“You can’t stop getting older; you just have to keep going and laugh a lot.”
― Anita Dobson
“If you’re a good actor, you should be able to do soap, comedy, Shakespeare, musicals, pantomime, and something like ‘Frozen.’ Of course, you will be better at some things, but who says you can’t do them all? The intent should always be to stretch yourself and broaden your horizons.”
― Anita Dobson
“I think you can do as much damage to yourself going to the gym and running as you do good. So my mission in life is just to keep myself ‘good’ – in good health, as fit as I can be, a little bit of stretching, and just think positive and enjoy life.”
― Anita Dobson
“You don’t get everything in life. You make decisions and have to live by them. If you make the right decisions, at the time you have no regrets.”
― Anita Dobson
“Brian and I have ups and downs like every marriage does. Although he’s a legend, he’s still, inside, an ordinary man, and I have got to remember that once we get inside the door, it’s just us two.”
― Anita Dobson
“To make a marriage work, you have to want to. If you want to stay with that person, you will. It’s simple.”
― Anita Dobson
“It’s important to me to keep testing myself in life so that I don’t get pigeonholed.”
― Anita Dobson
“I’m very protective of friends and family.”
― Anita Dobson
“Everything in life is a double-edged sword.”
― Anita Dobson
“I’m up at the crack of dawn. If I’m filming, then I’ll wake at 5 A.M. so that I can get on set and made up before the cameras start rolling.”
― Anita Dobson
“I first got engaged when I was 19, but I just knew there was more of life out there for me. I called it off six weeks before the wedding. I felt terribly guilty because he was such a nice boy, and I was in love with him. But it was the wrong time.”
― Anita Dobson
“I knew of Queen, and I knew of Freddie, but I didn’t know who the rest of the band were. I became friends with Freddie first; then I got to know the others.”
― Anita Dobson
“’EastEnders’ changed everything. I was a jobbing actress living in Stepney, and I was on the dole at one point. Then people started to send me scripts, which was always my dream.”
― Anita Dobson
“We learn by misfortune.”
― Anita Dobson
“There’s no secret it’s hard work. Even though Brian’s the love of my life, and he’s absolutely adorable, it’s not easy, and we have to work at it. But because we love each other and keep working at it, it pays off.”
― Anita Dobson
“I’d sue the bottom off my husband if he dared to put me in one of his films, and he knows that.”
― Anita Dobson
“Something devastating can happen to you, and it can have positive consequences. By the same token, something fantastic can happen, and it can bring a lot of trouble. That’s life.”
― Anita Dobson
“The reason I wanted to do ‘Strictly’ in the end is that you come out of it having learned something.”
― Anita Dobson
“To be playing Joan Crawford is as good as it gets.”
― Anita Dobson
“When I was a kid, I used to watch all those Sunday afternoon matinees featuring all the Hollywood greats.”
― Anita Dobson
“People who are geniuses, once they get going, you really have to keep up.”
― Anita Dobson
“The last place you’ll find me is the gym. It seems to me to be a waste of time – I could spend that time doing so many other things.”
― Anita Dobson
“I got extremely fit and slim on ‘Strictly,’ but I did find that, each week, a different part of my body hurt. It really makes you realise the hard work dancers have to put in and how fit they have to be.”
― Anita Dobson
“I’m pretty fit. We’ve got a lot of stairs in our house, and I’m up and down them all the time. Plus, I don’t smoke, and I’m vegetarian.”
― Anita Dobson
“I think when I started out, when I was very young, I wanted to be an actor and do the great epic tragedies.”
― Anita Dobson
“I thought that’s where I would go: I would become a Shakespearian actor.”
― Anita Dobson
“You turn down work you feel you’ve already done.”
― Anita Dobson
“People are innately curious.”
― Anita Dobson
“I went from being a jobbing actress who was just earning a living to being the second most photographed woman in Britain, next to Princess Diana – but it was exciting, too, and I wouldn’t have swapped it for a second.”
― Anita Dobson
“Wonderful things happened to me – I met my husband, I got invited to previews and premieres, I was asked to do fashion shoots and front covers of magazines. You’ve just got to embrace it and do the best you can.”
― Anita Dobson
“For me, to be on television and not be afraid of making a mistake is freeing.”
― Anita Dobson
“Every morning, I have a coffee to wake up my system, but I don’t think you should eat just because it’s a meal time, so I often won’t have breakfast until late morning.”
― Anita Dobson
“In the days of ‘EastEnders,’ I couldn’t go into a pub or supermarket, as people would recognise me and follow me home.”
― Anita Dobson
“Usually, I’m asleep by midnight.”
― Anita Dobson
“I was brought up in the East End, and if a man was inappropriate in a bar, you’d throw your drink over him.”
― Anita Dobson
“I am very glad I did ‘EastEnders,’ and I’m flattered that people still remember me in it.”
― Anita Dobson
“I was appearing on ‘Top of the Pops’ when I was in my mid-thirties or something. It was fantastic! But it was the weirdest thing, I’ll admit. Was I me? Was I Angie Watts? Was I me as Angie? I didn’t have a clue, but I was having enormous fun all the same.”
― Anita Dobson
“I’m a great believer that you should always tell people they are wonderful, as we’re all insecure at heart, especially in our industry.”
― Anita Dobson
“If I had to live on a desert island, and somebody gave me a chicken, there’s no way I’d kill it – I’d call it Henry and make it my friend.”
― Anita Dobson
“People were following me home in cars, singing outside my window at my flat. I couldn’t go to pubs or supermarkets or walk down the street. It was bizarre, but that was my life.”
― Anita Dobson
“I came from nothing.”
― Anita Dobson
“When I walked away from my role as Angie in ‘Eastenders’ all those years ago, it was a huge risk, but I always had this great desire to do so many things.”
― Anita Dobson
“I was always slightly afraid of marriage because I didn’t like the idea of being tied down. Even when I met Brian, when I was in my mid-thirties, I didn’t actually see it on the cards for us. He was a huge rock star, and our lives were very different.”
― Anita Dobson
“I don’t love the fact that gravity is winning as I get older, but there’s also a calmness that comes with it, which I’m secretly enjoying.”
― Anita Dobson
“I think if you make a decision to leave a job, a home, a relationship, then you’ve usually got a pretty major reason to do so, and you should probably stick with that.”
― Anita Dobson
“You learn to accept losing someone, but you never get over it.”
― Anita Dobson
“I was invited to see Queen at Wembley – I think it was the last tour they did, and then afterwards, they had a huge party, which I was invited to – it was all thanks to EastEnders.”
― Anita Dobson
“Whether the public like me or not, I am who I am.”
― Anita Dobson
“I’ve got a great life – my friends, my marriage, my career, my health – and I’m on ‘Strictly,’ and I’m learning to dance.”
― Anita Dobson
“Once, I was followed by a car when I was driving. Every time I sped up, the car sped up, and when I slowed down, it slowed down. Eventually, I stopped, got out and screamed, ‘What do you want?’ He said, ‘I just wanted to give you some flowers because I’m such a fan.’ I felt awful. He was just being kind.”
― Anita Dobson
“I love to chit-chat and used to be the first to arrive at a party and the last to leave.”
― Anita Dobson
“I didn’t have children because I was passionate about having my career.”
― Anita Dobson
“I’ve been working in radio on and off for most of my career. There’s a restfulness about it. It’s more focused on the voice, so you don’t have to worry about extraneous things like sound effects, as there’s someone there to look after that.”
― Anita Dobson
“Radio means you can play parts that aren’t based on your looks or your age. It’s a lot of fun. You can do tremendous things – play more diverse characters – that you wouldn’t get to do in theatre or TV.”
― Anita Dobson
“’Silver Street’ was a very happy time for me.”
― Anita Dobson
“Even people who aren’t pleasant to deal with – it’s often because they’re unhappy, and something’s still not resolved for them.”
― Anita Dobson
“I went into acting because I wanted to be seen being someone else, not me!”
― Anita Dobson
“Going to drama school was the start of my journey of discovery and getting to know myself.”
― Anita Dobson
“I have loved being a step-mum to Brian’s children. We have a great relationship, and it’s lovely to spend time with the grandchildren.”
― Anita Dobson
“I can do glamour, but I can also play something like I did in the play ‘Wild Justice,’ where I was demented with grief and anger, and there was snot coming out of my nose, and my clothes were all over the place.”
― Anita Dobson
“My parents used to go ballroom dancing in their latter years, and it gave them so much pleasure.”
― Anita Dobson
“My father was a dress cutter, and my mother was a tailoress, so I was brought up to appreciate a good frock.”
― Anita Dobson
“I refused to describe myself as an actress until ‘EastEnders’ because, until then, I couldn’t support myself without doing other jobs.”
― Anita Dobson
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