Sir Anthony Hopkins, the 88-year-old Hollywood legend from Port Talbot, has admitted "lifetime's running out" as he opens up in a new interview on potentially living back in his beloved Wales. Despite being a fiercely proud Welshman, he says that "there's no time" to relocate from the US, which he has called home for more than 50 years.
Hopkins on Returning to Wales
ITV News Arts Editor Nina Nannar spoke to the Oscar-winning star after he recently signed his first record deal at the age of 88 and released an album of music composed over six decades. During the chat, which will be seen on the ITV News on Friday, August 21, Nina asks him: "Is there any part of you that wishes that you were still living in Wales?"
Baker's son Hopkins candidly replies: "I haven't been there for two years, but I love going back there. I love going back to the streets. I haven't done that for about two, three years now. But I do like it. I love it, but there's no time, really. Lifetime is running out, but I do love it. And going back to Port Talbot and Margam, I wish I could just get out and walk around a bit, but I'm getting a bit too old for that walking around."
Using Google Maps to Revisit Memories
Hopkins, who became a US citizen in the year 2000, is also asked if he thinks about Wales often to which he replies: "All the time. All the time." as he admits he uses Google Maps' Street View to look at the locations where he grew up. He says: "You can Google things, don't you? I go to streets and I move up the street. The photographs of my streets in Wales or anywhere, really. But I'm always going back there. I would say every year, most days, I'm back there. Somehow the memories are very powerful."
New Album and Music Career
The acting icon whose films include The Silence of the Lambs, Hitchcock and The Father, has always had a love of music and Decca Classics has just released his album, Life Is A Dream, which brings together compositions written over six decades and reflects where he is in his life right now - remembering his Welsh roots, his parents, the streets where he grew up and the cinema in Port Talbot where he discovered the movies. He admits to Nina that he never expected to sign a first record deal now. He tells her: "Living the life of total non expectation, that's when the surprises happen. If you expect too much, nothing really happens."
He adds that the record deal was "beyond my belief". He says: "I mean, I can't understand it at all. Well, that sounds a bit naive, but music has always been a part of my life from a very early age and I won't go into a lot of details, but ever since I was a boy and then I didn't know what to do when I left school so I didn't have a chance of going to music college. So I went to the acting college, which was attached to the music college in Wales and I thought, well, I'll do it that way I get into music. But I became an actor instead."
Reflections on Alcoholism and Sobriety
The conversation also touched on one of the most difficult chapters of his life. Hopkins spoke candidly about his battle with alcoholism, describing the moment he realised the consequences of his drink-driving as a turning point. He remembers recognising that he could have killed innocent people and says that moment forced him to make what he saw as a simple choice between life and death. Now sober for 50 years, Hopkins reflected on a generation of fellow British actors whose heavy drinking was once commonplace, "they've all gone now" he adds.
Hopkins currently has three film projects in development and is also pursuing his lifetime ambition to perform at New York's historic concert venue, Carnegie Hall. "I'm going to do it," he tells Nina. "Next year." The full interview can be seen on ITV News YouTube channel - with an extended edit on ITV Evening News at 6:30pm on Friday 21 August.
