Philip Anthony Hopkins

Philip Anthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins was born on December 31, 1937 in Margam, Port Talbot, Wales, United Kingdom. He is the son of Muriel Yeats and Richard Hopkins. He did schooling at Cowbridge Grammar School and enrolled at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama when he was only 15 years old. After graduation in 1957, he spent two years in the British Army before moving to London to begin training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. In 1965, Olivier invited him to join the Royal National Theatre and become his understudy. He started on the small-screen in 1967 with a BBC production of "A Flea in Her Ear". In 1968, he was cast in The Lion in Winter as Richard I, alongwith established stars Peter O'Toole and Katherine Hepburn. Throughout the 1970s, he continued to work in film and on stage. In 1974, he appeared in a Broadway production of Peter Shaffer's Equus. His method of preparation for roles has always been a source of fascination to critics and young actors alike. Because of his this style, he has to complete his work in too many takes. He has noted in the past that once he says a line and is done with a take, he forgot that line forever. He was married to his first wife, Petronella Barker in 1967. The couple had one daughter, Abigail Hopkins, who was born in 1968. He was married again to Jennifer Lynton in 1973. He once said, "I led a pretty self-destructive life for a few decades. It was only after I put my demons behind me that I was able to fully enjoying acting". In 1975, he began attending Alcoholics and working to put those demons behind him. He won an Emmy for his role as Bruno Richard Hauptmann in "The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case". Throughout the 1980s, he continued to impress the critics with his work in film and TV, winning multiple Emmy Awards and a BAFTA Award. In 1989, he returned to the stage for a production of the musical drama M. Butterfly. In 1991, he did unforgettable, 17-minute performance as the infamous psychopath Hannibal Lector in "The Silence of the Lambs". This role resulted in not only an Oscar but a distinguished place in the popular consciousness as perhaps the number one on-screen villain of all time. He has also played the role again in the films' sequels. After his first real Hollywood blockbuster, he appeared in "The Remains of the Day" in 1993, for which he was nominated for another Academy Award. He was also nominated again for Nixon (1995) and Amistad (1997). In April 2000, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States and, in 2002, he married his third wife, Colombian-born Stella Arroyave. In 2006, he was awarded the Golden Globes' Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement. He continued to work in major motion pictures, appearing in such films as Proof.