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Anthony Hopkins Facts
| Sign | Capricorn |
| Born |
Dec 31, 1937 Margam, Port Talbot |
| Age | 88 |
| Total Facts | 69 |
1/01: He ranked second in the Orange Film Survey of the greatest British films actors.
10/97: Ranked #57 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list.
1975: Conquered his alcoholic addiction.
1987: Awarded Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
1993: Knighted in the New Year Honors List.
2006: His performance as Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs (1991) is ranked #70 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time.
4/12/00: Became a U.S. citizen, but is allowed to retain his British knighthood and the title of Sir.
7/16/88: Received an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of Wales.
9/20/05: On "The Oprah Winfrey Show" (1986), he said that he is most proud of The Silence of the Lambs (1991), The Remains of the Day (1993) and Proof (2005).
9/24/03: Received star on Hollywood Walk of Fame.
9/99: 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.
A Member of the RADA Council.
Admitted that he felt very intimidated by the real Lt. Col. John Frost, who he played in the movie A Bridge Too Far (1977) when Frost visited the set one day to see how things were going.
After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, he served two years in the British Army before beginning his acting career.
An accomplished painter, he has allowed some of his landscape paintings to be exhibited in San Antonio, Texas.
Appears in Nixon (1995) with Dan Hedaya, and The Good Father (1985) with Jim Broadbent. Hedaya later played Nixon in Dick (1999), and Broadbent played Nixon in Dirty Tricks (2000) (TV).
As a child, he was very close to his maternal grandfather, who for some reason called him "George", while his father called him "Charlie".
Ate the same menu as Pablo Picasso during the filming of Surviving Picasso (1996), in which he played Picasso.
Attended Cowbridge boys grammar school as a youth.
Born at 9:15am-UT
Daughter, Abigail Hopkins, is a longtime friend of actress Jennifer Blanc.
During filming of Amistad (1997), he astounded the cast and crew by memorizing a seven page speech in one go. Steven Spielberg was so impressed that he insisted on calling him "Sir Anthony" throughout the shoot rather than Tony.
Ex-son-in-law of Eric Barker and Pearl Hackney.
Father of Abigail Hopkins
For his stage performance in "Pravda", he was awarded the 1985 London Critics Circle Theatre Award (Drama Theatre Award) for Best Actor, and the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1986 (1985 season) for Outstanding Achievement.
Graduated from The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London, England.
Had a brush with death while shooting The Edge (1997) in Alberta, Canada. He fell in a river, and was rushed to hospital to be treated for hypothermia.
Has played a (future) king of England (Richard Lionheart in The Lion in Winter (1968)) and two U.S. Presidents. Interestingly, President Richard Nixon and his brothers were all named after British kings, so it's likely that he played Nixon's namesake.
Has played a King of England (Richard I, the Lionheart), a Prime Minister of England (David Lloyd George), and two U.S. Presidents (John Quincy Adams and Richard Nixon).
Has the distinction of portraying two U.S. Presidents: Richard Nixon in Nixon (1995), and John Quincy Adams in Amistad (1997). He received Oscar nominations for both performances.
Has the distinction of twice playing former British Prime Minister David Lloyd George in Young Winston (1972) and "The Edwardians" (1972).
Has three roles in common with Brian Cox. Both of them have played Titus Andronicus. Hopkins appeared on stage as King Lear in 1986, the same year that Manhunter (1986), which starred Cox as Hannibal Lecter, was released. He was succeeded in the role of Lear by Cox in 1991, the same year that he succeeded Cox in the role of Hannibal Lecter.
Has twice played a character who loses a hand by having it severed with a meat cleaver: in Titus (1999) and Hannibal (2001).
He and Frank Langella both received Best Actor nominations for playing Richard Nixon, in Nixon (1995) and Frost/Nixon (2008), respectively. Though not the first or only pair of actors to receive nominations for the same part, they are only the second male pair where neither of them won the Oscar. Hopkins lost to Nicolas Cage, while Langella lost to Sean Penn. Previously, Jason Robards and Leonardo DiCaprio have both been nominated for playing Howard Hughes. Robards lost his Oscar to Timothy Hutton, while DiCaprio lost his to Jamie Foxx. Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro had both won for their portrayals of "Vito Corleone". José Ferrer won an Oscar, and Gérard Depardieu
He and Frank Langella both received Oscar-nominations for playing Richard Nixon.
He chose to play Prof. Van Helsing in Dracula (1992) because he was still riding the success of his portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and wanted to pick a role as far removed from Lecter as possible.
He has played Pablo Picasso, while his friend and frequent collaborator, Richard Attenborough, is an avid collector of Picasso's artwork.
He included some unusual touches for Hannibal Lecter during his preparation for the role, among which were making Lecter's voice similar to the cutting warble of Katharine Hepburn and almost never blinking, a characteristic he picked up from watching tapes of convicted murderer Charles Manson.
He is the patron on The Drama Association of Wales,UK which offers a wide and varied range of services to Community Drama. Among others, members include amateur and professional theatre practitioners, educationalists and playwrights.
He's the only child of a couple who ran a bakery.
His favorite horror film is Rosemary's Baby (1968).
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.
His performance as Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs (1991) is ranked #15 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
In Invercargill, New Zealand, there is a drama school named after him--The Anthony Hopkins School of Dramatic Arts. He was present for its opening, as he was in Invercargill filming scenes for the The World's Fastest Indian (2005) at the time.
Into the 1991 restoration of Spartacus (1960), scenes were reintroduced which had been cut from the picture's 1967 reissue. One such segment has Laurence Olivier, in the role of Marcus Crassus, attempting to seduce the slave Antoninus (played by Tony Curtis). But the original soundtrack for this segment had become lost. And so, Olivier having died in 1989, Anthony Hopkins imitated the voice of Olivier (whom Hopkins had understudied at the Old Vic) for the scene's re-created soundtrack. (The surviving Tony Curtis presumably supplied his own voice.)
Is a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), Stratford Upon Avon, England, where he spent three seasons after graduating from RADA.
Is proud of his improvisational touches as Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs (1991) such as: the unnerving effect on Jodie Foster when he mocked her character's West Virginia accent; the distorion of the word "chianti" and the vile slurping sound he makes after he describes eating the "census-taker." Hopkins also notes that Hannibal never blinked his eyes when he spoke.
Is related to the poet William Butler Yeats on his mother's side of the family.
Likes to be called "Tony."
Often compared with fellow Welshman Richard Burton.