Anthony Hopkins (Actor)

"I love all the stupid Mickey Mouse quality of it... Such a relief for one's brain." - Hopkins's take on Los Angeles, from Premiere, February 1994

"I've led a fantastic life. But I realize what it is... Just enjoy, and don't take anything too seriously, because it will be somebody else tomorrow. I'm at that stage in my life now where I look at younger actors and their behavior and I think, 'I've been there. Done that.'" - Hopkins to Movieline's Hollywood Life, September/October 2005

"Only nuts stay in character between takes." - Hopkins quoted to Empire, April 2006

"People talk about chemistry. If you know your lines, you know what you're doing, and the other actor shows up and they're good and you're good, that's chemistry. There's nothing special. It's not brain surgery." - Hopkins to Los Angeles Magazine, November 2004

"Quite honestly, I don't care anymore. I've done it all, I've run the race. If the well dried up tomorrow, I don't think I'd really care." - Hopkins quoted in Empire magazine, October 2009

"There's so much money being made here, beyond my wildest dreams, and I think it can corrupt you so quickly. Jenni [his wife] is fearful of this. She says, 'How can you possibly want to live there, they're crazy people! Don't be seduced by all that. You must be nuts!' I told her the other day that I'd bought a pair of cowboy boots, and I've got a baseball cap. She said, 'Well, there's no hope then.' She's very stable, very moderate in her appetites about everything, unlike me. She accepts reality, whereas I don't. When she comes out here, she sees it as Toytown. What I find wonderful, the enthusiasm, the friendliness, she sees as over the top." - Hopkins in Vanity Fair, October 1996

"To be a romantic actor, you have to be physically almost perfect. But I can understand those parts that I play now because they are thwarted romances, and they're even more powerful, because they're about reality. No, I wouldn't play a romantic part in a month of Sundays." - Hopkins on why he's an atypical Hollywood lead, from New York Newsday, Nov. 7, 1993

About working with the Merchant-Ivory team: "Well, life is too short to hold resentments, but I was pretty angry at Ismail [Merchant] because they do spiteful things like not pay the crew. And they hold back money, to gain interest. They didn't pay me for a month. I was going to sue them, and I vowed never to work with them again. But Ismail's got the charm of the devil, you know. And I think, 'Well, I'm not going to hold a grudge.'"

"Jim [Ivory] is different. I think he's embarrassed by it all. I should take the high road, but, no, I think it's good to blow the whistle on them. James Ivory is an odd fish but a wonderful director. I don't think Ismail deserves him. I like Ismail, but they have a very underhanded way of dealing with people. They're really cheapskates. They'll take the stripes out of your socks. I'll keep my hand on my wallet next time." - Hopkins in The Los Angeles Times, Sep. 8, 1996

Made Commander of the British Empire (1987).

Named Man of the Year by Hasty Pudding Theatricals of Harvard University in 2001.

Not to be confused with the British composer and conductor Antony Hopkins (born March 21, 1921).

Received the Commander of Arts and Letters medal from the French government.

The second story of Hopkins' London townhouse was severely damaged in a fire in January 2000.