[on actress Kate Reid]: We fought a lot, especially when she was drunk and I would have to sustain a long scene. For the audience, it didn't matter because she was so compelling, but once we had a serious rift over that and didn't really see or talk to each other very much for some years. But she was an extraordinary person.

The only thing that worries me as a Canadian actor, and it's a constant and serious worry, is that at my age I have no savings, nothing to fall back on. If I lose my health or my ability to work, I think to myself 'My God, is it going to be one room in Parkdale?'

There was simply no Canadian star system. There was a lot of fear in the CBC bureaucracy that we'd get ideas above our station. When they brought in actors from the States they were treated very much like stars, but not us. They wanted to maintain control over us, and we were considered small fry. But I stayed in Canada because I learned more about my craft here that would elsewhere.

I was desperately in love with Richard Burton for a long time, and we had a wonderful affair. I was just a baby, but Richard laid siege to me, which didn't take long. During our affair, we often went to Welsh pubs and met Dylan Thomas, the poet and legendary drunk. But, oh what a conversationalist.You'd be spellbound for hours.