Editing Anthony Hopkins (section)

==Early life and education ==

Philip Anthony Hopkins was born in the [[Margam]] district of [[Port Talbot]], Wales, on 31 December 1937,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/sir-anthony-hopkins-offers-buy-2496680 |title=Sir Anthony Hopkins offers to buy Welsh childhood home |website=[[WalesOnline]] |access-date=2 January 2016 |first=Robin |last=Turner |date=5 January 2013}}</ref> the son of Annie Muriel (née Yeates) and baker Richard Arthur Hopkins.<ref name="actors">Stated in interview on ''[[Inside the Actors Studio]]'', 2007.</ref> One of his grandfathers was from [[Wiltshire]], England.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/anthony-hopkins-feels-personal-connection-to-role-as-jewish-american-grandfather/ |title=Anthony Hopkins feels personal connection to role as Jewish-American grandfather |work=The Times of Israel |last=Coyle |first=Jake |date=25 October 2022 |access-date=27 October 2022}}</ref> He stated his father's working-class values have always underscored his life, "Whenever I get a feeling that I may be special or different, I think of my father and I remember his hands – his hardened, broken hands."<ref name="Telegraph 2015"/> His school days were unproductive; he would rather immerse himself in art, such as painting and drawing, or playing the piano than attend to his studies. In 1949, to instil discipline, his parents insisted he attend [[West Monmouth School|Jones' West Monmouth Boys' School]] in [[Pontypool]]. He remained there for five terms and was then educated at [[Cowbridge Grammar School]] in the [[Vale of Glamorgan]]. In an interview in 2002, 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."<ref name="NY Times">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/29/movies/film-the-scenery-though-he-won-t-chew.html |title=FILM; The Scenery, Though, He Won't Chew |first=Franz |last=Lidz |author-link=Franz Lidz |date=29 September 2002 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=27 October 2017}}</ref>

[[File:RADA sign.jpg|thumb|Hopkins studied at [[RADA]] (the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) in London from 1961 to 1963. In 2005, a new portrait of him featured in their centenary celebrations.<ref>{{cite book |title=Off Stage: 100 Portraits Celebrating the RADA Centenary, by Cambridge Jones |via=LensCulture.com |url=https://www.lensculture.com/books/4795-off-stage-100-portraits-celebrating-the-rada-centenary |access-date=2 March 2024 |quote=With a foreword by Lord Attenborough, the book includes an introduction by the Observer writer Miranda Sawyer, as well as interviews with all the actors. |archive-date=19 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230519111523/https://www.lensculture.com/books/4795-off-stage-100-portraits-celebrating-the-rada-centenary |url-status=live }}</ref>]]
Hopkins was inspired by fellow Welsh actor [[Richard Burton]], whom he met at the age of 15. He later called Burton "very gracious, very nice"<ref name="RadioTimes 2018"/> 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."<ref name="Guardian interview 2012">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/jan/23/anthony-hopkins-composing-music |title=Anthony Hopkins: 'I've never really been close to anyone' |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=23 January 2012 |access-date=23 January 2015 |last=Crace |first=John |author-link=John Crace (writer) |quote=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 [Port Talbot]. I once went up to his sister's house to ask for his autograph which he gave me and the only other time I met him was in his dressing room in New York when he was performing in Equus.}}</ref> He enrolled at the [[Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama]] in [[Cardiff]], from which he graduated in 1957.<ref name="telegraph"/> He next met Burton in 1975 as Burton prepared to take over Hopkins's role as the psychiatrist in Peter Shaffer's ''Equus'', with Hopkins stating, "He was a phenomenal actor. So was [[Peter O'Toole]] – they were wonderful, larger-than-life characters."<ref name="RadioTimes 2018">{{cite news |title=King Lear's Anthony Hopkins on Shakespeare, family break-ups, life&nbsp;… and death |url=https://www.radiotimes.com/news/2018-05-28/anthony-hopkins-king-lear-madness-and-daughter/ |access-date=24 March 2020 |work=Radio Times}}</ref> He spent two years doing his [[national service]] between 1958 and 1960, which he served in the [[British Army]]'s [[Royal Artillery]] regiment where he was known as "Gunner Hopkins", before moving to London to study at [[RADA]] (the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) from where he graduated in 1963.<ref name="NY Times"/>