Updated August 28, 2026 at 1:44 PM EDT
Anthony Hopkins is brushing aside the chopped liver and glass of Chianti from his performance in The Silence of the Lambs that made him a household name to reveal an alternative career path as a composer.
This month, Hopkins released his debut album at age 88 of orchestral works composed over six decades. The melodies are smooth and harmonious, ranging from catchy themes to arrangements of folk tunes from his native Wales.
"If people don't like it, tough," he told Morning Edition host A Martínez. "I think it's like being an actor... You can't go on stage hoping the audience will like you. Either they like you or hate you. So you think, 'Okay, well, that's your problem.' Just do it."
If he'd only had the discipline to study music seriously, Hopkins says, it would have been his chosen path.
"I didn't have the technique. I was impatient. I wanted to play (piano) nonstop," Hopkins added, recalling that music has been part of his life ever since he was a young boy. "Because luckily I never really quite understood the technique of music, or the theory of it, I'm free."
Life is a Dream was recorded in London with Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel leading London's Philharmonia Orchestra. The Bach choir, which celebrates its 150th birthday this year, makes an appearance, alongside choristers of Winchester Cathedral and soloists like Venezuelan cellist Gregorio Nieto and Argentinian pianist Sergio Tiempo.
Many of the pieces are nostalgic mementos of episodes that have marked Hopkins' life, like his 1947: Suite for Orchestra, which he called a "tribute" to his childhood in the Welsh town of Margam.
"It's inspired by going to the cinema with my father at the Plaza cinema and listening to Harry James and Sinatra. It's the post-war years and all the great jazz," Hopkins said.
In the second movement, "Bracken Road," the piano goes through some wild runs, accompanied by jazzy winds. Hopkins said he first sketched out the piece while improvising on an upright piano backstage at the Liverpool Playhouse where he was working as a young actor in 1963.
"I was born in 1937. In the post-war years, Britain was flooded with MGM musicals. There was Sinatra and Benny Goodman and people like that," Hopkins said. "And for some reason, it stuck with me, so much so that I wanted to compose. And I started composing. I think music is my first love."
The self-taught composer says he writes with "pure instinct." The result is often cinematic, like his bombastic "Fanfare and March" that opens the album.
Several works are inspired by traditional Welsh tunes, several of which are referenced in "My Fatherland." Others are tributes to his wife, director and actress Stella Arroyave ("Stella Aria" and "Farewell My Love") or his niece ("Tara").
Hopkins says he still has many musical ideas floating in his head "like buzzing bees." And he has no plans to stop.
"I just can't wait to get started again," he added. "I don't want to retire. I wake up in the morning, think, 'Well, I'm still here. So let's just have a good day.'"
The broadcast edition of this story was produced by Barry Gordemer.
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