He’s been the hardest working man in historical costume movies and TV over the years! Other actors may joke that Anthony Hopkins won’t turn down a role, but that just means he shows up in plenty of frock coats and tuxes for our entertainment. While not a young hottie anymore, he’s a consistently strong actor with a theatrical background who was knighted in 1993 for his contributions to the arts. Hopkins has said: “My philosophy is: ‘It’s none of my business what people say of me and think of me. I am what an am, and I do what I do. I expect nothing and accept everything. And it makes life so much easier.” Words to live by, sir!
Richard in The Lion in Winter (1968)
Wickedly good.
Claudius in Hamlet (1969)
David Lloyd George in Young Winston (1972)
Playing the British PM in this Winston Churchill biopic.
Pierre Bezukhov in War & Peace (1972-1973)
One of the finest looking Pierres in War & Peace TV!
Torvald Helmer in A Doll’s House (1973)
Siegfried in All Creatures Great and Small (1975)
An American TV movie before the British TV series.
Frederick Treves in The Elephant Man (1980)
He’s the doctor in this David Lynch classic.
Adolf Hitler in The Bunker (1981)
And you thought Hannibal Lecter was the worst villain he’s played. Yeah, Tony’s not afraid to go there on film.
Paul of Tarsus in Peter and Paul (1981)
Same year as playing Hitler, he plays a saint and apostle. That’s called range!
Othello in Othello (1981)
Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1982)
It’s not always a pretty job.
Lieutenant William Bligh in The Bounty (1984)
A remake of the high-seas adventure story.
Abel Magwitch in Great Expectations (1991)
A lovely BBC adaption, but this is the only pic of Anthony Hopkins I can find.
Henry Wilcox in Howards End (1992)
One of my favorite movies of all time, & he completes the perfect cast.
Professor Abraham Van Helsing in Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
Required viewing for all goths!
Stevens in The Remains of the Day (1993)
Very good. Very sad.
Jack Lewis in Shadowlands (1993)
Author C.S. Lewis falls in love. Also very good, also very sad. Dammit, Tony!
Dr. John Harvey Kellogg in The Road to Wellville (1994)
Finally, a comedy! About one of the creators of the breakfast-cereal empire.
Col. William Ludlow in Legends of the Fall (1994)
JFC, my least-favorite movie ever! Anthony Hopkins makes both my lists.
Richard M. Nixon in Nixon (1995)
Pablo Picasso in Surviving Picasso (1996)
John Quincy Adams in Amistad (1997)
As the former president & lawyer in the slave ship case.
Don Diego de la Vega / Zorro in The Mask of Zorro (1998)
He’s the original Zorro, training his replacement (Antonio Banderas).
Titus Andronicus in Titus (1999)
Old Ptolemy in Alexander (2004)
Yeah, that Colin Farrell mess.
Hrothgar in Beowulf (2007)
He’s a king, rockin’ the braided beard.
Alfred Hitchcock in Hitchcock (2012)
It’s amazing how many different real people Anthony Hopkins has portrayed & totally subsumed himself into those parts.
What’s your favorite of Anthony Hopkins’ historical costume movie or TV roles?
Don Diego and Ptolemy are my two favorites.
Oh I still get choked up thinking about
The Remains of the Day… so good, so sad.And I submit that his ‘Titus’ is also required viewing for goths.
Damn, I can’t really choose. There are so many roles that impressed me. Alright, the top of the list are “Remains of the Day”, “Howards End”, “The Lion in the Winter”, War and Peace”, “Hitchcock” (really entertaining) and “Nixon”.
Still “Lion In Winter.” But all good of those I’ve seen.
After all those great performances by Sir Antony, I really want some liver and favs beans …. and a nice Chianti.
I looove Sir Anthony!!!! <3 <3
JQA in Amistad. “Who we are, is who we were.”
I totally love Anthony Hopkins and would watch him in anything. Therefore this is now my watch list as, sadly, I haven’t seen many (but then, with so many films to his name over a long and illustrious career, there’s a lot to see!).
I saw him in “The Silence of the Lambs” just weeks before I saw him in “Shadowlands.” The contrast between the two made me a lifelong fan of his. He’s amazing.
Wow liked very much didn’t know Athony Hopkins played Hitler nor the lloyd George in Young Winston +1 to I watch it saw him portraying lloyd George very well in The Edwardians (1972) and loved it also he’s my favorite W&P Pierre wish you could review it it’s good and pretty to that time’s standards