Anthony Hopkins: Veteran actor releases first album of his musical career

Image caption, The famous actor began composing music as a child

Published 5 hours ago

Reading time: 5 minutes

Film star Anthony Hopkins, aged 88, will release his first musical album titled 'Life is a Dream' on August 21, in collaboration with Decca Classics.

The album fulfills a lifelong dream for the veteran actor, featuring a collection of classical pieces he has composed over six decades. Hopkins, a two-time Academy Award winner for Best Actor, said he has been composing music 'all his life' and that it was 'my first desire and my first wish.'

He added: 'Some of these pieces have been with me for decades, and I still find myself returning to them,' describing signing with Decca Classics as 'the honor of a lifetime.' He said of the album's title: 'My whole life is a dream.'

Hopkins released the album's first piece, titled 'Bracken Road,' which is part of a musical work called '1947: Suite for Solo Piano and Orchestra.' He drew inspiration from childhood memories in Margam, South Wales, and the streets, meadows, farmlands, and mountains that surrounded his family home in the 1940s.

The film and theater star began playing the piano at age four and has been composing his own music since childhood. Some of the album's pieces date back to 1963, when he was a young actor at the Liverpool Playhouse.

Other compositions on the album recall Hopkins' memories of Port Talbot, his childhood visits there with his grandfather, the cinema that first sparked his imagination, as well as his family members and those closest to him.

Hopkins continues to honor Wales in another piece titled 'My Homeland,' which he said he wrote 'in tribute to my humble beginnings,' adding: 'I am the son of a baker father.'

The Philharmonia Orchestra performs Hopkins' compositions under the baton of Grammy-winning conductor Gustavo Dudamel.

Skip the most read and continue reading

'How Israel recruited former Iranian President Ahmadinejad?' - New York Times

US military launches new wave of strikes against Iran, reports of Tehran threatening to close Bab el-Mandeb Strait

Sources in the Lebanese presidency to BBC: 'Aoun-Netanyahu meeting is completely rejected'

Two Arab referees in the World Cup semifinals, Jaid and Al-Khadama make history

Image caption, Cover of the album 'Life is a Dream'

Laura Monks, head of Decca Classics, said the company team was very excited to work with 'an artistic figure of this magnitude,' and that the office atmosphere was filled with energy as the team helped Hopkins achieve a lifelong dream.

Monks, who attended the album's recording, added that chills ran through the team members during the sessions, and that Hopkins' deep knowledge of classical music was evident to everyone present.

She said: 'He listened to the music with intense concentration and offered his notes. It was a truly special and unique experience.'

Dutch musician André Rieu had presented in 2011 a waltz composed by Hopkins when he was 26, performing it before him with his orchestra in Vienna.

This musical side may surprise an audience that primarily knows Hopkins for the character of Hannibal Lecter, the cannibalistic killer in 'The Silence of the Lambs,' revealing him here as a composer revisiting his childhood, family, and memories through music.

Image caption, Anthony Hopkins as serial killer Hannibal Lecter.

Seven decades in cinema and theater

Skip the podcast and continue reading

Worth watching

In-depth explanation of major events and topics, to help you understand the key changes around you and their impact on your life

Episodes

Podcast end

Sometimes, just having Anthony Hopkins' name in any film's cast, even in a supporting role, is enough to draw the attention of many viewers.

Hopkins won his first Oscar for Best Actor in 1992 for his portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in 'The Silence of the Lambs,' one of his most famous and enduring roles in cinema history. He later reprised the character in 'Hannibal' (2001) and 'Red Dragon' (2002).

Hopkins caught attention with his calm and unsettling performance as the psychiatrist and serial killer, successfully asserting his presence in both dialogue and moments of silence.

He had already demonstrated his ability to play complex characters years earlier in notable works from the 1980s, including 'The Elephant Man' (1980) and 'The Bounty' (1984). He also played Quasimodo in a television adaptation of 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1982).

Philip Anthony Hopkins was born on December 31, 1937, in Margam near Port Talbot, South Wales. He studied at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff, graduating in 1957, before serving two years in the military. He then moved to London to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating in 1963.

He began his professional stage career in 1960, and joined the National Theatre company in 1965 after catching the attention of actor and director Laurence Olivier. His first film appearance was in the short film 'The White Bus' (1967).

Throughout his long career, Hopkins has moved between vastly different characters. In 'Meet Joe Black' (1998), he played a wealthy businessman facing death, who takes the form of a young man and gives him a few days before taking him.

In 'Bram Stoker's Dracula' (1992), he portrayed Professor Van Helsing, who hunts the vampire Dracula.

In 'Instinct' (1999), he played an anthropologist who lived among gorillas in Africa before being imprisoned after killing men who attacked the animals he had bonded with.

Image caption, Anthony Hopkins as Adolf Hitler in the television film 'The Bunker' (1981).

Hopkins has played a number of prominent historical figures, including U.S. President Richard Nixon in 'Nixon' (1995), director Alfred Hitchcock in 'Hitchcock' (2012), and Pope Benedict XVI in 'The Two Popes' (2019).

He also starred in widely successful films such as 'The Mask of Zorro' (1998) alongside Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, and 'Bad Company' (2002) with Chris Rock, showing a lighter, more comedic side.

Hopkins' career, spanning from the 1960s, includes a large number of films, television works, voice performances, as well as short and stage works.

Film 'The Two Popes': Tango in the Vatican corridors

Image caption, Egyptian film star Yousra honors Hopkins in Riyadh

Hopkins won his second Oscar in 2021 for his role in 'The Father,' where he portrayed an elderly man suffering from dementia, as his perception of time, place, and people around him begins to disintegrate, while his daughter tries to cope with his decline and make difficult decisions about his care. This win made him the oldest actor to win an Oscar for Best Actor.

Thus, Hopkins has won two Oscars out of six nominations, and over his career he has received numerous film and television awards in Britain and the United States.