Although he was not able to attend the ceremonies and personally receive his trophy, Anthony Hopkins who won Best Actor at the 93rd Academy Awards gave a message of thanks through his Instagram page today, April 26.
The win of the veteran actor for his performance in “The Father” as an elderly man afflicted with dementia makes him the oldest actor to receive the award, eclipsing Christopher Plummer’s previous record.
“Good morning. Here I am in my homeland in Wales and at 83 years of age I did not expect to get this award. I really didn’t,” he said in a short video where he is seen outdoors. “I’m very grateful to the Academy and thank you.”
In “The Father,” Hopkins played the role of an aging man who slowly deteriorates as he struggles with his dementia. The film was widely praised for Hopkins’ and co-star Olivia Colman’s performances, and for its depiction of a life lived amid the conditions of the said disease.
Hopkins meanwhile bested the late Chadwick Boseman who was a frontrunner and appeared in his last film role in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.”
“I want to pay tribute to Chadwick Boseman who was taken from us far too early,” Hopkins said of his fellow nominee.
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“Again, thank you all very much, I really did not expect this so I feel very privileged and honored,” he added. “Thank you.”
While some critics earlier expected a posthumous win for Boseman, Hopkins’ victory does not entirely come as a surprise since Hopkins has led a stellar six-decade career marked by some of cinema’s most iconic roles.
His most memorable of which would have to be as Hannibal Lecter, the psychopathic psychiatrist opposite Jodie Foster’s FBI agent Clarice Starling in the acclaimed 1991 thriller “The Silence of the the Lambs,” directed by Jonathan Demme. For this role, Hopkins won his first Oscar Best Actor.
Hopkins was also nominated for his lead performances in James Ivory’s “The Remains of the Day” (1993) and Oliver Stone’s “Nixon” (1995). Last year, he was nominated for his supporting actor performance in the Netflix biographical drama “The Two Popes,” playing Pope Benedict XVI.
This year’s Oscars ceremonies were held at the Union Station in Los Angeles, with a limited number of audience and some nominees based abroad being unable to attend due to COVID-19 protocols and travel restrictions. DC
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