USA: BRITISH ACTOR ANTHONY HOPKINS RECEIVES SPENCER TRACY AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT

Record ID: 783542

  • Title: USA: BRITISH ACTOR ANTHONY HOPKINS RECEIVES SPENCER TRACY AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
  • Date: 15th May 1996
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (MAY 15, 1996) (RTV) SIR ANTHONY HOPKINS AND SUSIE TRACY WITH THE AWARD AUDIENCE / PHOTOGRAPHERS
  • Embargoed: 30th May 1996 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVACDG2EEDBUM5WDY9U3PZKS2SAA
  • Story Text: British Oscar-winner Sir Anthony Hopkins told Los Angeles he was honoured to feel like "an American actor" when he received the Spencer Tracy Award for outstanding work.
    Hopkins, currently in Los Angeles ahead of the release of the Warner Brothers' film "Picasso," accepted the award from Susie Tracey, daughter of the late Spencer, in front of hundreds of excited theatre students.
    The actor, born in 1937, is best known for his role as Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter, the brilliant, cultivated serial killer at the centre of Jonathan Demme's "Silence of the Lambs".
    Remembering his childhood upbringing in Wales, Hopkins paid tribute to the late Richard Burton, another Welsh-bornactor who conquered Hollywood.
    "This actor called Richard Burton was our local boy made good and he had a profound influence on my life as I was so useless at school. I would never have gone to a university like this...so I thought I'd become an actor because it sure beats work," he said after receiving the award.
    Hopkins also praised Tracy, calling him "the greatest American actor of his generation".
    The Spencer Tracy Award was established in 1988 to recognize outstanding screen performance and professional acheivement by an actor.
    The award - now in its ninth year - has previously gone to William Hurt (1988), James Stewart (1989), Michael Douglas (1990), Jodie Foster (1991), Anjelica Huston (1992), Denzel Washington (1993), Harrison Ford (1994) and Tom Hanks (1995).
    "For me," Hopkins said after the ceremony, "it's an honour because it means the students here at UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) have given a British actor this award. It makes me feel like an American actor, which is a great compliment." Hopkins, who was born in South Talbot, South Wales, was bestowed with the Commandership of the Order of the British Empire in 1987, and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1993.
    Other film credits include "The Elephant Man", "Howards End" "Bram Stoker's Dracula","Shadowlands", "The Remains of the Day", "Legends of the Fall" and "Nixon".
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register