Anthony Hopkins, the Briton with the knightly title “Sir”, is admired for his ingenious portrayal of important figures such as Pablo Picasso, Alfred Hitchcock, Pope Benedict and Richard Nixon – feared for his ice-cold portrait of the psychopathic killer Hannibal Lecter. It’s surprising how easygoing and funny the two-time Oscar winner, who turns 85 on December 31, comes across on social media.
Hopkins posts hot dance videos on Instagram, still demonstrating flexible hip swings, salsa steps or rap moves. He wrote “Sunday Vibes” in October for a clip in the kitchen, rolling his eyes and making faces as he dances to the song “Distant Star”. The actor released the love song as a single in 1986.
In mid-December he showed himself to his almost four million followers on the grand piano with a sample of his own classical composition, which he also played in the film “The Two Popes”. “With love… it’s Sunday and I’m feeling good,” the multi-talent wrote on the video.
In his accounts, Hopkins introduces himself as an “artist, painter, composer, actor in film, stage and television”. “Age doesn’t define me. At 84, I think further outside the box,” wrote the grizzled star last July. His philosophy: tackle things, but without fear, because you have nothing to lose.
The acting legend has fought hard for this self-confidence. For the son of a bakery family in Wales, it was initially a difficult path. Achieving such a strong screen presence with minimal facial expressions, Hopkins has long been plagued by insecurity. At school he was considered a loner with his fondness for painting and playing the piano.
In 1961 he was admitted to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. In the theater he was able to gain a reputation as a versatile character actor – he was on stage countless times just as “King Lear”.
But he was also considered difficult and unpredictable, and he often quarreled with his directors. Two broken marriages, escape to alcohol – in interviews he spoke openly about past life dramas. In December 2020, he celebrated his long-term abstinence from alcohol in an Instagram video. “45 years ago today, I had a wake-up call. I was moving toward disaster, I was about to drink myself to my death,” Hopkins said. He encouraged his followers: “Be brave and powerful forces will help you.”
Hopkins, who has commuted between his homeland and California since the 1970s, has made over a hundred film and television appearances in his long career. A killer role made him world famous.
He can only be seen on the screen for 16 minutes in the psychological thriller “The Silence of the Lambs” by director Jonathan Demme, but that was enough. The duel between the psychopathic Hannibal Lecter and the steadfast FBI agent Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) wrote film history. Hopkins won the Oscar for best actor in 1992 with the horror role.
The range of the Briton is enormous: For him, the role of the dutiful butler in the drama “What Was Left of the Day” (1993) was one of his most important films. Oliver Stone got him in front of the camera in 1995 as US President Richard Nixon. With a bushy gray beard, Hopkins transformed himself into the one-eyed father of the gods Odin in “Thor” (2011). In “Hitchcock” (2012) he took on the form of his legendary compatriot Alfred Hitchcock. The resemblance with balding head, double chin and extra pounds, as Hitchcock looked around 1960, when his horror shocker “Psycho” gave moviegoers goosebumps, was amazing.
In the Netflix production “The Two Popes” (2019), Hopkins as Pope Benedict XVI. and Jonathan Pryce as the future Pope Francis. A year later, Hopkins shone in the dementia drama “The Father” as a proud, stubborn man who is rapidly becoming demented. He braces himself against the help of his daughter (Olivia Colman).
Hopkins won his second Academy Award for Best Actor in April 2021 with this sensitive portrait, directed by Florian Zeller. He stayed away from the gala in the middle of the pandemic. He thanked him with a message on Instagram: “Good morning. I’m here, in my native Wales. At 83, I didn’t expect this award, really,” said Hopkins in the video address.
Hopkins set an Oscar record. He now holds the title of the oldest actor to ever win an Oscar. He is older than Canadian Christopher Plummer, who won the Oscar for best supporting role in the drama “Beginners” in 2012 at the age of 82.
But the Briton, who has been married to Colombian-born Stella Arroyave for the third time since 2003, is apparently not thinking about the end of his career. With the dramas “Armageddon Time” and “The Son” he was seen in two films this year in supporting roles.
“I’m just grateful that I’m alive and that they’re still giving me jobs,” Hopkins said in an interview with Britain’s The Guardian in November. “Keeps me out of trouble doesn’t it?” the star quipped.