Sir Anthony Hopkins has signed his first record deal at the age of 88, with his album Life Is A Dream released by Decca Classics. The Oscar winner described the project as "beyond his belief" in an exclusive interview with ITV News Arts Editor Nina Nannar in Los Angeles, where he has lived for five decades.
The album 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 movies. Hopkins arrived for the interview with his wife, Stella Arroyave, and his niece, Tara, both of whom inspired tracks on the album.
A Lifelong Musical Passion
Anthony started playing the piano at the age of four, on an instrument his mother got for him, but he had no technical training then. He just knew he loved it. Even in the early 60s, when an actor at the Liverpool Playhouse, he would spend downtime in the Green Room backstage, playing the piano, and a couple of the tracks that started there have made it onto his new album.
Life Is A Dream has six decades of compositions, all brought together and performed by acclaimed conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the Philharmonia Orchestra. Its origins lie in a gesture Hopkins never saw coming: without telling her husband, his wife Stella sent one of his compositions, And The Waltz Goes On, to the Dutch violinist and conductor Andre Rieu.
Remembering Port Talbot Roots
Born and raised in the Margam area of Port Talbot, South Wales, Hopkins describes a childhood shaped by modest beginnings as the son of a baker. At school, he struggled academically and recalls being labelled a "dunce" with little prospect of success. Today, he rejects the idea that academic achievement alone defines a person's potential, crediting a determination to prove doubters wrong, including his father, as a powerful motivation throughout his life and career.
Several tracks on the album, including Bracken Road and My Fatherland, all about the streets where he lived, pay tribute to the landscapes and communities that shaped him. Hopkins says he regularly uses Google Maps Street View to revisit the streets of Margam, retracing the roads of his childhood and reconnecting with memories of a young boy who often felt like an outsider.
Although he appears a little physically frail, he is bright, funny, and perky, and his memory of dates and his acting history going back to the early days in repertory theatre is truly impressive. The full interview can be seen on the ITV News YouTube channel with an extended edit on ITV Evening News at 6:30pm on Friday, August 21.
