The `Silence of the Lambs` actor didn`t mix with other kids when he was growing up because he was a "real duffer" but says his isolation made him creative.

He said: "I was a lonely kid because at school I was a real duffer. I was completely stupid, I didn`t know what on earth was going on, so I withdrew into myself.

"I didn`t have any friends at school and I never played with other kids. I sort of created my own world. It sounds a little bit like a fairy tale, but I had no other choice. I could draw and I could play the piano. And that has stayed with me all my life."

The 74-year-old star - who has recently turned his hand to painting and composing - also admits he has a short attention span, but doesn`t see it bad thing because he feels it gives him more freedom.

He added: "I have got the attention span of a bumblebee. I`m a great starter, but I never finish anything. It`s a kind of free and easy, haphazard way of existence, but that`s the way it is; that`s the way I was born. As a young actor I would have looked at it as a bit of a curse, but in fact it`s given me tremendous freedom."
sections: Celebrities