Rita Moreno

When was the last time you saw a musical about people at war with each other?

This is my idea of heaven, coming home and watching the news.

I love the people here. I love New York.

Then there’s the story of ill-fated love. It’s universal.

Bigger than life is not difficult for me. I am bigger than life.

They made me use an accent, which I wasn’t thrilled about because a lot of us, obviously, don’t have them.

I can’t tell you an answer to that (question on the meaning of life). I can just say live it, be kind, do your best, don’t hurt anybody, and don’t fake orgasms. From a man’s viewpoint, that’s pretty impossible.

I try to just be grateful for what I have, and not [focus on] the things that I don’t have.

They made me use an accent, which I wasn’t thrilled about because a lot of us, obviously, don’t have them.

I’ve seen the photos of me and Flo Rida. It doesn’t matter how we met. We met. I don’t want to say that we’re a couple. I can definitely say that he’s somebody in my life, and I’m definitely interested but I’m not serious with anybody.

I believe I was definitely sent down here to take people away for a little while, to make them happy.

I think for women especially, you need to have a plan. I need to have some other ways to generate income, so I don’t have to stretch my face or lift the top of my head with surgery or something.

You’re only given a little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it.

Trump hasn’t said one crazy thing, he’s said thousands of crazy things, each of which blunts the effect of the others.

I grew up watching fantastic mainstream comedies like ‘Porridge’ and ‘Rising Damp’. There are some mainstream things I love.

[on Darren Aronofsky] I guess the first impression was that I’d been a big admirer of his work, and then I met someone who you’d never have put with that work. There was something very refreshing about that. I thought I was going to meet someone who was very intense and weird.

I did Jonathon Ross last year and he said ‘do people do impressions of David Brent?’ and I went ‘well, they can’t really because he’s such a normal bloke’. Then, after the show, me and Ross are walking through the car park and this bloke jumps out and goes ‘der-ner-ner-ner-ner’, does the David Brent dance and runs away. Jonathon Ross was in hysterics: ‘all that shit you came out with and then some bloke jumps out and runs away’. But on the whole it doesn’t really happen.

You don’t just decide to destroy a person by making up stuff, and no one at ‘SNL’ is writing to go after someone.

All I can say is that it’s amazing what you can accomplish when you’re young and foolish.

[On Laura Nyro] Anything she wanted, I wanted to get for her.

It’s funny that it all becomes about clothes. It’s bizarre. You work your butt off and then you win an award and it’s all about your dress. You can’t get away from it.