Published in 2025, We Did OK, Kid is a memoir by celebrated Welsh actor Sir Anthony Hopkins. The book traces the actor’s life from his upbringing in the industrial town of Port Talbot, Wales, where he felt like a lonely and misunderstood outsider, to his celebrated six-decade career on stage and screen. Plagued by anxiety and a volatile temper, Hopkins found a path forward through the discipline of acting, channeling his inner turmoil into his craft. The narrative follows his journey through the British repertory theater system, his mentorship under Laurence Olivier at the National Theatre, his subsequent battles with severe alcohol addiction, and his eventual achievement of sobriety and international acclaim. The memoir explores several themes: Forging Solitude Into Discipline; Overcoming Addiction Through Surrender and Grace; and The Legacies of Fathers and Mentors.

Hopkins is one of the most acclaimed actors of his generation, winning two Academy Awards for Best Actor for The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and The Father (2020), as well as numerous other honors, including multiple BAFTA and Emmy Awards. His memoir is deeply rooted in the historical context of post-World War II Britain, depicting a childhood shaped by rationing and the stoic, working-class culture of a steel town. In addition, the narrative provides a stark look at the harsh disciplinary standards of mid-20th-century British boarding schools, where corporal punishment and psychological belittling were common practices, fueling Hopkins’s sense of alienation and his development of psychological defense mechanisms.

This guide refers to the 2025 Summit Books hardcover edition.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide contain descriptions of bullying, substance use, addiction, illness or death, physical abuse, and emotional abuse.

Summary

The memoir opens with a photograph from 1941, showing Hopkins as a confused three-year-old boy on a beach with his father, Richard Arthur Hopkins. Now in his eighties, Anthony Hopkins looks back at this boy and concludes, “We did OK, kid” (x). He establishes a lifelong feeling of anxiety and alienation as a core part of his identity, fueled by his father’s tough, no-nonsense philosophy. He decides to use these “fractured pieces” of his life as the motivation for his journey.

In 1949, at age 11, Hopkins was sent to West Mon, a grim boarding school he immediately hated. Other children called him “Dennis the Dunce” (2) and “Elephant Head,” and he vowed to emotionally distance himself from his parents and live on his own terms. To cope with the harsh environment and a cruel housemaster he called “Lob,” Hopkins developed a defense mechanism of “dumb insolence,” a look of passive indifference that infuriated adults. His life changed when he saw a screening of Laurence Olivier’s film Hamlet, which had an explosive impact on him and ignited his passion for acting.

Due to his poor academic performance, his parents sought help from a relative with influence, “Uncle Eddie” James, to get him into a better school. During a family visit, Hopkins, feeling alienated, impressed Uncle Eddie by reciting facts from Arthur Mee’s The Children’s Encyclopedia and lines from Shakespeare. Uncle Eddie used his connections to get Hopkins into Cowbridge Grammar School in 1951. There, the strict headmaster called him “totally inept.” Hopkins embraced this label as a badge of honor and retreated into isolation, finding solace in the library. After he made a critical remark about a school play, his English teacher, Mr. Codling, asked him to read a poem in class, a performance that earned him rare praise.

When Hopkins was 17, another terrible school report prompted his father’s despair, leading Hopkins to declare, “One day I’ll show you. I’ll show both of you” (35). This vow marked a shift in his self-perception and family dynamic. Soon after, a family friend, Jack Edwards, took him to the local YMCA, where he stumbled upon a rehearsal for The Easter Play. The producer, Cyril Jenkins, gave him a small part with one line. The performance was a success, and his mother later told him that his father cried when Hopkins spoke his line. This experience, along with a visiting traveler’s prediction of future fame, solidified his desire to act.

Hopkins won a scholarship to the Cardiff College of Music and Drama, which he attended from 1955 to 1957. After graduating, he took a job as an assistant stage manager on a tour, a role in which he was incompetent, and his drinking intensified. In a whiskey-fueled burst of energy, he single-handedly assembled an entire stage set, stunning the crew. From 1958 to 1960, he served the compulsory two years in the British Army, working as a clerk and getting into pub fights. After his discharge, he auditioned for and was hired by director David Scase at the Library Theatre in Manchester. However, Scase soon fired him for his on-stage roughness, advising him to get formal training at a school like the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). Hopkins impulsively left for Nottingham, where a chance encounter with a kind stage manager named Beth helped him get a job at the Nottingham Playhouse. A colleague there, Roy Marsden, encouraged him to apply to RADA. In London, he delivered a quiet, terrifying audition as Iago from Othello and was accepted.

In September 1961, Hopkins began at RADA, where his lifelong feeling of being an outsider persisted, but he absorbed techniques from his teachers. His drinking worsened. After graduating in 1963, he joined the Phoenix Theatre in Leicester, where he clashed with a hostile director, Clive Perry. After Hopkins stood up for himself, Perry unexpectedly cast him in the lead role of Andrew Undershaft in Major Barbara. Hopkins memorized the entire play before rehearsals began, impressing the cast and earning the nickname “cunning Welsh fox.” In 1965, he joined the National Theatre under Laurence Olivier. After making a mistake on stage, he received crucial advice from Olivier about commanding an audience. His film career began when Peter O’Toole cast him in The Lion in Winter (1968), where he worked with Katharine Hepburn. Hopkins married actress Petronella Barker in 1967. The marriage was volatile, partly because of his drinking. In 1968, their daughter, Abigail, was born. In 1969, after a severe argument, Hopkins left the marriage for good, which led to a painful and lasting estrangement from his daughter.

He met Jenni Lynton, a film producer’s assistant, in 1969. In 1973, he abruptly quit a National Theatre production of Macbeth directed by Michael Blakemore due to bullying from John Dexter. He married Jenni five days later and was immediately offered a leading role in the American TV series QB VII. His career took off, but his alcohol use spiraled out of control, particularly during the 1974 Broadway run of Equus. He was hospitalized with thrombosis and warned that his lifestyle was killing him. A castmate named Mary Doyle, who was recovering from alcohol addiction, tried to help, but Hopkins remained in denial. Following a drunken blackout while driving in Los Angeles, he had a moment of clarity on December 29, 1975. He realized that he needed help and got sober through Alcoholics Anonymous.

Sobriety changed him as an actor and a person. He made amends to colleagues he had hurt, including Olivier and Hepburn. In 1977, he attempted to reconcile with his daughter, Abigail, but the meeting was unsuccessful. His father’s health deteriorated, and Hopkins sat by his bedside until his death on March 30, 1981. In 1989, Hopkins received the script for The Silence of the Lambs and immediately recognized the role of Hannibal Lecter as a life-changing part. He collaborated with director Jonathan Demme to create the character’s quiet, still menace. The film was a massive success, and on the 11th anniversary of his father’s death, Hopkins won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance.

His marriage to Jenni ended after 25 years. In 2001, he met Stella Arroyave, an antiques dealer who saw his underlying loneliness. She helped him overcome his emotional defenses, and they married in 2003. His mother died at age 89, with Stella by her side. In Hopkins’s later career, roles in films like King Lear and The Father allowed him to integrate a lifetime of experience with a newfound emotional openness. He found the role of Lear cathartic, connecting it to his own family history and his estrangement from his daughter. At Stella’s urging, he established the Anthony Hopkins Artists Forum to mentor young actors, a deeply transformative experience that he credited with enabling the emotional openness required for his second Oscar-winning performance in The Father. Hopkins concludes the memoir with a sense of peace and gratitude, having finally made peace with the confused boy he once was.