Anthony Hopkins

I have sort of been putting this off, thinking that I couldn’t do Sir Anthony justice. But I am never going to get to the end of this project if I don’t act onit with something approaching regularity, so here goes.

I love Anthony Hopkins. While most viewers of popular film know him primarily as Hannibal Lector, I think he is pretty consistently overlooked for his ability to construct lifelike characters that you might encounter in real life, like the passionate cyclist of the World’s Fastest Indian, or the reserved bookstore owner in 84 Charing Cross Road, a sort of an early model for online relationships. I have seen The Remains of the Day 6 or 7 times. He carries his quiet reserve to whole new extremes in that one, revealing the emotional storm underneath his rigid butler’s stoicism with the tiniest flinches and tics. He was robbed by Tom Hank’s one-trick stunt performance as Forest Gump for that year’s Oscar. Shame, really.

Ten best roles

10) Hamlet 9) 84 Charing Cross Road 8) Titus 7) The World’s Fastest Indian 6) Fracture 5) Shadowlands 4) The Elephant Man 3) Silence Of the Lambs 2) The Remains of the Day 1) Howard’s End

Percentile score

98.71