Q&A: Alan Cumming

Q: When were you happiest?
A: A couple of summers ago, walking through a forest illuminated by fireflies, with my man and our dogs.

Q: What is your greatest fear?
A: Dying on the same day as someone much more famous than me.

Q: What is your earliest memory?
A: My mum and brother lifting me up to look out of a window to prove to me it was still dark and too early to get up to open my birthday presents.

Q: Which living person do you most admire, and why?
A: Mary Darling, my mum, for leaving my father and finding happiness.

Q: What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
A: Being an open book.

Q: What is the trait you most deplore in others?
A: Being closed off to the world.

Q: What is your most treasured possession?
A: Wild Thyme Way, my country retreat in the Catskill Mountains.

Q: What would your super power be?
A: To zap angry, bigoted people.

Q: What makes you unhappy?
A: Our obsession with the worthless and unimportant, like Sarah Palin.

Q: If you could bring something extinct back to life, what would it be?
A: Socialism.

Q: Who would play you in the film of your life?
A: Cate Blanchett. She'd pull it off.

Q: What is your favourite smell?
A: Rosemary. I rub it in my armpits.

Q: What is your favourite book?
A: The Trick Is To Keep Breathing, by Janice Galloway.

Q: What is your guiltiest pleasure?
A: Being in the first-class cabin and not refusing anything that is offered.

Q: What do you owe your parents?
A: My mum always told me I was precious, while my dad always told me I was worthless. I think that's a good grounding for a balanced life.

Q: What, or who, is the greatest love of your life?
A: Grant Shaffer, my husband.

Q: What does love feel like?
A: Being hit on the head with a brick, and like a bowl of hearty soup.

Q: When did you last cry, and why?
A: An hour ago, on a plane, watching a show about teenage mums.

Q: What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
A: The Obama administration keeping their promises and granting equal rights to the LGBT community.

Q: What do you consider your greatest achievement?
A: When someone tells me that I have inspired them.

Q: How would you like to be remembered?
A: By people who love me raising a glass and laughing and remembering fun times we had.

Q: What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
A: This above all: to mine own self be true. And it must follow, as the night the day, I canst not then be false to any man.

Q: Tell us a joke
Q: How many therapists does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: Why do you think the lightbulb is so keen to change?

Source: Guardian, UK, Q&A: Alan Cumming

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