Brian Cox: I don't want to imitate Nicholson

Brian Cox would wear sunglasses indoors but worries people would think he's "copying" Jack Nicholson.

The 68-year-old actor has appeared in a huge number of films including Braveheart, Manhunter and RED.

When he wants to hide from fans he doesn't mind becoming a Hollywood cliché and wearing shades inside - as long as they don't confuse him with Terms of Endearment star Jack.

"Yes. I'm very light -sensitive, as it happens," he chuckled to Empire magazine. "I would be Jack Nicholson and wear them more but people would think I was copying him. He's a nuisance."

Brian has become such as icon that he finds fans quoting lines back at him in the streets. He's also partial to using his celebrity status for personal gain.

"Oh yes, we do it all the time," he grinned when asked if he's ever tried to get free goodies.

"People are very, very kind. All the freebies at film festivals alone... I've got so much c**p, it's untrue.

"Actually, I'll tell you a story about an actor who will remain nameless - all right, it's Peter Mullan - who once got a bag as a freebie at a certain hotel. He was told, 'You can have everything.' 'Everything?' 'Everything.'

"So he found the biggest bag he could and shoved it full of all the Toblerones and the rest of it, and of course the bag was soon fit to burst, chinking and clinking as he walked along, and then he bumped into John Cleese, who asked what was in it. 'Don't ask. Want any Toblerone?'"

Brian next stars alongside Kiefer Sutherland in western drama Forsaken.