Jeremy Irons has said he would turn down a knighthood, adding that he “ain’t” part of the establishment.
Irons, who will return to the stage with the director Richard Eyre for the Bristol Old Vic’s production of Long Day’s Journey Into Night next week, said he had not gone into his profession in order to conform to the status quo.
“I became an actor to be a rogue and a vagabond and play by my own rules so I don’t think it would be apt for the establishment to pull me in as one of their own, for I ain’t,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Irons, who was educated at the independent Sherborne school in Dorset and trained at Bristol Old Vic, said he had noticed the recent debate over the numbers of actors who had gone to the country’s top private schools, such as Eton’s Eddie Redmayne and Tom Hiddleston.
“I keep reading about it, and we do have a few top liners at the moment who appear to have gone to Eton, and that is perhaps a bit of a coincidence although I am aware what it costs students now to train,” he said.
However, Irons insisted that despite a private education, he had paid his own way during his time as a struggling actor.
“I worked in many other things when I was starting out,” he said. “I was a builder, I was a social worker, I was a busker, I was a gardener, I was a house cleaner. All jobs which, I presume, are still available today if you want to have enough money to pay the rent for your bedsit while you are auditioning for things.”
Irons, once one of the largest private donors to the Labour party, said he had become disillusioned with the tone of political debate, particularly during the EU referendum, which he said he was undecided about.
“I’m dithering at the moment like many people,” he said. “I’m a little bit disappointed by the standard of debate. It seems to have turned to a certain extent into a gameshow between Mr Cameron and Mr Johnson.
“I would like our politicians to respect us as voters and not play it as some sort of gameshow.”
Irons said his film career was the main reason behind his absence from the stage. He will star in the forthcoming Batman v Superman blockbuster as Bruce Wayne’s butler and confidant Alfred Pennyworth.
However, he said he was aware there were “some great parts around that I haven’t played”, such as King Lear. “I don’t hanker after it. Certainly, they are mountains to climb,” he added.
