Posted on 11/06/2021 6:53:47 PM PDT by Fai Mao
No matter how successful someone may seem from the outside, we all have our own internal struggles. During the earlier years of Anthony Hopkins’ career, he found himself in his own battle with alcoholism.
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Anthony’s addiction started “innocently.” He adopted a worldly mindset and drank because “that's what you do in theater, you drink."
But as is the case too often, the social pastime soon took over his life. By 1975, Anthony’s drinking had spiraled out of control.
"I was hell-bent on destruction," the award-winning actor recalled. "It was like being possessed by a demon, an addiction, and I couldn't stop. And there are millions of people around like that.”
But it’s in our weakest moments that God’s strength works best!
And what terrible, destructive legacy has Anthony Hopkins left (beyond doing a lot of charity work on behalf of alcoholics seeking help?), the man who just a few years ago criticized Hollywood elites for getting involved in political controversies and referred to actors as “stupid”?
It doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a genuine conservative, of course, but how about when he called out Ed Asner way back in the 1980s after he attacked Ronald Reagan?
“Anthony Hopkins, a British actor who now lives and works in California, published a letter in this morning’s Hollywood Reporter. The letter said, in part, ‘It is Mr. [Ed] Asner’s prerogative to hold whatever political views he chooses, whether it be regarding El Salvador, the rights of the Air Traffic Controllers or whatever. But I wish to state that he does not represent my views and I resent being spoken for by him. His barking, self-important militancy in the name of liberal causes, righteously sheltering behind the name of the Screen Actors Guild, is chillingly reminiscent of East European political debate. His conduct is surely unsuitable in a great democracy.’”
I’ve seen it, one of his darker but better roles.
He played Paul of Tarsus in the 1981 movie
Peter & Paul.
Very good movie.
It’s not as if he was a newcomer to the screen (although at the time he was unfamiliar to me), but way back in 1979 I took my new bride to the movies to see “Magic”, mostly because of Ann-Margret.
I can still vividly recall telling my better half, as we left the theater, “that actor is incredible. He’s going places.”
Maybe I should’ve been a professional talent scout.
I didn’t realize much about Robert Duvall until ‘The Great Santini’.
Then, I learned that he was in one of my favorite Twilight Zone episodes (1963), and played Boo Radley in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ (1962).
He’s been working more than 60 years!
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