Anthony Hopkins

 

His childhood in Port Talbot, South Wales.

"My father had that attitude: stop whining, stop complaining, you don't know what you're talking about, stand up straight, get on with it."

I was living in my imagination, my dream world, I suppose. I couldn't understand anything intellectually or academically and that drove me into a kind of  loneliness and resentment. I couldn't fit in. Everything was alien. I didn't want to play with the other kids on the street"

Arenig, North Wales
James Dickson Innes (1887-1914)
Photo Credit: Tate [CC BY-NC-ND] 

On Lawrence Olivier and theatre "luvvies".

"He [Olivier] gave me this huge break in my life. He seemed to admire my physical strength, because I had that in me, and I had this sense of Welsh danger, you know, quick tempered.

I've never felt comfortable with that - the 'kissy-smoochy-darling stuff."

Reading his script up to 200 times and the art of acting.

"That was my gift, really: to know the part so well that I had no fear. It's a foolproof way of working. Because if I know my stuff and I've prepared, nobody bothers me any more. Nobody attacks me any more. Once you know the script, you have a relaxation to go on stage in rehearsal, so you can hear the other person. The art of acting, I think, is to be able to listen." 

Hannibal Lecter and his first scene with Jodie  Foster.

"I went to Pittsburgh for the initial wardrobe-fitting. They wanted me in an orange jumpsuit. I said no. I want a slimline green suit. Lecter can employ anyone to make it, because he's so smart, and he'll kill you if you don't obey his orders.

"I remember Jonathan Demme saying: 'How do you want to be discovered when Jodie first sees you? Would you be lying down or reading a book?' I said: 'No, standing.' He said 'OK. Why?' I said: 'I can smell her coming down the corridor.' He said: 'You're weird'."

Alcohol.

"Drinking was a family tradition. It was a theatre tradition too. I would have fights and quarrel with, especially directors. Looking back, it's all paranoia. They were trying to do their jobs; I was trying to do mine, but I couldn't take any... it wasn't criticism, I couldn't take any authoritative bullying. So I'd lash out."

Celebrity.

"I've never been one for the glamour side, the red carpet. I go along if I have to do one of those premiere things, and they're pleasant and friendly and they're OK, but I'd rather be at home playing the piano or reading a book. It's a necessary part of my professional life to do publicity, but I don't crave it."

On whether he has Asperger's or some form of autism:

"My wife, Stella, she diagnosed me. She said: 'Well, you're obsessive. Everything has to be laid out perfectly.' I have to have everything arranged. So that's a little twist in the brain, I suppose. But I'm quite happy with whatever inner disturbance I have. "

On losing his house in the Los Angeles Fire:

"It was a bit of a calamity. We're thankful that no one was hurt, and we got our cats and our little family into the clear. We lost everything, but you think: 'Oh well, at least we're alive.' I feel sorry for the thousands of people who have been really affected. People who were way past retirement age, and had worked hard over the years and now - nothing."

Any conclusions about life?

No. I know nothing. I don't think we know anything. I look around and I think: 'How did I get this far?' I have no idea how my particular life has moved from when I was in Port Talbot, a little boy lost, to here. It's beyond my comprehension. And I mean this deeply. When I look at my life, the reality is I haven't had a good, decent job in my entire life. I've done nothing except show up, speak the lines and go home. People out there are digging the streets and working in shops and stores. That is real work... I've done nothing... I haven't done a day's work in my life. That's the reality."

(Steve Rose, The Guardian, Decca Aitkenhead, The Sunday Times, 2025)