Legendary Actors : Anthony Hopkins

                          Adolf Hitler and Richard Nixon to John Quincy Adams and Pablo Picasso. What's the connection between all these men? It's simple. The answer is Anthony Hopkins. Regarded by many to be among the greatest actors of modern cinema, Anthony Hopkins has amassed a prodigious body of work and created some of the most memorable characters in recent film. Even though he has done a wide variety of movies for forty years, the role of "Hannibal" gave him world-wide fame and success. On-screen he has been a psychotic genius as well as mild mannered butler.

• Anthony Hopkins was born on December 31, 1937 in Margam, Port Talbot Wales, to Muriel Ann and Arthur Hopkins, who is a baker. As a child the actor was shy and complex, he did not do well at academic subjects at school. He was the only child and bit of a loner. One thing that was his biggest pleasure was going to see a movie.

• To escape his troubles with dyslexia, he concentrated in arts like painting, drawing and even playing the piano. Despite his claims that he was "an idiot", in 1955 young Anthony won a piano scholarship and went on to study at the Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff. After a three-year stretch with the British Army in the Royal Artillery he was accepted to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and was after-wards mentored by the great actor Sir Laurence Olivier. 

                          

Hopkins In the British National Service

• He then became Oliver’s understudy and filled in when Oliver was hit with appendicitis. After being on stage for several productions, Hopkins became a TV and film actor. He made his debut in a TV venture 'The White Bus.' After making his big-screen breakthrough in The Lion In Winter, he balanced screen and stage performances. 

• At the age of thirty, Anthony Hopkins was married , the first of the 3 marriages to date. This one was the shortest, lasting just 5 years, and by this time Hopkins had started drinking heavily.

As Adolf Hitler in the movie 'The Bunker'

• He subsequently portrayed the role of Pierre Bezulkhov in the TV series of War and Peace in year 1972.  In America he made his Broadway debut, won an Emmy and found the place he would call home Los Angeles. In year 1980, Hopkins portrayed the lead role in the film called, Change of Seasons. He also played a important role in David Lynch's Elephant Man.

• Prior to his Hannibal Lector role Anthony Hopkins had all but given up on Hollywood and was content to be back in the theater in London. The Nineties then included three more Academy Award nominations, his directorial debut, and a knighthood from the Queen. He closed the millennium by making his US move permanent, taking an oath of citizenship.

• Trade Mark : Often plays very proper and restrained British characters. Deep smooth voice. Hair greased back.

• Ranked #57 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. Was selected by an Entertainment Weekly on-line movie poll as the Best Modern Actor and the Best Villain for his role as Hannibal Lecter. His Oscar-winning performance as Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs (1991) was ranked #1 on the American Film Institute's Villains list in its compilation of the 100 Years of The Greatest Screen Heroes and Villains.

            

• He included some unusual touches for Hannibal Lecter during his preparation for the role. One of it is the never blinking characteristic, which he picked up from watching tapes of convicted murderer Charles Manson. Since he is dyslexic, reads each script 250 times out loud before filming, and to exercise his memory, memorizes one new poem a week.

• An accomplished painter, he has allowed some of his landscape paintings to be exhibited in Texas. Volunteers at the Ruskins School of Acting in California, where he teaches everything from Shakespeare to scenes, theory, and monologues.

Anthony Hopkins Quotes

"I was lousy in school. Real screwed-up. A moron. I was antisocial and didn't bother with the other kids. A really bad student. I didn't have any brains. I didn't know what I was doing there. That's why I became an actor."

[on his most famous character, Dr. Hannibal Lecter] "I think he might be a very interesting person to have lunch with, provided that YOU weren't the lunch."

"It's fun to get the Oscar, it was fun to get a knighthood. But you know, you wake up in the morning, the reality's still there. You're still mortal."

"I became an actor but I still don't feel that I'm a part of this profession. I never have - 50 years I've been doing it."

"When I break with a friend it is sudden. I will give no warning ahead of time, just change my address and telephone number. They may be confused - but they'll survive. Nobody dies."

                                    Anthony Hopkins, On-screen is a legendary actor, off-screen he is a enigma. He is director of several charitable organization, but he had abandoned his daughter at a very young age. In October 2002 he admitted in a magazine interview that he had no idea where she was, other than she lives "in England somewhere". After wishing her luck, he added: "I hope she is well… Life is life. You get on with it." He explains himself as not a cruel person, but a person who outgrow things. Any way, Hopkins is one of the legendary actors, whose performances will definitely outgrow others.

Memorable Movies : 84 Charing Cross Road (1987), The Elephant Man (1980), Howards End (1992), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), The Remains of the Day (1993), Nixon (1995),  Amistad (1997), Legends of the Fall (1994), The Bounty (1984),  Dracula (1992),  The World's Fastest Indian (2005).................

 

Anthony Hopkins - Wikipedia