Liceul Teoretic “Mihai Veliciu” Chişineu-Criş

Lucrare pentru obţinerea atestatului de

competenţă lingvistică la limba engleză

Anthony Hopkins
Coordonator: Moţ Cristina Absolvent : Orban Agota-Dora

MAI 2019
Chişineu-Criş
I love life because what
more is there?

Student: Agota Dora Orban

 Table of Contents
1.Introduction
1.Early Life and Education
2.Career
2.1Acting style
2.2Honours
3.Personal life
4.Philanthropy
5.Other works
5.1Filmography
5.2Awards and nominations
5.3Quotes
6.Conclusion
7.Bibliography
Introduction

I chose this topic because Hopkins loves to work. Much of his self-esteem and vigor comes from acting – “Oh,
yes, work has kept me going. Work has given me my energy” – and he is in no way contemplating slowing
down. You can feel a quicksilver energy about him, a restlessness. Every so often, I think he’s going to stop the
interview and take flight, but actually he’s enjoying himself and keeps saying, “Ask me more! This is great!”
Hopkins often uses his past to find his way into a character. Small incidents that stick in his mind, real people
who inform. In the scene with Kent, Edgar and the Fool, as Lear descends into madness, he has all three line
up on a bench and addresses them with the wrong names. Hopkins decided that Lear had seen his father drown
three puppies when he was young and believed his friends to be those dogs. “Cruelty to an animal stays with
you for the rest of your life,” he says. “I once witnessed something like that, but I can’t think of it too much,
it’s too upsetting. But that little kernel of an event doesn’t go. It grows with you.” When he portrays
deliberately scary people – such as Hannibal Lecter or Robert Ford in the Westworld series – he plays them
quietly, emphasizing their sinister control. His Lear, though, is explosive. “He’s completely bonkers – he
laughs at the storm. That’s what I like about him.”
1. Early Life and Education
"I don't know where everyone gets the idea we were good friends. I suppose
it's because we are both Welsh and grew up near the same town [Port
Talbot]. For the record, I didn't really know him at all."—Hopkins on Welsh
compatriot Richard Burton, The Guardian interview, 2012.
Hopkins was born on New Year's Eve 1937, in Margam, a suburb of Port
Talbot, Glamorgan. His parents were Annie Muriel (née Yeates) and
Richard Arthur Hopkins, a baker. He stated his father's working-class
values have always underscored his life. "Whenever I get a feeling that I
may be special or different, I think of my father and I remember his hands
– his hardened, broken hands".His school days were unproductive; he
would rather immerse himself in art, such as painting and drawing, or
playing the piano, than attend to his studies. In 1949, to instill discipline,
his parents insisted he attend Jones' West Monmouth Boys' School in
Pontypool. He remained there for five terms and was then educated at
Cowbridge Grammar School in the Vale of Glamorgan. In a 2002
interview he stated: "I was a poor learner, which left me open to ridicule
and gave me an inferiority complex. I grew up absolutely convinced I was
stupid."
Hopkins was inspired by Welsh compatriot Richard Burton, whom he met
at the age of 15. Hopkins promptly enrolled at the Royal Welsh College of
Music & Drama in Cardiff, from which he graduated in 1957. After two
years of his national service, which he served in the British Army, Hopkins
moved to London where he studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic
Art.
2.Career
Hopkins made his first professional stage appearance in the
Palace Theatre, Swansea, in 1960 with Swansea Little
Theatre's production of Have a Cigarette. In 1965, after
several years in repertory, he was spotted by Laurence
Olivier, who invited him to join the Royal National Theatre in
London. Hopkins became Olivier's understudy, and filled in
when Olivier was struck with appendicitis during a 1967
production of August Strindberg's The Dance of Death.
Olivier later noted in his memoir, Confessions of an Actor, that
A new young actor in the company of exceptional promise
named Anthony Hopkins was understudying me and walked
away with the part of Edgar like a cat with a mouse between
its teeth.
Hopkins was nervous prior to going on stage, but since that
night he has relaxed, quoting his mentor: "He [Olivier] said:
'Remember: nerves is [sic] vanity – you’re wondering what
people think of you; to hell with them, just jump off the edge’.
It was great advice.” Despite his success at the National,
Hopkins tired of repeating the same roles nightly and yearned
to be in films. He made his small-screen debut in a 1967 BBC
broadcast of A Flea in Her Ear. His first starring role in a film
came in 1964 in Changes, a short directed by Drewe Henley,
written and produced by James Scott and co-starring
Jacqueline Pearce. In 1968, he got his break in The Lion in
Winter playing Richard the Lionheart.
Although Hopkins continued in theatre (most notably at the National Theatre as Lambert Le Roux in
Pravda by David Hare and Howard Brenton and as Antony in Antony and Cleopatra opposite Judi
Dench as well as in the Broadway production of Peter Shaffer's Equus) he gradually moved away from
it to become more established as a television and film actor. He portrayed Charles Dickens in the BBC
television film The Great Inimitable Mr. Dickens in 1970, and Pierre Bezukhov in the BBC's mini series
War and Peace (1972). Making a name for himself as a screen actor, in 1972 he starred as British
politician David Lloyd George in Young Winston, and in 1977 he played British Army officer John
Frost in the World War II-set film A Bridge Too Far. Both of these films were directed by Richard
Attenborough, who described Hopkins as “unquestionably the greatest actor of his generation”.
In 1978 he starred in the psychological horror film Magic about a demonic ventriloquist's puppet. In
1980, he starred in The Elephant Man as the English doctor Sir Frederick Treves, who attends to
Joseph Merrick (portrayed by John Hurt), a severely deformed man in 19th century London. That year
he also starred opposite Shirley MacLaine in A Change of Seasons and famously said "she was the most
obnoxious actress I have ever worked with." In 1983, Hopkins also became a company member of The
Mirror Theater Ltd's Repertory Company. He remained an enthusiastic member of the company and
the Mirror's Producing Artistic Director Sabra Jones visited him in London in 1986 to discuss moving
Pravda to New York from the National Theatre. In 1984, he starred opposite Mel Gibson in The Bounty
as William Bligh, captain of the Royal Navy ship HMS Bounty, in a retelling of the mutiny on the
Bounty. In 1992, Hopkins portrayed Professor Van Helsing in Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's
Dracula.
Set in 1950s post-war Britain, Hopkins starred opposite Emma
Thompson in The Remains of the Day (1993), a film the BFI ranked
the 64th greatest British film of the 20th century. Hopkins was
nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his
performance, and he received the BAFTA Award for Best Actor.
Hopkins portrayed Oxford academic C. S. Lewis in the 1993 British
biographical film Shadowlands, for which he was nominated for a
BAFTA Award for Best Actor.During the 1990s, Hopkins had the
chance to work with Bart the Bear in two films: Legends of the Fall
(1994) and The Edge (1997). According to trainer, Lynn Seus, "Tony
Hopkins was absolutely brilliant with Bart...He acknowledged and
respected him like a fellow actor. He would spend hours just looking
at Bart and admiring him. He did so many of his own scenes with
Bart."
Hopkins was Britain's highest paid performer in 1998, starring in
The Mask of Zorro and Meet Joe Black, and also agreed to reprise
his role as Dr Hannibal Lecter for a fee of £15 million. In 2000,
Hopkins narrated How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Hopkins
received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2003. Hopkins
stated that his role as Burt Munro, whom he portrayed in his 2005
film The World's Fastest Indian, was his favourite. He also asserted
that Munro was the easiest role that he had played because both men
have a similar outlook on life. In 2006, Hopkins was the recipient of
the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement.
In 2008, he received the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award, the
highest award the British Film Academy can bestow.
On 24 February 2010, it was announced that Hopkins had been cast in The Rite, which was released on
28 January 2011. He played a priest who is "an expert in exorcisms and whose methods are not
necessarily traditional". Hopkins, an agnostic who is quoted as saying "I don't know what I believe,
myself personally", reportedly wrote a line--"Some days I don't know if I believe in God or Santa Claus
or Tinkerbell"—into his character in order to identify with it. In 2011, Hopkins has said, "what I enjoy is
uncertainty. … I don't know. You don't know." On 21 September 2011, Peter R. de Vries named Hopkins
in the role of the Heineken owner Freddy Heineken in a future film about his kidnapping. The film
Kidnapping Freddy Heineken was released in 2015.
Hopkins portrayed Odin, the Allfather or "king" of Asgard, in the 2011 film adaptation of Marvel
Comics' Thor. Hopkins portrayed Alfred Hitchcock in Sacha Gervasi's biopic Hitchcock, following his
career while making Psycho. The film was released on 23 November 2012. In 2013, he reprised his role as
Odin in Thor: The Dark World and again in 2017's Thor: Ragnarok. In 2014, he portrayed Methuselah in
Darren Aronofsky's Noah. Since October 2016, Hopkins has been starring as Robert Ford in the HBO
sci-fi series Westworld. Hopkins played Autobot ally Sir Edmund Burton in Transformers: The Last
Knight, which was released in June 2017.
2.1. Acting style
Hopkins is renowned for his preparation for roles. He
indicated in interviews that once he has committed to a
project, he will go over his lines as many times as is needed
(sometimes upwards of 200) until the lines sound natural to
him, so that he can "do it without thinking". This leads to
an almost casual style of delivery that belies the amount of
groundwork done beforehand. While it can allow for some
careful improvisation, it has also brought him into conflict
with the occasional director who departs from the script, or
demands what the actor views as an excessive number of
takes. Hopkins has stated that after he is finished with a
scene, he simply discards the lines, not remembering them
later on. This is unlike others who usually remember their
lines from a film, even years later.
Richard Attenborough, who directed Hopkins on five
occasions, found himself going to great lengths during the
filming of Shadowlands (1993) to accommodate the
differing approaches of his two stars (Hopkins and Debra
Winger), who shared many scenes. Whereas Hopkins,
preferring the spontaneity of a fresh take, liked to keep
rehearsals to a minimum, Winger rehearsed continuously.
To allow for this, Attenborough stood in for Hopkins
during Winger's rehearsals, only bringing him in for the
last one before a take. The director praised Hopkins for
"this extraordinary ability to make you believe when you
hear him that it is the very first time he has ever said that
line. It's an incredible gift."

Renowned for his ability to remember lines, Hopkins
keeps his memory supple by learning things by heart
such as poetry and Shakespeare. In Steven
Spielberg's Amistad, Hopkins astounded the crew
with his memorisation of a seven-page courtroom
speech, delivering it in one go. An overawed
Spielberg couldn't bring himself to call him Tony,
and insisted on addressing him as Sir Anthony
throughout the shoot.
In a 2016 interview with the Radio Times, Hopkins
spoke of his ability to frighten people since he was a
boy growing up in Port Talbot, Wales. "I don't know
why but I've always known what scares people.
When I was a kid I’d tell the girls around the street
the story about Dracula and I’d go 'th-th-th' (the
sucking noise which he reproduced in The Silence of
the Lambs). As a result, they’d run away
screaming."
He recalled going through the film's script for
the first time with fellow cast members. "I
didn't know what they were going to make of
it but I'd prepared it—my first line to Jodie
Foster was: 'Good morning. You’re one of
Jack Crawford’s aren't you'?. Everyone froze.
There was a silence. Then one of the
producers said, 'Holy crap, don't change a
thing'.”
Hopkins is a well-known mimic, adept at
turning his native Welsh accent into whatever
is required by a character. He duplicated the
voice of his late mentor, Laurence Olivier, for
additional scenes in Spartacus in its 1991
restoration. His interview on the 1998
relaunch edition of the British TV talk show
Parkinson featured an impersonation of
comedian Tommy Cooper. Hopkins has said
acting "like a submarine" has helped him to
deliver credible performances in his thrillers.
He said, "It's very difficult for an actor to
avoid, you want to show a bit. But I think the
less one shows the better."
2.2. Honors

Anthony Hopkins was made a

Commander of the Order of
the British Empire (CBE) in
1987, and was knighted as a
Knight Bachelor at
Buckingham Palace in 1993
for services to the arts. In
1988, Hopkins was made an
Honorary D.Litt and in 1992
was awarded honorary
fellowship from the University
of Wales, Lampeter. He was
made a freeman of his home
town, Port Talbot, in 1996.
3. Personal Life
Hopkins resides in Malibu, California. He had moved to the US once before, during the late 1970s, to
pursue his film career, but returned to London in the late 1980s. However, he decided to return to the US
following his 1990s success. Retaining his British citizenship, he became a naturalised US citizen on 12
April 2000, with Hopkins stating: "I have dual citizenship; it just so happens I live in America".
Hopkins has been married three times: to Petronella Barker from 1966 to 1972; to Jennifer Lynton from
1973 to 2002; and, since 2003, to Stella Arroyave. On Christmas Eve 2012, he celebrated his 10th wedding
anniversary by having a blessing at a private service at St David's Cathedral, Pembrokeshire in the most
westerly point of Wales. He has a daughter, actress and singer Abigail Hopkins (born 20 August 1969),
from his first marriage. The two are estranged, when asked if he had any grandchildren he said, "I don't
have any idea. People break up. Families split and, you know, 'Get on with your life.' People make
choices. I don't care one way or the other."
Hopkins is a recovering alcoholic; he has stayed sober since he stopped drinking just after Christmas
1975. He said that 35 years ago, "I made that quantum leap when I asked for help. I just found something
and a woman talked to me and she said, just trust in God. And I said, well, why not?" When asked, "did
you literally pray?" Hopkins responded: "No, I didn't. I think because I asked for help, which is a form
of prayer." In an interview with Larry King in 2016, Hopkins described himself as an agnostic and said
"he believed in the power of life" and that there was a "superior consciousness in all of us".He has
further explained, "I don't know what I believe, myself personally. … Certainty is the enemy."
He gave up smoking using the Allen Carr method. In 2008, he embarked on a weight loss program, and
by 2010, he had lost 80 pounds. In January 2017, in an interview with The Desert Sun, Hopkins reported
that he had been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, but that he was "high end".Hopkins has a pet cat
named Niblo, which he adopted in Budapest.
 4.Philanthropy
Hopkins has offered his support to various charities and appeals, notably becoming President of the National
Trust's Snowdonia Appeal, raising funds for the preservation of Snowdonia National Park in north Wales. In
1998 he donated £1 million towards the £3 million needed to aid the Trust's efforts in purchasing parts of
Snowdon. Prior to the campaign, Hopkins authored Anthony Hopkins' Snowdonia, which was published in
1995. Due to his contributions to Snowdonia, in addition to his film career, in 2004 Hopkins was named among
the 100 Welsh Heroes in a Welsh poll.
Hopkins has been a patron of the YMCA centre in his home town of Port Talbot, South Wales for more than 20
years, having first joined the YMCA in the 1950s. He supports other various philanthropic groups. He was a
Guest of Honour at a Gala Fundraiser for Women in Recovery, Inc., a Venice, California-based non-profit
organisation offering rehabilitation assistance to women in recovery from substance abuse. He is also a
volunteer teacher at the Ruskin School of Acting in Santa Monica, California. Hopkins served as the Honorary
Patron of The New Heritage Theatre Company in Boise, Idaho from 1997-2007, participating in fundraising
and marketing efforts for the repertory theatre.
Hopkins contributed toward the refurbishment of a £2.3 million wing at his alma mater, the Royal Welsh
College of Music & Drama in Cardiff, named the Anthony Hopkins Centre. It opened in 1999.
Hopkins is a prominent member of environmental protection group Greenpeace and as of early 2008 featured
in a television advertisement campaign, voicing concerns about Japan's continuing annual whale hunt. He has
also been a patron of RAPt (Rehabilitation for Addicted Prisoners Trust) since its early days and in 1992 helped
open their first intensive drug and alcohol rehabilitation unit at Downview (HM Prison), a women’s prison in
Surrey, England.
Hopkins is an admirer of the Welsh comedian Tommy Cooper. On 23 February 2008, as patron of the Tommy
Cooper Society, he unveiled a commemorative statue in the entertainer's home town of Caerphilly. For the
ceremony, he donned Cooper's trademark fez and performed a comic routine.
5. Other works

In a 2012 interview, Hopkins stated, "I've been composing music all my life and if I'd been clever enough
at school I would like to have gone to music college. As it was I had to settle for being an actor." In 1986,
he released a single called "Distant Star", which peaked at No. 75 in the UK Singles Chart. In 2007, he
announced he would retire temporarily from the screen to tour around the world. Hopkins has also
written music for the concert hall, in collaboration with Stephen Barton as orchestrator. These
compositions include The Masque of Time, given its world premiere with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra
in October 2008, and Schizoid Salsa.
In 1990, Hopkins directed a film about his Welsh compatriot, poet Dylan Thomas, titled Dylan Thomas:
Return Journey, which was his directing debut for the screen. In the same year, as part of the restoration
process for the Stanley Kubrick film Spartacus, Hopkins was approached to re-record lines from a scene
that was being added back to the film; this scene featured Laurence Olivier and Tony Curtis, with
Hopkins recommended by Olivier's widow, Joan Plowright to perform her late husband's part thanks to
his talent for mimicry.
In 1996, he directed August, an adaptation of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya set in Wales. His first screenplay,
an experimental drama called Slipstream, which he also directed and scored, premiered at the Sundance
Film Festival in 2007. In 1997, Hopkins narrated the BBC natural documentary series, Killing for a
Living, which showed predatory behaviour in nature. He narrated episode 1 through 3 before being
replaced by John Shrapnel.
Hopkins is a fan of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses, and once
remarked in an interview how he would love to appear in the series. Writer
John Sullivan saw the interview, and with Hopkins in mind created the
character Danny Driscoll, a local villain. However, filming of the new series
coincided with the filming of The Silence of the Lambs, making Hopkins
unavailable. The role instead went to Roy Marsden.
On 31 October 2011, André Rieu released an album including a waltz which
Hopkins had composed in 1964, at the age of 26. Hopkins had never heard
his composition, "And the Waltz Goes On", before it was premiered by
Rieu's orchestra in Vienna; Rieu's album was given the same name as
Hopkins' piece.
In January 2012, Hopkins released an album of classical music, entitled
Composer, performed by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and
released on CD via the UK radio station Classic FM. The album consists of
nine of his original works and film scores, with one of the pieces titled
"Margam" in tribute to his home town near Port Talbot in Wales.
In October 2015, Hopkins appeared as Sir in a BBC Two production of
Ronald Harwood's The Dresser, alongside Ian McKellen, Edward Fox and
Emily Watson. The Dresser is set in a London theatre during the Blitz,
where an aging actor-manager, Sir, prepares for his starring role in King
Lear with the help of his devoted dresser, Norman. Hopkins described his
role as Sir as "the highlight of my life". "It was a chance to work with the
actors I had run away from. To play another actor is fun because you know
the ins and outs of their thinking – especially with someone like Sir, who is a
diabolically insecure, egotistical man." Hopkins starred as Lear in the 2018
television film King Lear broadcast on BBC Two on 28 May 2018.
5.1. Filmography
The best movies:
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
The Elephant Man (1980)
.
Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
The Remains of the Day (1993)
Shadowlands (1993)
The Good Father (1985)
Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
Nixon (1995)
Meet Joe Black (1998)
The City of Your Final Destination (2009)
Hannibal (2001)
Hitchcock (2012)
Legends of the Fall (1994)
The Edge (1997)
The Bounty (1984)
Howards End (1992)
Thor (2011)
5.2. Awards and nominations
He is an Oscar-winning actor, character actor,
having received four Academy award
nominations winning one in 1992 for his
performance in The Silence of the Lambs, seven
Golden Globe award nominations honored in
2006 with the Cecil B. DeMille award, five
Primetime Emmy award nominations winning
two - one in 1976 for his performance in The
Lindbergh Kidnapping Case, and the other in
1981 for his performance in The Bunker, and
five Screen Actors Guild award nominations all
of which have been respectively lost.
6. Quotes
Life's too short to deal with other people's
insecurities.

We all dream. We dream vividly, depending on

our nature. Our existence is beyond our
explanation, whether we believe in God or we
have religion or we're atheist.

For me, time is the greatest mystery of all. The

fact is that we're dreaming all the time. That's
what really gets me. We have a fathomless lake
of unconsciousness just beneath our skills.
 If I spent all my time criticizing myself, I wouldn't be able to function. There are actors who theorise till
the cows come home. I haven't the patience for them. It's maybe shallow, but that's why I'll never be part
of the acting set.

We're all caught up in circumstances, and we're all good and evil. When you're really hungry, for
instance, you'll do anything to survive. I think the most evil thing - well, maybe that's too strong - but
certainly a very evil thing is judgment, the sin of ignorance.
 7. Conclusion
I chose this topic because Sir Anthony Hopkins (born 1937) acted
on stage and in film for over 30 years before receiving his first
Academy Award, which he won for his portrayal of Dr. Hannibal
Lecter in the 1991 film Silence of the Lambs. Since that time,
Hopkins has become a true Hollywood superstar.
Over the course of his acting career, Hopkins has added extensive
acting credits to his name. From his early career in the British
theatre to his long list of movie parts, Hopkins has had his share
of critical and box office failures and successes.
Hopkins turned 60 in 1997 and commanded over five million
dollars per movie and he has not slowed his pace. He has two
movies opening in 1998 with yet another in production. In 1998,
Hopkins appeared in the remake of the classic The Mask of Zorro,
co-starring Spanish actor Antonio Banderas. He also starred in
1998's Meet Joe Black. In Instinct (formerly called Ishmael), he
played an anthropologist working in Africa who was convicted of
murdering a group of white men who had killed a family of
gorillas.
In some ways Hopkins has changed little since his time in Port
Talbot. He was still a loner, choosing to take long road trips in his
car, by himself, to relax. He has maintained his intense, driven
personality that pushes him to continue to take on movie projects
at an exceptional pace. However, he has also learned to not push
too hard. Finally, after more than 30 years, he found what he
knew he wanted at age 15: fame and fortune. He told Vanity Fair,
"It can't get better than this. Years ago I wanted to be rich and
famous, and it all happened to me…. They pay me a lot of money,
more money than I ever dreamed of. It just cannot get better than
this."
8.Bibliography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_awards_and_nominations_received_by_Anthony_
Hopkins
https://www.google.ro/search?q=anthony+hopkins+quotes&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa
=X&ved=2ahUKEwij9JKbvNnhAhUSy6YKHQrMBCYQsAR6BAgHEAE&biw=1366&
bih=613
https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Hopkins
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000164/
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/may/26/anthony-hopkins-most-nonsense-most-
lie-lear
http://time.com/3590531/hbo-westworld-announcement-anthony-hopkins/