigg.

Agatha Christie holds special personal memories for me because my mum, a television producer called Pat Sandys, had been the first person to persaude the Agatha Christie estate to put one of her stories on T.V.

When women's parts are being written, they are more and more for under 30s who are nubile and beautiful. Actresses over 40 are finding very little happening.

As a child, I always remember our home, which was a flat just on the Barnes side of Hammersmith Bridge in London, buzzing with actors such as Patrick McGee and Peter Bowles. We were a family who were always on the go.

Nobody can prepare you for the loss of a parent.

I'm very shocked when I look at television and I see such an aggressive youth and image obsession in the representation of women on our screens.