Anthony Hopkins' 20 greatest performances

With more than 130 roles on stage and screen in a career that spans over five decades, Sir Anthony Hopkins seems far from ready to ride off into the sunset. As he enters his 80th year, we take a look back as his best roles, from his signature role as cannabalistic therapist Dr. Hannibal Lecter to his more subtle roles opposite Emma Thompson in the acclaimed Merchant Ivory productions. Celebrating a career full of diverse, challenging and iconic roles, here's our favorite 20.

To be sure, Anthony Harvey's adaptation of the powerhouse Broadway play "The Lion in Winter" is a showcase for acting stalwarts Peter O'Toole and Katherine Hepburn. Hopkins, in his major film debut, held his own as as the troubled Richard the Lionheart, son of O'Toole's King Henry II, who is targeted for death due to his father's whims, and is later released because of those same whims. Even at an early stage, Hopkins excels in his take on a revered historic figure.

An overlong and overly ambitious take on the disastrous WWII Operation Market Garden, it's apropos that "A Bridge Too Far" was as much a failure as the battle it was based on. That said, Hopkins shines in a bit role in a cast full of some of the biggest stars of the time. The second of five collaborations with director Sir Richard Attenborough, Hopkins' role as Lt. Colonel John Frost is looked on as one of the film's best. 

Hopkins' next collaboration with Attenborough, "Magic," was much smaller than their previous outing, and possibly doubly as terrifying. Hopkins plays Corky, a burgeoning ventriloquist slowly descending into madness as his dummy Fats begins to take control of his life as a split personality. In order to be as convincing as possible, Hopkins spent eight months studying ventriloquism, and the result is remarkable. If you loved his turn as Hannibal Lecter, you'll be more than satisfied with Hopkins' performance here.

While John Hurt's mesmorizing performance as the horribly disfigured John Merrick is the highlight of David Lynch's "The Elephant Man," Anthony Hopkins' turn as the sympathetic Dr. Treves, a man so moved by the plight of Merrick, he spends all effort to help the man lead a semi-normal life really makes the film. Hopkins succeeds in selling the doctor's compassion for a man hounded as an animal, but simply wanted to be seen as a man.

For many actors, the white whale of performances often are that of Adolf Hitler. From Alec Guinness to Bruno Ganz, numerous actors have relished sinking their teeth into a role so complicated and evil. In 1981, Hopkins took his shot, playing the Nazi dictator in "The Bunker," exploring the growing madness and isolation plaguing Hitler in his final days. For Hopkins, it was an opportunity to stretch his legs, leaving behind his signature subtlety to show the dictator flying into rages as the walls literally and figuratively closed in on him. For his efforts, Hopkins earned himself an Emmy.

A far different take on the 1787 mutiny on the H.M.S. Bounty, Richard Donaldson's "The Bounty" pits Hopkins, as the infamous Captain Bligh, against Mel Gibson's Fletcher Christian. Unlike the earlier version that cast Bligh as more of a villain vis-a-vis Charles Laughton's performance, this more modern take on the mutiny portrays a more balanced look at events, including the bravery of Bligh as he struggled to bring his fellow mutinied exiles back home despite treacherous conditions. Hopkins portrays Bligh as a sensible, hard-working man broken by both the mutiny of his men and the subsequent desertion of him and his remaining loyal men.

"84 Charing Cross Road" is an oft-overlooked film in Hopkins' filmography, but that doesn't belie its gentle and moving tale of a friendship between (Anne Bancroft) and Frank (Hopkins) grown mostly by correspondence. Here, Hopkins is at his best emitting subtle emotion underneath his signature stiff upper lip facade, something he uses to equally great effect in films later down our list. It's the smaller films such as "84 Charing Cross Road" that highlight Hopkins' power as an actor. 

Without question, Hopkins' signature role is that of Hannibal Lecter in Jonathan Demme's Oscar-winning "The Silence of the Lambs." While he wasn't the first to play Lecter — that honor goes to Brian Cox in Michael Mann's "Manhunter," a film later remade also starring Hopkins — he embodies the role in a way that few would associate him otherwise. Although Hopkins wasn't the villain of the film, his performance as the cannibalistic and uniquely intelligent therapist is the film's centerpiece. 

Director Francis Ford Coppola attempted and nearly succeeded at this adaptation of Bram Stoker's original novel depicting the iconic Transylvanian vampire. While not every performance (we're looking at you, Keanu) was up to the task, Hopkins' turn as the fearless and slightly loony Abraham Van Helsing served as the perfect counterpart to Gary Oldman's Dracula, often challenging the audience to consider who the real villain is — but only just for so long. 

The first of three collaborations with director James Ivory and producer Ishmael Merchant, "Howard's End," E.M Forster's classic novel about early 20th century class warfare delivered prim and proper, focuses on British social structure from three different perspectives. Hopkins stars as Henry J. Wilcox, a man who evolves from snooty aristocrat to humbled lover as he falls in love with a lower class woman who was once his neighbor (Emma Thompson).

After "Howard's End" became a runaway hit, Merchant-Ivory and Hopkins were back in business with "The Remains of the Day." To be sure, the formula, featuring 20th century estate life in Britain, is familiar, but the delivery, in the form of stellar performances from Hopkins and Emma Thompson, is sublime. As James Stevens, Hopkins explores the life and times of a head butler more interested in pining over his former colleague (Thompson) in the downstairs quarters of an English estate. 

Hopkins final collaboration with Sir Richard Attenborough in this true story of an ill-fated romance between "Chronicles of Narnia" author CS Lewis and American poet Joy Davidman (Debra Winger) is not only a testament to Hopkins' ability as an actor, but also to the strength of a collaboration that started two decades prior. Hopkins delivers yet another powerful performance as Lewis struggles deeply with his Christianity as the love of his life is dying before his very eyes. Hopkins' quiet desperation and angst are palpable, and it gives way to a dignity that few of us in similar circumstances may never know. An absolute must-watch just for Hopkins' layered performance.

Hopkins plays patriarch Colonel William Ludlow in "Legends of the Fall," an epic tale of love, war and everything else in-between during the First World War. While the film focuses on the sons of the Ludlow clan Tristan (Brad Pitt), Alfred (Aidan Quinn), and Samuel (Henry Thomas), it's Hopkins' underrated performance that serves as both a glue and a buoy, holding the film afloat with a seemingly gentle touch as a man who sees his family crumble around him, while unable to handle the strain alone due to a stroke which left this once strong lion debilitated. 

No one wanted Hopkins, a Welsh actor, to take on the role of disgraced president Richard M. Nixon in director Oliver Stone's trilogy of Presidential films (preceded by "JFK" and followed by "W"). Despite the naysayers, Hopkins pulls off a very nuanced and at times sympathetic portrait of a man who left office under a cloud, while also retaining more dignity than he may have deserved. The result of this experiment gone right was an Oscar nomination for Hopkins.

Not yet finished playing presidents, Hopkins joined Steven Spielberg in "Amistad" as former President John Quincy Adams, tasked with defending a group of slaves after a revolt. Hopkins earned another Oscar nomination as he stole the movie, which for better or worse (mostly worse) took focus from the equally powerful performance of Dijmon Hounsou. While Spielberg's direction bordered on being tone deaf, it was the acting relationship between Hopkins and Hounsou, that saves "Amistad" from true ruin.

When acclaimed playwright and screenwriter David Mamet comes calling with another of his meaty, dialogue-laden scripts, few actors decline the opportunity. Hopkins teamed with Alec Baldwin in the wilderness survival film "The Edge," a story about a wealthy man (Hopkins) locked in a dire situation with a photographer (Baldwin) who may be trying to kill him and take his wife in the process. Hopkins revels in being the unlikely hero who goes toe-to-to with Baldwin every step of the way, producing a highly charged and entertaining film.

Facts are facts: "Meet Joe Black" is not a very good movie. That said, this loose remake of the 1934 film "Death Takes a Holiday" features a very good, bordering on great performance from Hopkins as Bill Parish, a billionaire facing imminent death who in turn serves as Death's guide in the form of Brad Pitt. Hopkins grows even more vital as mortality becomes ever more clear; watch for a scene where Hopkins gives a speech that is equal parts devastating and hopeful, a true highlight in a film as murky and joyless as a swamp.

This take on the legendary tale of Zorro, the whip-cracking, sword-swinging freedom fighter is meant for Antonio Banderas to shine in, but Hopkins steals the show as the original Zorro, Don Diego de la Vega, an aged hero who trains the younger Banderas in the ways of the "Z." A successful balance of comedy, romance and action, Hopkins plays the mentor role to a tee, helping to kick off a franchise that inevitably faltered without his presence.

So much of Roger Donaldson's "The World's Fastest Indian" is imperfect, particularly Hopkins' attempt at a New Zealander accent, but it doesn't matter as the story of Burt Munro (Hopkins), an aging Kiwi with a diseased heart, sets out to break a land speed record at the world-famous Bonneville Salt Flats. Even in this smaller film with lowered expectations, Hopkins gives a performance that is eccentric and endearing, never phoning it in and giving audiences a feel-good time as they cheer for a lovable dreamer who is willing to go the extra mile to live out his dreams.

Of all Hopkins' performances, his take on the cunning, sometimes cruel, often vicious, brilliant creator and mastermind of Westworld, Dr. Robert Ford, might be his finest moment. Just when you think Hopkins is a dark and unstable force in his created kingdom of androids on the verge of revolt, his final scene is a golden denouement that both shocks and satisfies. While his appearance in the next season of "Westworld" is unlikely, Hopkins shows up and does what he is so expertly able to do: blow the doors off with his performance.