He has also received the Cecil B. He was then spotted by Laurence Olivier , who invited him to join the Royal National Theatre in His last stage play was a West End production of M. Butterfly in He remained there for five terms and was then educated at Cowbridge Grammar School in the Vale of Glamorgan. In an interview in , he stated, "I was a poor learner, which left me open to ridicule and gave me an inferiority complex.
I grew up absolutely convinced I was stupid. Hopkins was inspired by fellow Welsh actor Richard Burton , whom he met at the age of He later called Burton "very gracious, very nice" [ 13 ] but elaborated, "I don't know where everyone gets the idea we were good friends. I suppose it's because we are both Welsh and grew up near the same town. For the record, I didn't really know him at all. So was Peter O'Toole — they were wonderful, larger-than-life characters. Hopkins made his first professional stage appearance in the Palace Theatre, Swansea , in with Swansea Little Theatre's production of Have a Cigarette.
Olivier later noted in his memoir, Confessions of an Actor , that, "A new young actor in the company of exceptional promise named Anthony Hopkins was understudying me and walked away with the part of Edgar like a cat with a mouse between its teeth. This has since changed, and Hopkins quoted his mentor as saying: "He [Olivier] said: 'Remember: "nerves" is vanity — you're wondering what people think of you; to hell with them, just jump off the edge'.
It was great advice. His first starring role in a film came in in Changes , a short directed by Drewe Henley , written and produced by James Scott and co-starring Jacqueline Pearce. That same year, he also starred in Attenborough's psychological horror film Magic about a demonic ventriloquist's puppet with Gene Siskel adding it as one of the best films of the year.
The film received critical praise and attention from critics and received eight Academy Award nominations including for Best Picture. That year he also starred opposite Shirley MacLaine in A Change of Seasons and famously didn't get along with MacLaine, adding "she was the most obnoxious actress I have ever worked with.
