Ron Perlman turned into a "flailing ball of inarticulate pus" around Marlon Brando and Sir Sean Connery due to nerves.
The 70-year-old actor still gets "excited" when he has the opportunity to work with screen legends, and though he hopes his enthusiasm never fades, it’s also caused him to get tongue tied.
He said: "I still get excited. I hope to never stop being the fanboy.
"I still have a pretty long list of guys that if I was in their presence, I would become a flailing ball of inarticulate pus…"
Asked who would be on his list, he told Total Film magazine: "[Sir Antony] Hopkins. I mean, he’s the one I know I would not be able to put a sentence together if I was in his presence, because I was just so awed by his work and I know that, because I have had the opportunity to work with a couple of guys who I revere to that level and I was a flailing ball of inarticulate pus!
"Marlon Brando, Sean Connery … some of the guys I’ve had the good fortune to be around."
Ron worked with Brando – who died in 2004 – on the 1996 movie ‘The Island of Dr. Moreau’ and was so in awe of his iconic co-star, he went out of his way to "avoid" him because he felt so unworthy.
He said: "He might have [looked out for me] but I didn’t feel worthy.
"I avoided him more than I encouraged the notion that maybe this could turn into a friendship because I just literally did not feel worthy to be in the presence of [him].
"I mean, what I have built up in my head – based on the experiences I’ve had by watching his work – puts him on a level that … it’s like talking to a god. And what would that be like for the average guy who has any kind of humility at all, to talk to a god? Would he avert his eyes? That’s what I did."
However, the ‘Hellboy’ star wishes he had the opportunity to meet the ‘Godfather’ actor again so he could do things differently.
He said: "If I had another crack at Marlon – maybe because I’m 70 and I’ve stopped giving a s*** – I wouldn’t avert my eyes as much as I did. But I still think I’d be a little bit humbled out."
Ron was also "in awe" of his ‘The Name of the Rose’ co-star Sean, but the ‘James Bond’ actor refused to let him retreat away.
He recalled: "I was [in awe] but Sean bent over backwards to quash that shyness. He could see that there was a reticence for me to contribute when he was around because I felt the need to defer to him because he was the movie star.
"He was larger than life and he wouldn’t have it. He just said, ‘No, no, no, we need to know what you think about this scene, we need to see what you’re going to do.’"