The Graham Norton Show

Robert Di Niro talks about playing a gangster, Michelle Pfeiffer says she looked like a hooker when she first met Robert, Jennifer Saunders talks about Viva Forever and Cher says she's at a difficult age.

Robert Di Niro, making a rare chat show appearance and inviting Graham to call him 'Bob', talks about the many movies he has made. With almost 100 movies under his belt, and asked what it is about gangster parts that keeps drawing him back, he says, "They are interesting characters and if it's written well it's fun to do them. And with a good director like Scorsese we have great times together and it's worth it."

Asked if he is greeted like a long lost son when he goes to Italy, after appearing in The Godfather, he says, "People are very nice to me there!"

On whether he gives advice to young actors, he says, "I like to give advice when people ask. And if it's helpful to them I am always there. I think I'm pretty good at it."

Michelle Pfeiffer, dispelling the myth that she was meant to be in Raging Bull, says, "It was my first audition ever and I don't know how my agent got me in the room with Robert. I'm surprised he doesn't remember me because I walked in looking like a hooker!"

Talking about her new movie and finally fulfilling her dream of appearing on screen with Robert, she says, "We were in Stardust together and I was so excited to be in a movie with Robert De Niro and then I realised we didn't have any scenes together. And then we did New Year's Eve, and once again, no scenes with him. We would see each other on the red carpet and say, 'Hello, nice to see you, you were wonderful in the movie.' So then I get sent this script and I said to my agent, 'You know what? If I don't have a scene with him, I am not reading this.' We had some great scenes together, we had fun."

Cher, on the success of her new album and highest chart placing ever, says, "It's a definite miracle. I'm older than dirt and competing with all those young girls. I'm completely surprised."

On touring again after her three year goodbye tour, she says, "It's 'You'd better do it now 'cos you are never going to do it again.'" And on the tour itself, she says, "I love the shows but hate the road. It's lonely and you never know where you are. It's no fun and very isolating. The only thing that saves it is when you go out on stage. I'm not sure how long I can do it. I am 67 and I'm not going to do it if I don't do it now."

Agreeing that being resident in Vegas was, "Difficult", Cher says, "The audience is not allowed to stand up and they are very, very old and some times they had walkers and oxygen masks. I'm not kidding. I was angry for a long time and then finally I thought this might be the last concert they ever see and they are enjoying it in their own way. It's not my way and it didn't make me feel good but they were having a wonderful time."

Talking about her Academy Award winning career and why she doesn't do more acting, Cher says, "I'm at a very strange age. I'm too old to play young and too young to play old and you'd have to be very creative to figure out how to place me."

And on why the acting community took so long to accept her, she says, "They thought I wasn't serious, I didn't dress like a serious actress and I had younger boyfriends and they really weren't ready to let me in. It took me 30 years to get a job."

Jennifer Saunders, talking about her new book, says, "My mother kept all my childhood diaries. They were very detailed for January and then nothing. I had this image of myself as silent, mysterious and brooding - it was a huge disappointment."

And on her recovery from cancer, Jennifer says, "I don't call it a battle, it's a process you go through and I try in the book to de-catastrophise the process. It's a cure you go through and you try and get better."

On the demise of Viva Forever she says, "They were very angry reviews and I was sad for the show. You have things that work and things that don't and I thought it worked but it wasn't given much of a chance. I was slightly pissed off."

Cher performs I Hope You Find It live in the studio.