Anthony Hopkins Pays Tribute to Chadwick Boseman in Belated Oscars Speech
Hopkins, who won the Academy Award for best actor for his performance in "The Father," was not on hand to accept the award
By Lynn Elber ••
NBCUniversal Media, LLC
“Nomadland” took home the awards for Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Director at the 2021 Academy Awards. See who else picked up an Oscar.
Three decades after Anthony Hopkins' chilling portrayal of serial killer Hannibal Lecter earned a lead-actor Oscar, the role of a man fighting dementia brought him his second trophy.
The 83-year-old took the award for his performance on “The Father,” becoming the oldest actor or actress to win an Oscar, edging out Christopher Plummer’s supporting-actor win at age 82 in the 2010 film “Beginners.”
Hopkins’ win was anticlimactic on a show where he wasn’t present to accept the trophy. Presenter Joaquin Phoenix’s reading of his name was the last dramatic moment of a most unusual ceremony.
Hours later, Hopkins made a belated acceptance speech in a video message posted on Instagram, standing in front of the rolling green fields of his native Wales.
‘At 83 years of age I did not expect to get this award, I really didn’t," Hopkins said.
It is Hopkins' first Oscar since he was victorious for playing Hannibal Lecter.
Despite his pedigree, Hopkins was a surprise as the winner of the Academy Award for best actor for his work on “The Father.”
The late Chadwick Boseman had been expected to win the award, which, in a very rare move from the academy, was the last to be handed out this year instead of best picture.
In his message, Hopkins paid tribute to Boseman, who he said was “taken from us far too early.”
Boseman was nominated for “Ma Rainey's Black Bottom,” his final film before cancer claimed his life last August at age 43. The “Black Panther" star had been diagnosed with the disease four years earlier and kept it private as he continued working.
Hopkins won his Oscar for his role as a man who battles with dementia opposite Olivia Colman in the film directed by Florian Zeller.
Zeller also won an Oscar, for best adapted screenplay, and later paid tribute to Hopkins.
“For me, the desire to make this movie was indivisible from the desire to do it with him. I wrote the screenplay for him, I imagined it for him, so being able to share today this happiness with him is even more meaningful for me” Zeller told France Inter radio.
Hopkins has received four other Oscar nominations, including last year for his role as Benedict in “The Two Popes”; as the eponymous president in “Nixon”; John Quincy Adams in the slavery drama “Amistad,” and a loyal butler in “The Remains of the Day.”
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"Promising Young Woman" star Carey Mulligan chose a gold Valentino dress for Sunday's Academy Awards. She was nominated for best actress.
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Chloé Zhao, who won best director for her film "Nomadland," walks the red carpet with Joshua James Richards.
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Zendaya, star of "Euphoria," wore a yellow Valentino design.
Viola Davis wears an Alexander McQueen gown and Forevermark jewelry pieces.
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Dressed in a stunning Louis Vuitton dress, Regina King arrives at the 2021 Oscars.
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Andra Day, star of "The United States vs. Billie Holiday," wears a Vera Wang creation.
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Amanda Seyfried donned an Armani Privé gown on the red carpet. She was nominated for best supporting actress for her role in "Mank."
"One Night in Miami..." star Leslie Odom Jr., who was nominated for best supporting actor, arrives at the Oscars.
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Halle Berry arrives at the Academy Awards.
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Paul Raci, left, and Liz Hanley Raci arrive at the Oscars. Paul was nominated for best supporting actor for his role in "Sound of Metal."
Youn Yuh-jung, who won best supporting actress for her role in "Minari," walks the red carpet.
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"The Morning Show" star Reese Witherspoon arrives at the Academy Awards.
Steven Yeun, left, and Joana Pak arrive at the Oscars. Yeun was nominated for best actor for his role in "Minari."
"Minari" star Alan S. Kim, left, and Vicky Kim show off their looks at the Oscars.
Celeste Waite, who chose a Gucci look for Sunday night's ceremony, arrives at the red carpet.
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Maria Bakalova, dressed in a Louis Vuitton gown, was nominated for best supporting actress for her part in "Borat Subsequent Moviefilm."
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Marlee Matlin wore a Vivienne Westwood dress Sunday night.
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Glenn Close arrives at the Oscars. She was nominated for best supporting actress for her role in "Hillbilly Elegy."
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"Judas and the Black Messiah" star Daniel Kaluuya arrives for the Academy Awards ceremony. He later won an award for best supporting actor.
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Riz Ahmed, nominated for best actor for his part in "Sound of Metal," arrives for the ceremony.
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Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla Fisher pose for a photo during a screening of the Oscars on Monday April 26, 2021, in Sydney, Australia. The "Borat Subsequent Moviefilm" star was nominated for best supporting actor.
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Singer H.E.R. walks the red carpet. She won her first Oscar Sunday night for her song "Fight for You" from "Judas and the Black Messiah."
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Vanessa Kirby, nominated for best actress for her role in "Pieces of a Woman," wore a Gucci gown.
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Attendees prepare for the beginning of the Oscars.
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A step-and-repeat backdrop for the Academy Awards red carpet is pictured at Union Station, one of the locations for Sunday’s 93rd Academy Awards.
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An Oscar statue design on a red carpet backdrop is pictured at Union Station.
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A view of the red carpet appears before the start of the Oscars.
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A fake Oscar statue is pictured in the window of a gift shop on Hollywood Blvd., Thursday, April 15, 2021, in Los Angeles.
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A sign advertising this year’s Oscars ceremony is pictured near the Dolby Theatre, Thursday, April 15, 2021, in Los Angeles.
In a 2016 interview with The Associated Press, Hopkins said an acting career wasn’t in the plan.
“I wanted to be a musician, but I drifted into this business by mistake,” he said. “I’m still looking over my shoulder thinking somebody will say, ‘Sorry, Tony, you’re in the wrong business.’”
Hopkins, who started in the theater but found it ill-fitting, focused on movie roles after getting his screen break playing Richard the Lionheart in “The Lion in Winter” in 1968.
In 2000, he became a U.S. citizen. He'd been knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1993, giving him the right to use ″Sir″ before his name.
In Associated Press writer Jake Coyle’s review of “The Father,”he called it riveting “to see Hopkins play all these ever-fluctuating turns of mood. ... For an actor so intense, so rigorously unsentimental, this is his Lear.”
Besides Boseman, the other nominees were Riz Ahmed, Gary Oldman and Steven Yeun.
