"You celebrate by being alive, not by going to the party"
- Ben Kingsley (in response to the question how would he celebrate his latest Oscar nomination)
Ben Kingsley once gave an interview here in my University a few years ago. As well as being very approachable (and very small!!) he also has an acute sense of humour, he's a brilliant mimic and has some wonderful anecdotes. Here are a couple.
'After a performance in Stratford I was approached by an impending woman who announced to me "I was a young girl in India, Mr. Kingsley, and I have to say that your performance in A Passage to India was superb'.
'A Passage to India? But I wasn't in A Passage to India!' To which she emphasised, 'Oh, I think you'll find you were.'"
I love being recognised in public. The only problem is that I'm always being mistaken for other actors. An American girl once approached me after I'd completed a particularly gruelling lead role in a performance of Richard III.
'It's you, isn't it?', she said. 'Yes' I said with a humble smile. 'It's me'.
'It's really you' she went on. 'Yes, it's really me'.
'Oh, great', she finally said. 'I just loved you in Star Trek'"
