Anthony Hopkins - Biography

Like his fellow Welshman Richard Burton, Anthony Hopkins left England and a celebrated stage career to eventually enjoy the life of a Hollywood A-list actor. The restless thespian made an auspicious film debut in "The Lion in Winter" (1968), as the scheming Richard the Lionheart, and won Emmys for his TV-movie performances in "The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case" (NBC, 1976), as accused kidnapper Bruno Hauptmann, and "The Bunker" (CBS, 1981), as Adolph Hitler. But it was his Oscar-winning turn as Hannibal 'The Cannibal' Lecter in "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991) that brought the years of struggle and second-rate parts to an end, elevating him to full-fledged star status. Although Hopkins had won several awards for his 1975 Broadway debut in "Equus", playing a troubled psychiatrist trying to unlock the deep-rooted problems that had led the passionate, disturbed stable boy in his care to blind several horses, it was, ironically, Burton who succeeded Hopkins in the Broadway production and starred in the film version.

Following service in the Royal Artillery, Hopkins acted in Manchester, Leicester, Liverpool and Hornchurch before making his London debut as Metellus Cimber in "Julius Caesar" (1964). He joined the National Theatre at the Old Vic where he understudied (and later replaced) Laurence Olivier in "Dance of Death" (1966), then went on to play Macbeth, Lear and Antony there. Though he has eschewed the stage of late, it was that very training that has enabled him to literally change shape and posture to transform himself to a dazzling array of characters. As Lloyd George in "Young Winston" (1972), Hopkins initiated a five picture association with director Richard Attenborough which would see him segue from Lieutenant Colonel John Frost in "A Bridge Too Far" (1977) to the volatile, obsessed ventriloquist in "Magic" (1978) to the quiet, scholarly C S Lewis in "Shadowlands" (1993). He exhibited similar range in his work with the Merchant-Ivory team, beginning with his chillingly understated uppercrust nasty in "Howards End" (1992) and proceeding through the mild-mannered all-too-perfect butler in "The Remains of the Day" (1993) to the ferocious energy and relentless sexuality of Pablo Picasso in "Surviving Picasso" (1996).

Hopkins' indelible portrayal of Lechter, the brilliant, cultivated serial killer at the center of Jonathan Demme's "The Silence of the Lambs", paved the way for a succession of meaty and challenging roles, including an enjoyable turn as Dr. Van Helsing in Francis Ford Coppola's adaptation of "Bram Stoker's Dracula" (1992) and a barnstorming performance as the stricken father in the Western epic, "Legends of the Fall" (1994). Immersing himself in countless hours of film and videotape for his title role in Oliver Stone's "Nixon" (1995), Hopkins fashioned a riveting performance that was as much an internal product of his own remembered inadequacies as a Welsh schoolboy as it was external mimicry of the 37th President of the USA. He directed and starred in "August" (1996), an adaptation of Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya" (for which he also composed its melancholy, lyrical score), and then played bookish billionaire Charles Morse who devises many of the best survival strategies after a plane crash in the Alaskan wilderness pits Alec Baldwin and him against nature in Lee Tamahori's "The Edge (1997). Hopkins followed quickly with another portrayal of an American president, this time as John Quincy Adams in Steven Spielberg's "Amistad" (1997).

1998 saw Hopkins first in a pair of remakes, playing William Parrish in "Meet Joe Black" (filmed twice before as "Death Takes a Holiday", a 1934 feature and a 1971 ABC-TV movie) and Don Diego in "The Mask of Zorro". Later in the year, he was cast as Dr Ethan Powell in "Instinct", a film loosely based on a novel by Daniel Quinn. As an anthropologist who lived for three years in the wilds with a family of gorillas, Powell discovered a secret which can not be revealed until a psychiatrist uncovers the truth behind a homicidal attack for which the doctor stands accused. In 1999 Hopkins took on the mighty title role in Julie Taymor's adaptation of "Titus." He briefly considered retiring after this role but found himself unable to give up his desire to perform. In 2001 and 2002 he again played his most well-known role of Hannibal Lecter in "Hannibal" and "Red Dragon." 2002 also saw Hopkins make the rather unfortunate choice of starring with Chris Rock in the abominable "Bad Company." Directed by Joel Schumacher, the action comedy boasted two talented stars and a well-respected director but came off as a by-the-numbers action flick that came and went with little notice in the theaters.

Although Hopkins seemed to take a slightly lazy delight in revisiting the famous Lecter character (and fattening his bank account), he also accepted the potentially challenging, racially charged role of Coleman Silk in director Robert Benton's film adaptation of author Philip Roth's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "The Human Stain" (2003) with Hopkins going toe-to-toe with acting heavyweights Nicole Kidman, Gary Sinise and Ed Harris playing Coleman Silk, a man of mixed race passing as white who embarks on an affiar with an uneducated woman. Despite his well-established ability to stretch and excell in unlikely roles, Hopkins faced some criticism for seeming so phyically disparate from the novel's Coleman Silk, although his overall performance was considered a highlight of the film. He then re-teamed with Oliver Stone to play Ptolemy in the writer-director's epic historical drama "Alexander" (2004).