Anthony Hopkins

Port Talbot, Margam Orangery

From: swansea.co.uk 12/29/07

Port Talbot-born screen legend Sir Anthony Hopkins is coming home on Monday to celebrate his 70th birthday.

The Hollywood Oscar winner became a naturalised US citizen in 2000, but will toast his landmark birthday with a bash at Margam Orangery.

The venue is expected to be awash with stars for the New Year's Eve event.

Details of the party have remained tightly under wraps, but it is understood Sir Anthony also hopes to round up pals from his pre-stardom school and teenage days, to help him celebrate.

Among the famous names who have been invited is fellow Port Talbot actor Michael Sheen, who will be attending with his parents.

And Richard Burton's brother, Graham Jenkins and his wife, have also been invited.

Sir Anthony, who came to international recognition in the film The Silence of the Lambs, visited the Margam venue in August to make sure preparations were going smoothly for his milestone birthday.

Finishing touches were today being put in place for the bash, although it is not yet known if Chianti and fava beans will be on the menu.

Are you going to Sir Anthony's bash?
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Happy 70th Sir Tony

Back in January when I heard that Anthony Hopkins would celebrate his 70th birthday on December 31, 2007, I had an idea. I wanted to edit a video/music montage of his films and photographs to celebrate his over 40 year film career and life. Of course, I had all year to do this, but, inevitably, I waited until the last minute to do it. I don't know, there is something about crashing a project to air that thrills me. Must be my 23 years in broadcast television.
Happy 70th Birthday Sir Tony.

A bit of trivia about the project:

It took 3 weeks to edit, mostly between the hours of 2AM - 7AM...when, for some reason my creative flow runs wild.

There are clips from 26 films which I ripped from the DVD’s (which I own), please don’t tell the FBI.

There are 72 photographs which I culled down from the thousands I found while surfing the net. A big thanks goes to WireImage and Corbis for their amazing collections, you should check them out. Hopefully, with that advertising plug, they won’t call the FBI either.

Any other photographs I used, please accept my thanks for taking such an amazing image that I had to include it on this project.

I listen to music on my iPhone while commuting to work and was twisting my brain trying to figure what tune to use for the project. Finally, a few months ago, it came to me, the song I would use, “Speed Of Sound” by Coldplay, it had the perfect mood and lyrics to go with the film clips and photographs. I had the rough cut in my head before I ever started editing the piece.

For the techno-nerds, all the media and renders needed to complete this project filled up my LaCie 1TB harddrive.

Hopkins to unveil Tommy Cooper statue

Hopkins, a lifelong Tommy Cooper fan, became a patron of the Tommy Cooper Society last year. A 9 foot bronze statue of Cooper will soon be unveiled alongside a new Walk of Fame on the Twyn, opposite Caerphilly Castle, Wales. Organizers asked Hopkins if he would “send some suitable words for the occasion”. Hopkins replied that he would be delighted to unveil the statue in person. Looks like the statue completion by sculptor James Done and its unveiling is going to coincide with Sir Tony’s 70th birthday, which is pretty convenient since he will be celebrating in Port Talbot.

12/31/07

Anthony Hopkins will be celebrating his 70th birthday in his hometown, Margam, on the outskirts of Port Talbot, South Wales. Childhood friends he hasn’t seen in 65 years are on the invite list. "It's my wife's idea," he laughed, it's a way of bringing things full circle."

All I can say is, when it comes to Hopkins, 70 is definitely just a number. With 4 films out this year and several projects in pre-production for 2008, along with painting and composing…this dude is full steam ahead. When I see him in television interviews, it is clear that the guy just can’t sit still…I like that! Earlier this year on Jay Leno he said “I have the attention span of a hummingbird”…yup, I get that! Keep rocking Sir Tony.