MovieChat Forums > A Bridge Too Far (1977) Discussion > Anthony Hopkins was a unknown.

Anthony Hopkins was a unknown.


This film started his rise to major stardom.

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Unknown in the USA perhaps but he was a familiar face to British audiences for a lot of years previous to ABTF and had done a lot of TV work in addition to his movies.

"Oh dear. How sad. Never mind!"

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"Unknown in the USA perhaps but he was a familiar face to British audiences for a lot of years previous to ABTF and had done a lot of TV work in addition to his movies."
That is true.
His character in 'Bridge'was the most 'human' in the movie. IMO.


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He had probably the best line in the movie for me too. "I'm awfully sorry, but I'm afraid we're going to have to occupy your house."

Yorkshire is a place. Yorkshire is a state of mind.

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He'd also starred in Joseph Losey's version of A Doll's House with Claire Bloom. Not a big star but not exactly unknown.

"I may not punish you for treason, but I could slap you for stupidity."

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He did a whole lot of work for Attenborough, didn't he? He had a bit part in Young Winston, a starring role in Magic and a cameo in Chaplin.

"I may not punish you for treason, but I could slap you for stupidity."

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Sorry, but Anthony Hopkins was NOT an unknown in the U.S. at the time of A BRIDGE TOO FAR. He first came to the attention of American audiences in the mini-series QBVII around 1974, where he got considerable raves for his performance. He was big enough of a name in America to star in the American TV-movie THE LINDBERG KIDNAPPING CASE as Bruno Hauptmann the year before A BRIDGE TOO FAR came out.

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i love that the idiot person that he played (the real one) dissed hopkins and saying "real british soldiers didnt run from cover to cover,they walked because they wanted to show their distain to germans"
what a load of crap! lol!
look in the trivia,its right there.
how crazy must that idiot have been to think that a person walks from cover to cover.
no wonder he was hurt in the battle.sigh.

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I would have thought AH became known after his performance in the Lion in Winter in 1968.

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He was a 'working actor' at the time in the US, with films like The Bounty, Magic, Audrey Rose & the Elephant Man; he was actually in a bit of career funk; but when he played Hannibal Lecter he was suddenly 'repropelled' to super stardom.

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Yeah, you'd think sharing top billing in one of your first movies opposite Katherine Hepburn and Peter O'Toole would make you a "somebody".

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The "idiot" you refer to was the real LCol John Frost so he should know what he did and did not do during the battle.

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It's funny but I had to google QB V11 - then I remembered watching it on TV in the UK - it was a big series but I mainly remembered Ben Gazara as the star. From my memory Anthony Hopkins became a star in the UK with the BBC's War and Peace and in the USA with Silence of the Lambs.

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Not really; he was coming off three pretty big made-for-television movies: QBVII, The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case (for which he won an Emmy), and the remake of Dark Victory. In fact, of all the big stars in ABTF, Hopkins was the reason I bought a ticket to see it in the theaters. But he was in the middle of a career re-boot, following an early-70s bout with alcoholism.

Yeah, they're dead; they're--all messed up!

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He was a known actor even then at least in the UK.



Its that man again!!

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I saw him 1st in
The Lion In Winter ---1968
I was impressed so when I thought of going to a movie and the actors were listed and he was in it I'd go
There weren't many in the States
In 1977 he did QBVII
That was TV, but think it opened him up in the US, and he did better after that
then This
Then Magic === which is a Favorite of mine so had to mention it

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