Oscar Profile #204: Anthony Hopkins

Born December 31, 1937 in Margam, Port Talbot, Wales to Muriel and Richard Hopkins, a baker, (Philip) Anthony Hopkins was encouraged to become an actor by Richard Burton, who was also born in Port Talbot and whom Hopkins met at the age of 15.

Hopkins made his professional stage debut in 1960 at the Palace Theatre in Swansea. After several years in repertory, he was spotted by Laurence Olivier who invited him to join the Royal National Theatre. His role in the 1967 TV version of A Flea in Her Ear led to his casting as Richard (the Lionheart) in 1968’s The Lion in Winter in support of Peter O’Toole and Katharine Hepburn.

Alternating between the theatre and screens large and small, he gave memorable performances over the next decade in such films as The Looking Glass War; When Eight Bells Toll; Young Winston (as Lloyd George) and TV’s QB VII; The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case and Victory at Entebbe.

Having won his first Emmy for playing Bruno Hauptmann in TV’s The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case in 1976, he would win a second as Adolph Hitler in 1981’s The Bunker and be nominated again for playing Quasimodo in 1982’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Magwitch in 1990’s Great Expectations.

He received his first Golden Globe nomination for playing the disturbed ventriloquist on screen in 1978’s Magic and was nominated again for the TV movie The Tenth Man ten years later. He would finally achieve Oscar recognition with 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs for which he would receive his first nomination and only win to date.

Hopkins reached his career pinnacle in the 1990s. He was acclaimed for his performances in 1992’s Howards End 1993’s The Remains of the Day (his second Oscar nomination) and Shadowlands (as C.S. Lewis); 1995’s Nixon (his third Oscar nod as Richard Nixon); 1996’s Surviving Picasso (as Pablo Picasso); Amistad (his fourth Oscar nod as John Quincy Adams) and Titus (as Titus Andronicus).

Still very much in demand, his subsequent films have alternated between character portraits in such films as The Human Stain; Proof and Fracture and blockbusters like Hannibal; Red Dragon; The Wolfman; Thor and Noah. He is currently filming a remake of Westworld.

Sir Anthony Hopkins was knighted on January 1, 1993, the day after his 55th birthday. Married three times, his daughter Abigail Hopkins (born 1968) from his first marriage is an actress who has had roles in several of his films. The actor will be 77 this coming New Year’s Eve.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. (1991), directed by Jonathan Demme

The Silence of the Lambs was the second of four Hannibal Lecter novels written by author Thomas Harris to date. The first, Red Dragon, would be filmed as Manhunter with Brian Cox as the serial killer in 1986 and remade under its original title with Hopkins in 2002. Hopkins also played the character in 2001 based on the third novel in the series titled Hannibal. It was, however, the actor’s initial portrayal of the character that caused audiences as well as critics to go wild in their appraisal of a performance that is only 25 minutes long but so dominates the film that what is essentially a supporting role won him the year’s Best Actor Oscar as well as a slew of other awards.

The film, a box office phenomenon, won five Oscars in all including Best Picture; Director and Actress (Jodie Foster). Foster is the film’s lead character and the actress does exemplary work as well.

THE REMAINS OF THE DAY. (1993), directed by James Ivory

Hopkins excels at playing the introverted Englishman, a role he played to equally brilliant effect opposite Emma Thompson in 1992’s Howards End for which she received her first Oscar under James Ivory’s direction. Re-united with Thompson and Ivory as well as Ivory’s producer partner Ishmael Merchant and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Hopkins gives perhaps his finest performance as a second generation butler who gives his heart and soul to his employer realizing too late that his life has been largely wasted. Thompson is equally brilliant as the housekeeper whose affection he keeps at an arm’s length distance.

Although Hopkins won several critics’ awards for his performances, another Oscar was not in the cards although he did account for one of the film’s eight nominations.

NIXON (1995), directed by Oliver Stone

Hopkins has played many larger than life characters, real and fictional, throughout his career but his portrayal of the 36th U.S. President was no one’s idea of ideal casting. Lane Smith and Beau Bridges who played Nixon in previous TV productions were more in keeping with the public’s idea of how the character should be played. It was difficult for many to get past Hopkins’ physical appearance, yet for those who make the effort, the actor delivers a mesmerizing performance as the conflicted paranoid politician and statesman.

Though not everyone agreed with Hopkins’ Oscar nomination for Nixon, no one complained about Joan Allen’s sympathetic portrayal of his wife, Pat, nominated for Best Actress by the Screen Actors Guild and Best Supporting Actress by the Academy. Hopkins was better perceived by the public in his Oscar nominated portrayal of the 6th U.S. President, John Quincy Adams who lived too long ago for anyone alive to be familiar with him.

THE HUMAN STAIN (2003), directed by Robert Benton

Hopkins had one of his most complex roles in this heavily plotted rendering of Philip Roth’s novel as a disgraced former college professor with a secret.

The plot revolves around an accusation of racism against Hopkins by two African-American students and Hopkins’ affair with an illiterate younger woman who works at the college as a janitor. She’s played by Nicole Kidman. The big reveal is that Hopkins’ character is himself a light-skinned African-American passing as white. Wentworth Miller plays his character in flashbacks. The acting by Hopkins; Kidman; Wentworth; Ed Harris; Gary Sinise and others is first-rate.

HITCHCOCK (2012), directed by Sacha Gervasi

A highly anticipated film about the suspense master during the filming of Psycho, the film did not live up to expectations. It hardly could.

Hopkins in a fat suit and heavy makeup looks the part and speaks the part, but the screenplay paints him as something of a bully which all but turns the film’s target audience off. Helen Mirren comes off much better as his wife and collaborator, Alma Reville whose platonic relationship with fellow writer Whitfield Cook (Danny Huston) fails to evolve into something more.

Scarlett Johanssen; James D’Arcy and Jessica Biel are fine as Janet Leigh; Vera Miles and Anthony Perkins, respectively, but their roles are not significant.