Biographic - Sunday November 3, 2013 Comic Strip Licensing and Permissions

Transcript

Biographic Steve McGarry Sir Anthony Hopkins Philip Anthony Hopkins was born in Port Talbot, Wales, on December 31, 1937. As a teen, he idolized actor Richard Burton, the local lad who had conquered the world of stage and screen. After two years of compulsory army service, Hopkins moved to London to pursue his acting ambitions, training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He was subsequently invited by acting legend Sir Laurence Olivier to join the Royal National Theatre, where he quickly established an outstanding reputation. Hopkins made his movie debut in 1968 in "The Lion in Winter," opposite Peter O'Toole and Katharine Hepburn. Following a starring role in "Equus" on Broadway in the mid01970s, he relocated to Los Angeles. He starred in such movies as "Magic," in which he played a ventriloquist obsessed with his dummy, and the world war II epic "A Bridge Too Far." His TV work, which included portrayals of Quasimodo, Lindbergh kidnapper Bruno Hauptmann, and Adolf Hitler, earned him a pair of Emmys. In the 1980s, he starred in such movies as "The Elephant Man" and "The Bounty," but moved back to Britain, resigned to the idea that movie superstardom had eluded him. All that changed with the 1991 blockbuster "The Silence of the Lambs." His chilling portrayal of Hannibal "the Cannibal" Lecter terrified audiences worldwide, earning him an Oscar and a place alongside boyhood hero Richard Burton in the highest echelon of movie stardom. He moved back to the states and became a U.S. citizen in 2000, seven years after being knighted by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II. His work, which has seen him portray characters from Richard Nixon to Zorro, has earned him three further Oscar nominations. The septuagenarian shows no sign of slowing down, with recent credits ranging from horror movies such as "The Wolfman" and "The Rite," to the action-packed "Red 2," and a portrayal of Alfred Hitchcock in "Hitchcock." His latest movie sees him reprise the role of Odin in "Thor: the Dark World," the big-budget sequel to the 2011 blockbuster "Thor."

Tags