SHARON STONE:                                       

‘Any man in Hollywood will meet me if I want that. No, make that any man anywhere.’

‘I feel at great pain when the spotlight is on the death of 4,000 American soldiers, while 600,000 Iraqui deaths are ignored. War is not a movie, it is a tragedy of dead bodies, victims, the disabled, orphans, widows and the displaced. I feel sad when I realize how much truth is being changed or obscured in the American media.’

George W. Bush & Donald Trump

[On Donald Trump during the presidential elections] ‘When I go abroad and listen, I just feel very, very sad. It was one thing during the George W. time where you just had to sit in shame, but this? What can I say that he doesn’t say for himself? I think the ever-changing muskrat on his head speaks worlds about his confidence. Unfortunately, there is a lot of humour attached to Trump in the media, but it isn’t funny, and it wouldn’t be funny if he became president.’

LEONARDO DICAPRIO:                                      

‘I don’t really have many extravagances. I don’t fly private jets and I don’t have bodyguards and I don’t buy crazy things. I have a couple of houses here and there. I bought a very expensive watch, and I am going to buy a really expensive movie poster, the original for The Thief of Bagdad (1940). I love movie posters.’

[On whether there are any aspects of fame he dislikes] ‘You kidding? I feel very fortunate. A lot of people would love to be in my position. There are so many people out there who are suffering trillions of times more than I could ever suffer, and would love to be me. I am a lucky little bastard. Fame is not the worst thing. I went to dinner the other night, and the girls in the restaurant ignored me. It was so annoying.’

[On losing out on the Oscar to Jamie Foxx during the 2005 Academy Awards] ‘I wasn’t surprised that Jamie got the award. But I knew that cameras would be stuffed up my face so I had my response ready. Anyone who says they don’t practice is a liar.’

‘My Mom and I lived at Hollywood and Western, a drug-dealer and prostitute corner. It was pretty terrifying. I got beat up a lot. I saw people have sex in the alleys. I remember I was five years old, and this guy with a trench coat, needles and crack cornered me. Early on, seeing the devastation on my block, seeing heroin addicts, made me think twice about ever getting involved in drugs. It’s evil. Once you take that step and experiment, drugs can take over your life. You are not yourself anymore. That’s something I never wanted. I’m absolutely clean. I’ve never tried anything. That’s not a lie!’

‘It’s a weird adjustment living alone, because you don’t realize how much you really miss Mumsie until she’s not there.’

‘I was 18 when I got to work with Meryl Streep. I remember going over my lines with her off-camera, looking at her and thinking to myself, ‘What is going on here? How is this going to look good?’ Then when I sat in the theatre, it was, ‘Oh, my God, she’s the only person who looks completely natural.’ Meryl may be the greatest actor in the world.’

Leo & Kate in a still from Revolutionary Road (2008)

[On the nude scene in Revolutionary Road (2008)] ‘I knew Kate [Winslet] before Sam Mendes [her husband] even met her. So on the outside, it may seem strange to do a sex scene with a woman while her husband is directing. But it didn’t feel that way to me. When the scene was about to start, Kate said, in front of the crew, ‘Wait, wait, this is totally weird’. She turned to both Sam and I and said, ‘Are you guys okay?’ We both looked at each other and said, ‘Yeah, we’re totally fine.’ She said, ‘It’s even weirder that you’re both totally fine’.

[On the night River Phoenix died] ‘When I was eighteen, River Phoenix was far and away my hero. Think of all those early great performances – My Own Private Idaho (1991). Stand by Me (1986). I always wanted to meet him. One night, I was at this Halloween party, and he passed me. He was beyond pale – he looked white! Before I got a chance to say hello, he was gone, driving off to the Viper Room, where he fell over and died. That’s a lesson.’

[On auditioning for the lead in Titanic (1997)] ‘My two main competitors in the beginning, the blond-haired kids I went to audition with, one hung himself and the other died of a heroin overdose…I was never into drugs at all. There aren’t stories of me in a pool of my own vomit in a hotel room on the Hollywood strip.’

PAMELA ANDERSON:                                         

[On sexual misconduct during castings] ‘You need to have that Spidey sense or whatever it is that this is not right. When someone answers the door in a bathrobe, don’t go in that room. Or if you go in the room, get that role. [Laughs] Sorry, now I’m really in trouble.’

Hugh Hefner & Pamela at the Playboy mansion

[On Hugh Hefner and her visits to the Playboy mansion] ‘I hate when people say bad things about him because I believe he empowered women and I believe he did so many great things for civil rights. I say Playboy was my university. I learned about activism, I learned about art, I learned about artists, and there were always really colourful, wonderful people there. It wasn’t seedy or salacious or sleazy. It was cool.’

DON ADAMS:                                                          

Bill Dana

[On his trademark clipped voice as Maxwell Smart, suggested by comedian Bill Dana] ‘Right from the beginning, he said, ‘you should do all your routines in that voice’. And I said, ‘But I can’t stand that voice’. And he said, ‘But it’s funny. It makes people laugh’. And I’m like, ‘But I hate it’. For whatever reason, the delivery or whatever it is, that voice makes any situation funnier.’

‘I’m no longer independently wealthy. I guess it’s the result of too many wives [three divorces], too many kids [seven] and too much alimony. I’ve been paying alimony since I was 14 and child support since 15. That’s a joke, but not by much. I like getting married, but I don’t like being married.’