The Greatest

Anthony Hopkins' Great Leveler

There was a time when another knight ruled the silver screen—Sir Laurence Olivier! One interaction between Anthony's father and the Oscar-winning star of Hamlet and Wuthering Heights helped shape Anthony's opinion of stardom.

Anthony's parents once visited him backstage after a play he was starring in alongside Laurence Olivier's wife. After the play ended, there was a knock on the door and in walked Sir Olivier. Anthony introduced his mother and father, who was a "very ordinary guy with a wonderful personality and great sense of ironic humor."

Anthony's father asked Olivier how old he was and discovered they were both born in 1907. "My father said, 'The same age as me. We're both getting very old now, aren't we?'" Anthony says. "When he left, my mother said, 'That was Laurence Olivier! How could you say that to him?'"

Anthony's father replied, "Well, he breathes oxygen just like me, doesn't he?" And since that day, Anthony has seen oxygen as the "great leveler."