I heard a great interview with Anthony Hopkins yesterday on Weekend Edition on NPR. All his life Hopkins has been writing music, parts of which were recently recorded by a symphony orchestra. Hopkins great up in Wales. At one point Scott Simon asks him about getting an autograph from Richard Burton. Hopkins answered:
Yeah. I went to his house, he used to come back to Wales and there was this great movie star. And he signed my autograph and he said do you speak Welsh? I said no. He said you're not a true Welshman. He was teasing but he scared me. And I remember thinking; I want to be like him. And I just want to be famous. I didn't know what to do because I wanted to escape from the desert of my own mental whatever it was - emptiness. And so I became an actor.
I love that phrase, "the desert of my own mental..." There was nothing wrong with his home or Wales. But he had to leave to make his own future! Since I have been back to Lewiston to visit after many years, I realize that was/is a great town. Yet, I needed to leave for myself, and I'm glad I did, too.
