Hopkins' aversion to actors
Anthony Hopkins does not enjoy the company of other actors, says Geordie Greig in Tatler. When he
From the magazine
Anthony Hopkins does not enjoy the company of other actors, says Geordie Greig in Tatler. When he’s not working, the Oscar-winning British actor prefers solitary activities such as painting, playing the piano, and gardening. And on those rare occasions when he does socialize, it’s not with his fellow players. Hollywood parties, he finds, are just too affected—“all that salmon-sandwiches-and-white-wine brigade and people smoking cigarettes with their middle fingers.” He even shrinks from socializing with actors he does admire, out of an acute self-consciousness. “Whenever I meet actors, too, I’m so nervous. I think back to people like Judi Dench, a perfectly charming, nice woman, and I’m so nervous around people like that. I don’t know what it is. I am paralyzed with fear. It’s not their fault, it’s me.” Tom Cruise is another actor whose friendly overtures he rejected. “After I finished Mission: Impossible II—and I loved working with Tom—I was in a difficult situation. Tom, being a nice guy, said, ‘Let’s all go off for dinner.’ My agent phoned him and said, ‘Tony hates dinners.’ He explained that after I had done the work I didn’t want to socialize, to sit around with actors talking about how wonderful they all are. It’s pretty boring. Years ago I did it, but I guess now I want to be private.”
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Jasveen Sangha and the ketamine 'Wild West' of Hollywood
In The Spotlight Arrest of the 'ketamine queen' accused of supplying Friends star Matthew Perry with deadly dose has turned spotlight on a showbiz drug problem
-
Confessions of a Brain Surgeon: an 'exceptional' documentary
The Week Recommends Retired neurosurgeon Henry Marsh reflects on his pioneering work with exquisitely 'raw honesty'
-
A new subtype of diabetes was found and it may require different treatment
Under the radar It is prevalent in Black Africans and Americans