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.
