Anthony Hopkins is best known for his acting roles, first and foremost his portrayal of Dr. Hannibal Lector in “Silence of the Lambs. ” He has won numerous acting awards, including “Best Actor” for his role as Lector, even though he was only in Silence of the Lambs for just over 16 minutes (Carpenter p2). He is known and admired for his talents as an actor and a mimic throughout the world. His talents as a child however, seemed bound to take him in a totally different direction until fate, in the form of his father, intervened.
While Hopkins knew that he wanted to be an actor at a fairly young age, his first artistic love was the piano. His father bought him a baby grand as soon as he could afford it, and Anthony (“Tony” to his friends and family) learned to play very quickly. He was rapidly able to pick out pieces from the radio. He has admitted publicly that he always wanted to be famous, in order to make up for his feelings of inadequacy. He was a very poor student as a child, for a variety of reasons, and preferred to withdraw into music and art.
He flunked out of one school after another that his parents arranged for him to attend. His father was frustrated by his withdrawn son and refused to allow him further access to the piano until his son found a direction in this life. Later, when his father recanted and hired him a new teacher, he quit soon after because he felt the teacher pushed him too hard and did not like the same music he did. (Falk p12) Though he would continue to pick at the piano as a hobby, it appeared his days as a potential concert pianist were over.
Hopkins also liked to draw and paint as well. (Falk p12) He took up this hobby again later in life, encouraged by his third wife. (Fine Art) As an artist, Hopkins has had his art displayed in such places as the Aspen, Colorado Museum Works Gallery and the Luciane Antiques and Fine Art Gallery (Fine Art). He has also had them displayed in San Antonio, Texas. (IMDB) His pieces sell for thousands of dollars, for their use of vividly bright colors, as well as his pre-existing fame.
He states that all of his pieces are influenced by South Western American scenes he has seen on the road (Fine Art). It is as a pianist, however, that Hopkins truly shines. When he preformed his role as Hannibal Lector for the second time, he plays the piano several times, and many of the pieces were of his own composition. In the film “August,” which he directed and starred in, he also wrote the musical score for. (Bio) Anthony Hopkins:
Bibliography
“Anthony Hopkins” Internet Movie Database.Internet Movie Database Inc. 1996. http://www. imdb. com/name/nm0000164/bio Carpenter, Sam. “Anthony Hopkins” Bio: The Biography Channel. 2007. http://www. thebiographychannel. co. uk/biography_story/45:57/2/Anthony_Hopki ns. htm. Callan, Michael, Feeney. Anthony Hopkins: The Unauthorized Biography. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. 1994. Falk, Quentin. Anthony Hopkins: The Biography. Great Britain: Virgin Books Ltd. 2005. “Margam Fine Art. ” Anthony Hopkins Art Collection. 2007. http://www. anthonyhopkinsart. com/