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Widely regarded as the most iconic appearance in film history – while he stands completely still.

Clarice Starling, new to the job, must walk a corridor of cells finally encountering Hannibal Lecter's reinforced glass enclosure. The man is present, with features like an animated death's head filled with sinister intent, eerily immobile clad in a tight blue inmate uniform. He stands frozen until the moment he lunges at the barrier, producing that extraordinary hissing-slavering sound. A multitude of documentaries on serial killers have since revealed that real-life murderers tend to be quite dull, lacking anything like the actor's powerful on-screen charisma.

He was not unrecognized when he landed his Academy Award-winning part in The Silence of the Lambs back in 1989: a star wasn't born, but rather a megastar emerged. His portrayal of Lecter was inspired, the actor happily remembers in this new autobiography, on the classic Dracula, on the Soviet leader according to his daughter's memories, as well as his icily exacting drama teacher his mentor Fettes. The scenes also contained a father-daughter dimension to these scenes; a painful subject for the actor, who also describes how his Lear was indirectly affected by deep-seated remorse concerning Abigail, his distant daughter from his failed first union during the 60s with Petronella Barker, who resented him being away and drinking.

The book's name comes from an historical picture of Anthony as a small child playing on the sand with his father – the child who might have felt he couldn't make it. He felt confused, lonely, vulnerable little boy raised in Port Talbot, son of Richard Arthur Hopkins, the memorable figure in this story: a pastry chef and a tough individual, a plain speaker who loathed the religious hypocrites of the chapel and didn't believe in showing his emotions, but also exhibited nostalgic, emotional sentimentality. His father who was angered by the necessity of going begging to affluent family members including Auntie Patty, who was connected to the famous Bevan and could get young Anthony into a prestigious academy: “Because they're bloody rich!” he shouts during the car ride. “We are all expecting handouts! Absolute nonsense, that's the truth!”

The grovelling paid off, for a time. He was a poor student at the prestigious school. But one day in an English lesson he needed to deliver the poem by Masefield titled The West Wind – sight unseen – and that voice came to life; he shocked the educator and the other boys. He reasonably claims that poems, alone, propelled him forward. This, and joining the YMCA theater group. Surprisingly, he exited school a no-hoper, pursued acting, and shocking his family, was on stage with Laurence Olivier at the famous theater in just ten years. He accomplished it mostly independently, even though back then there were grants for drama school – an opportunity for working-class actors. Richard Hopkins was continually impressed of Anthony's global success: when he asked Anthony to perform the Yorick monologue from Hamlet, Hopkins Sr listened attentively and then went into another room and burst into tears.

Concerning the volatile, bloody-minded son, he departed the theatrical troupe in a moment of anger – to Olivier's profound dismay and displeasure – but stumbled upon a great TV role as a suspected war criminal in Leon Uris's QB VII, which paved the way to parts like that in Lynch's The Elephant Man and a luminous film journey in movies, which he preferred over theater. And he quit booze in 1975 once a notorious drinker, and thus made it through midlife to deliver outstanding roles, such as Lecter, the servant Stevens in the movie with Emma Thompson with Emma Thompson and the old man with dementia in The Father – his second Academy Award.

During the second part of the book his personality becomes more opaque, more deliberate. Some of the anecdotage aren't entirely successful. He mentions going out for lunch by his co-star in Oliver Stone's Nixon, the highly regarded performer Paul, who intended to inform him his acting as Nixon was falling short. Was this the moment for Hopkins to learn a lesson from the famous actor from Goodfellas? Hardly. Hopkins seems to go along with Stone's dismissal of Sorvino as driven due to resentment. Really?

He consistently acts as the tough, down-to-earth professional actor who thinks you must to be on time, know all the crew's names and do the job. Quite so. However, he also describes facing a rude director who brought a background actor to tears: “Apologize to that girl! And learn some manners. If you ever repeat that around me, I'll rearrange your face! Anthony comes across as a person who quit alcohol but maybe not the belligerence that accompanied it. An actor of his caliber is aware of Cornwall's speech regarding Kent in King Lear: “He cannot flatter, he! An honest mind and plain – he is compelled to be honest!”

He finishes his autobiography with a detailed supplement composed simply