10 Greatest Movies of Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins was born in Wales, in 1937. In 1957, he graduated from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. He also studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. In 1965, he joined the Royal National Theatre as Laurence Olivier’s understudy. His first major film role was in 1968, playing Richard I in The Lion in Winter, alongside Katharine Hepburn and Peter O’Toole.
Sir Anthony Hopkins has been nominated for four Oscars, winning one in 1992 for Silence of the Lambs. He has been nominated for six Golden Globes, and in 2006 was awarded their Cecil B. Demille lifetime achievement award. He also has four BAFTAs and two Emmys. He was knighted in 1993.
He is also a screenwriter, director, and composer of classical music.
10. The Elephant Man (1980) — David Lynch directed this telling of the story of John Merrick, also known as the Elephant Man. It isn’t an adaptation of the play, and the play is better, but it is a moving story and John Hurt as Merrick and Hopkins as Dr. Frederick Treves bring a lot of class to the production.
“Am I a good man? Or a bad man? That’s all…” — Frederick Treves
9. Hitchcock (2012) — A biography that focuses on a slice of Hitchcock’s life, specifically the making of the film Psycho. The film focuses on Hitchcock’s insecurities and on his relationship with his wife and partner in film, Alma.
“She won’t be nude, she’ll be wearing a shower cap.” — Alfred Hitchcock
8. All Creatures Great and Small (1975) — To be honest, I disliked this film, the first time I saw it, because it wasn’t the television series. Hopkins is very good as Siegfried Farnon, but for me, Robert Hardy will always be the true Siegfried. Herriot’s books are my favorites and a perennial read. Visiting the vet’s practice in Thirsk and the television filming location in Askrigg are amongst my most treasured experiences.
7. Nixon (1995) — Oliver Stone takes a little over three hours to paint his portrait of one of America’s most complex leaders. Hopkins and Joan Allen do an excellent job of showing the human side of the troubled political machine.
“When they look at you, they see what they want to be. When they look at me, they see what they are.” — Richard M. Nixon
6. The Dresser (2015) — This is the most recent film on this list, so fresh that I just saw it for the first time this past weekend. It is a remake, but the original didn’t start Ian McKellen and Anthony Hopkins. Those two actors, large enough to play Magneto and Odin play a much smaller story here, about an aging actor and his dresser, playing King Lear during the second world war.
5. The World’s Fastest Indian (2005) — This is Sir Anthony’s favorite of all of his roles, because he says it is the character with whom he most identifies. He plays real life carpenter, motorcycle salesman, and land speed record holder Burt Munro. In 1967, at the age of 68 and while riding a 47 year old motorcycle, he set a record at Bonneville that still stands.
“No… You live more in five minutes on a bike like this going flat out than some people live in a lifetime.” — Burt Munro
4. Shadowlands (1993) — An extremely under viewed film. In Shadowlands, Attenborough tells the true story of the sad love affair between C.S. Lewis and Joy Gresham — roles beautifully played by Sir Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger.
“That’s not why I pray, Harry. I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God, it changes me.” — C.S. Lewis
3. The Lion in Winter (1968) — This film adaptation of the Broadway play casts Hepburn as Eleanor of Aquitaine alongside Peter O’Toole as Henry II, with a very young Anthony Hopkins and Timothy Dalton in supporting roles.
“Just what you want, a king for a son. You can make more, I can’t. You think I want to disappear? One son is all I’ve got, and you can blot him out and call me cruel? For these ten years you’ve lived with everything I’ve lost, and loved another woman through it all, and I am cruel? I could peel you like a pear and God himself would call it justice!” — Eleanor of Aquitaine
2. The Remains of the Day (1993) — Emma and Anthony Hopkins pair up again for this heartbreaking story of unrequited love. Emma Thompson plays the housekeeper in a British manor. Anthony Hopkins plays the butler. Two people in lonely positions. She reaches out to him, but he, caught between professional obsession and fear of intimacy retreats.
The film is told largely through flashbacks, as the butler travels across England, possibly finally ready to return the affections.
“You know what I am doing, Miss Kenton? I am placing my thoughts elsewhere while you chatter away.” — Stevens
1. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) — Nominated for 7 Oscars, won 5. Director Jonathan Demme takes what could have been a forgettable B movie and elevates it by making it smart, and none so smart as Hannibal Lector, simultaneously charming and creepy.
“You see a lot, Doctor. But are you strong enough to point that high-powered perception at yourself? What about it? Why don’t you — why don’t you look at yourself and write down what you see? Or maybe you’re afraid to.” — Clarice
Other films considered for this list include Howards End, Thor, Amistad, 84 Charing Cross Road, The Mask of Zorro, Fracture, The Edge, Beowulf, Titus, The Bounty, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Proof, A Bridge Too Far, Surviving Picasso, and Magic.
What would make your list?
