Brian Cox (Actor)

"A wonderful old friend of mine, Fulton McKay, who played the old tramp in the Bill Forsythe film "Local Hero," used to tell me, 'Brian, why are you worried about being a star? Just be a good actor. Say your prayers and be a good actor. It's the best advice anyone ever gave me." - Cox quoted to The Los Angeles Times, Aug. 1, 1999

"I'm curious about evil people. I get quite emotional about them and quite fond of them. I never judge them. There's a deficiency which makes them lose any sense of right or wrong. Hannibal Lecter is frightening because he has no boundaries. We haven't found his fear and we haven't found his love." - Cox on one of his better known roles, quoted in The London Times, Jan. 2, 2000

"It sounds vain, but I dread ever being offered a knighthood. I love gongs, I love Oscars, but I would have to turn a knighthood down because it sanctions something I don't believe in. It sanctions keeping people in their place." - Cox quoted in The London Times, Jan. 2, 2000

"One of the reasons I work in this country [the USA] now is because [although] I get on with a lot of people in England, I've also pissed a lot of people off over there." - Cox quoted in Time Out New York, Sept. 17-24, 1998

"People that knew me well when I was younger always said that my career was going to take off when I was much older," said Cox. "I was a little bit resentful of that, because I felt I had a bit to offer, and I had a very good career. But I aim for the long haul. It made more sense, and certainly has given me more weight as an actor, to come on the scene like a tank, proceeding forward fully equipped and fully armored." - Cox quoted in The Los Angeles Times, Oct. 22, 2006

Cox is a diabetic and has worked to promote a diabetes research facility in his home town of Dundee.