'He and I were awfully close': Anthony Hopkins regrets turning down final lunch with granddad
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Veteran actor Sir Anthony Hopkins has revealed that he always regretted turning down an invitation to lunch with his grandfather shortly before his death. In a recent interview with The Guardian, 'The Silence of the Lambs' actor spoke candidly about his late grandfather. He described him as a brilliant, handsome man with whom he last spoke over drinks in 1961 in his birthplace of Port Talbot, Wales.
"He was no fashion model but he had a certain vanity about him. Shirt and tie. He used to look at himself in the mirror." The Academy Award-winning actor unveiled that when he was having a final drink with his grandfather, his grandad invited him home for having lunch together which he had to turn down because of his busy work schedule. He has regretted the decision ever since.
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Hopkins went on, "We had a drink together in the Grand Hotel in Port Talbot. I was about to go off to RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art), full of pep and vinegar – I’d won a scholarship and all that. "I got up to leave, and my grandfather said, ‘Why don’t you come for lunch? I’ve got some nice fish cooking.’ I said, ‘No, I’ve got to go.’ I left and turned around, and he waved at me from the table. It was a sunny day and that was the last time I saw him [1961] "He died a few months later and to this day I feel regret. I think, ‘Why didn’t I have lunch with him?'" The actor went on and said that he was too 'busy' and too 'young' to perceive his grandfather's then situation. "I was too busy. Too young. And now he’s gone. Those memories do stay with you. We don’t realize the pain in people’s lives. Old age and all that." he added.
Talking about his new movie, Armageddon Times, he revealed that the grandfather role he plays in the movie resembles very much his own maternal grandfather who he was awfully close which made the actor go down memory lane and talk about his final encounter with him.
Armageddon Time by James Gray is about a Jewish family in Brooklyn at the start of the 1980s. Hopkins portrays Aaron Rabinowitz, 11-year-old Paul's maternal grandfather (Banks Repeta). It had its world premiere at Cannes and has released in a few cinemas by Focus Features on Friday, October 27. The film is a deeply personal coming-of-age drama about the power of family and the generational pursuit of the American Dream. Anthony Hopkins, Anne Hathaway, and Jeremy Strong are among the all-star cast members in the movie.