Quotes

[on how he got the role of Robin Hood] Kip Richard Carpenter and Paul Knight came to see the show I was doing [the London revival of the Gilbert and Sullivan musical The Pirates of Penzance - I think because they wanted to see Cats and they couldn't get in. I suppose I was lucky in that I was very well cast in Pirates, so they saw me in a good light, as it were. At that time, I had long hair, which was for an actor unusual. I'd learned to fence when I was very young and am quite comfortable around swords - maybe that helped. They had an idea of what they wanted their leading man to look like, and I think I must have fit a version of what they were looking for. It's a question you don't really ask: 'Why did you pick me?' I never really had an official audition for them. They took me out for lunch and it was very low-key. I remember that they talked about this project, but it was so unlike the typical audition, where you go and you have a tie and you sit on a seat, and there's a whole bunch of faces behind a desk firing questions at you. It's a horrible process, the audition, because it's just very difficult to be normal. But at lunch, it was very quote-unquote normal. They explained to me what they were attempting with this Robin Hood. They wanted to do a Magnificent Seven, a big buddy picture, with all these very different-looking people. It sounded really exciting to me, and then the offer came through.

[on Jason Connery taking over the role of Robin Hood]: It's much harder for someone to take over a role. You get compared to what the other person did, and that's really unfair. Because they're their own person, doing it their own way. But you can't get that elephant out of the room.

The thing about Robin of Sherwood (1984), is it was the right show at the right time. Why was it such a success? It all comes down principally to Richard Carpenter. And we helped a bit.

I now know what it feels like as a young man to open on Broadway. I'll never forget, after opening night, sitting in my dressing room and taking it in. This mayhem that we'd been through - a producer died during rehearsals, they fired a director. Crazy shit happened on that show. I made my entrance from the back of the stalls... on a horse. It was crazy. And I remember thinking, whatever happens, it's been fun.

When I was young, about 16 or 17, I asked a very wise old lady, 'If you could pass on something to my generation, what would that be?' And she fixed me with her beautiful blue eyes - I can see her now, with her intense stare - and she grabbed my arm and held onto it, and she said, 'Michael, in your lifetime, you're going to have three opportunities. Picture them as a bird with feathers. And what you must do is grab onto those feathers, and hold on for dear life, regardless of what happens. And you'll know. You'll know.'

One of the gratifying things about being an actor is, every job you do, you're forced together with people. Ours is a business of storytelling and sharing emotions, and you can become very close to people. You form like a little tribe. A family, for want of a better word.