00 Oscar Actors: Best Actor–G-J–Winners and Nominees–Backgrounds, Occupational Inheritance, Mobility

Research in progress, Oct 1, 2024–6,218

G: 9

H: 22

I: 1 (Iron)

J: 4

G H I J: 36

It includes the nominees of 2020, 2021, 2022

Occupational Inheritance in Acting Profession

Occupational inheritance refers to the phenomenon where sons and daughters follow in the career paths of their parents. This trend has been documented in engineering, medicine, military, and education, but not in the acting profession.

Over the past 95 years of the Academy Awards (first given in 1929), 84 men have won the Best Actor Oscar (some more than once), and 160 men have been nominated.

In 2020, the five nominees were: Riz Ahmed, Chadwick Boseman (black, posthumous), Anthony Hopkins (winner, second Oscar), Gary Oldman (previous winner) Steven Yeun (Asian).

In 2021, the nominees were: Xavier Bardem, Cumberbatch, Andrew Garfield, Will Smith, Denzel Washington

In 2022, the nominees were all first-timers: Austin Butler, Colin Farrell, Brendan Fraser, Paul Mescal, Bill Nighy

Winners: 86 (males); 98 (roles)

Nominees: 158

Total: 244

Black: 14 out of 244

Winners: 5 out of 86

Nominees: 9 out of 160

Boseman, Chadwick: No

Cheadle, Don (Black): No

Dexter, Gordon

Ejiofor, Chiwetel

Fishburne, Laurence

Foxx, Jamie

Freeman, Morgan

Howard, Terrence

Kaluuya, Daniel

Poitier, Sidney

Smith, Will

Washington, Denzel

Whitaker, Forest

Winfield, Paul

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JEWISH: 16 out of 244

Allen, Woody

Arkin, Alan

Chalamet (half)

Curtis, Tony

Douglas, Kirk

Douglas, Melvin; father Jew

Douglas, Michael

Dreyfuss, Richard

Garfield, Andrew

Garfield, John

Hoffman, Dustin

Muni, Paul

Newman, Paul

Sellers, Peter

Steiger, Rod

Topol

G (9)

Gable, Clark, US: No

Garfield, Andrew: No

Garfield, John, working class; father clothes presser and part-time cantor (nominee, supp)

Garner, James

Giannini, Giancarlo

Gordon, Dexter, Black

Gosling, Ryan

Grant, Cary

Guinness, Alec (nominee, supp)

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Garfield, Andrew: No

LA, CA

Family moved to UK, when he was 3

Parents: small interior-design business.

Class: Middle

Mother was also a teaching assistant at nursery school

Father became head coach of the Guildford City Swimming Club

Andrew Russell Garfield was born on August 20, 1983, in Los Angeles, California.

His mother, Lynn (née Hillman),[6] was from Essex, England, and his father, Richard Garfield, is from California. Richard’s parents were also from the UK. Garfield’s parents moved the family from the US to the UK when he was 3, and he was brought up in Epsom, Surrey.

Garfield had a secular upbringing.

He is Jewish on his father’s side, and describes himself as a “Jewish artist.” His paternal grandparents were from Jewish immigrant families who moved to London from Poland, Russia and Romania, and the family surname was originally “Garfinkel.”

Garfield’s parents ran a small interior-design business. His mother was also a teaching assistant at a nursery school, and his father became head coach of the Guildford City Swimming Club

He has an older brother who is an NHS doctor at Royal Brompton Hospital. Garfield was a gymnast and a swimmer during his early years. He had originally intended to study business but became interested in acting at the age of 16 when a friend convinced him to take theatre studies at A-level, as they were one pupil short of being able to run the class.

Garfield attended Priory Preparatory School in Banstead and later City of London Freemen’s School in Ashtead, before training at the Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London.[25][19][26] His first job was at Starbucks, being moved between three separate establishments in Golders Green and Hendon.

Garfield began taking acting classes in Guildford, Surrey, when he was nine, and appeared in a youth theatre production of Bugsy Malone. He also joined a small youth theatre workshop group in Epsom and took theatre studies at A-level[24] before studying for a further three years at a UK conservatoire, the Central School of Speech and Drama.[29] Upon graduating in 2004, he began working primarily in stage acting. In 2004, he won a Manchester Evening News Theatre Award for Best Newcomer for his performance in Kes at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre (where he also played Romeo the year after), and won the Outstanding Newcomer Award at the 2006 Evening Standard Theatre Awards.[11] Garfield made his British television debut in 2005 appearing in the Channel 4 teen drama Sugar Rush.

In 2007, he garnered public attention when he appeared in the series three of the BBC’s Doctor Who, in the episodes “Daleks in Manhattan” and “Evolution of the Daleks”. Garfield commented that it was “an honour” to be a part of Doctor Who.

In October 2007, he was named one of Variety’s “10 Actors to Watch.”

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Garfield, John, working class; father clothes presser and part-time cantor

Garner, James: 2

Denver, Oklahoma

Hollywood High School

Father: widower

Mother: died 5 yrs after birth; sent to live with relatives

high school gym teacher recommended him for job modeling Jantzen bathing suits; paid well; hated it

Dropped out of high school; got diploma in the army

Merchant mariner in the US Merchant Marine at age 16 near the end of WWII.

Garner was born James Scott Bumgarner on April 7, 1928 in Denver, Oklahoma (now a part of Norman, Oklahoma). His parents were Weldon Warren Bumgarner, a widower, and Mildred Scott (Meek), who died five years after his birth.

His older brothers, Jack Garner (1926–2011) and Charles Bumgarner (1924-1984), a school administrator. His family was Methodist. After their mother’s death, Garner and his brothers were sent to live with relatives. Garner was reunited with his family in 1934, when Weldon remarried.

Garner’s father remarried several times. Garner came hated one of his stepmothers, Wilma, who beat all three boys (especially him). He said that his stepmother also punished him by forcing him to wear a dress in public. When he was 14 years old, he fought with her, knocking her down and choking her to keep her from killing him in retaliation. She left the family and never returned.

His brother Jack later commented, “She was a damn no-good woman”. Garner’s last stepmother was Grace, whom he said he loved and called “Mama Grace”, and felt that she was more of a mother to him than anyone else had been.

After World War II, Garner joined his father in Los Angeles and enrolled at Hollywood High School, where he was voted the most popular student.

A high school gym teacher recommended him for job modeling Jantzen bathing suits. It paid well ($25 an hour), but in his first interview for the Archives of American Television, he said he hated modeling; he soon quit and returned to Norman.

He played football and basketball at Norman High School, and competed on the track and golf teams. However, he dropped out in his senior year. In a 1976 he admitted, “I was terrible student and I never actually graduated from high school, but I got my diploma in the Army.”

Shortly after his father’s marriage to Wilma broke up, his father moved to Los Angeles, leaving Garner and brothers in Norman. After working at several jobs he disliked, Garner worked as merchant mariner in the United States Merchant Marine at age 16 near the end of World War II. He liked the work and shipmates, but he suffered from chronic seasickness.

Garner enlisted in the California Army National Guard, serving his first 7 months in California. He then went to Korea for 14 months, as a rifleman in the 5th Regimental Combat Team during the Korean War.

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Giannini, Giancarlo:

Gordon, Dexter, Black:

Gosling, Ryan:

Grant, Cary

Guinness, Alec:

H (22)

Hackman, Gene: No (done)

Hanks, Tom (also nom, supp): No (done)

His mother was from a Portuguese family; their surname was originally “Fraga”. His father had English ancestry, and through his line,

Hanks is a distant cousin of President Abraham Lincoln and children’s host Fred Rogers, whom he played.

His parents divorced in 1960. Their three oldest children, Sandra (later Sandra Hanks Benoiton, a writer), Larry (who became an entomology professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), and Tom, went with their father, while the youngest, Jim (who also became an actor and filmmaker), remained with their mother in Red Bluff, California.

In his childhood, Hanks’ family moved often; by the age of 10, he had lived in 10 different houses.

While Hanks’ family religious history was Catholic and Mormon, Hanks’ teenage self as being a “Bible-toting evangelical” for several years.

In school, he was unpopular with students and teachers alike, later telling Rolling Stone magazine, “I was a geek, a spaz. I was horribly, painfully, terribly shy. At the same time, I was the guy who’d yell out funny captions during filmstrips. But I didn’t get into trouble. I was always a real good kid and pretty responsible.

Hanks acted in school plays, including South Pacific, while attending Skyline High School in Oakland, California.

Hanks studied theater at Chabot College in Hayward, California,[30] and transferred to California State University, Sacramento after two years.During a 2001 interview with sportscaster Bob Costas, Hanks was asked whether he would rather have an Oscar or a Heisman Trophy. He replied he would rather win a Heisman by playing halfback for the California Golden Bears.

He told New York magazine in 1986, “Acting classes looked like the best place for a guy who liked to make a lot of noise and be rather flamboyant. I spent a lot of time going to plays. I wouldn’t take dates with me. I’d just drive to a theater, buy myself a ticket, sit in the seat and read the program, and then get into the play completely. I spent a lot of time like that, seeing Brecht, Tennessee Williams, Ibsen, and all that.”

During his years studying theater, Hanks met Vincent Dowling, head of the Great Lakes Theater Festival in Cleveland, Ohio. At Dowling’s suggestion, Hanks became an intern at the festival. His internship stretched into a three-year experience that covered most aspects of theater production, including lighting, set design, and stage management, prompting Hanks to drop out of college. During the same time, Hanks won the Cleveland Critics Circle Award for Best Actor for his 1978 performance as Proteus in Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona, one of the few times he played a villain.

In 2010, Time magazine named Hanks one of the “Top 10 College Dropouts.” 

Harrelson, Woody (nom, supp)

Harris, Ed (nom, supp)

Harris, Richard

Harrison, Rex

Harvey, Laurence

Hawthorne, Nigel

Heston, Charles

Hoffman, Dustin

Hoffman, Philip Seymour (also nominee, supp)

Holden, William

Hopkins, Anthony (2 Oscars, 1991, 2020, also supp)

Hoskins, Bob

Howard, Leslie

Howard, Terrence

Howard, Trevor

Hudson, Rock

Hulce, Tom

Hurt, John (nominee, supp)

Hurt, William (nominee, supp)

22. Huston, Walter (winner of Supp. Actor)

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Hackman, Gene

San Bernardino, CA

Father: operated printing house

Moved frequently

Decided to become actor at age 10

Family divorced

University of Illinois under the G.I. Bill

Pasadena Playhouse

Eugene Allen Hackman was born in San Bernardino, California, the son of Eugene Ezra Hackman and Anna Lyda Elizabeth (née Gray).

He has one brother, Richard. He has Pennsylvania Dutch, English, and Scottish ancestry; his mother was Canadian, and was born in Sarnia, Ontario.

His family moved frequently, finally settling in Danville, Illinois, where they lived in the house of his English-born maternal grandmother, Beatrice.

Hackman’s father operated printing press for the Commercial-News, a local paper.

His parents divorced when he was 13 and his father left the family.

Hackman decided he wanted to become an actor when he was 10.

Hackman lived briefly in Storm Lake, Iowa, and spent his sophomore year at Storm Lake High School.

Hackman, Hoffman, and Robert Duvall roommates in NYC

He left home at age 16 and lied about his age to enlist in US Marine Corps. He served four and a half years as a field radio operator. He was stationed in China (Qingdao and later in Shanghai). When the Communist Revolution conquered the mainland in 1949, Hackman was assigned to Hawaii and Japan.

His discharge in 1951, he moved to New York City and had several jobs. His mother died in 1962 as a result of a fire she accidentally started while smoking.

He began a study of journalism and TV production at the University of Illinois under the G.I. Bill, but left and moved back to California.

Acting was something I wanted to do since I was 10 and saw my first movie, I was so captured by the action guys. Jimmy Cagney was my favorite. Without realizing it, I could see he had tremendous timing and vitality.

In 1956, Hackman began pursuing an acting career. He joined the Pasadena Playhouse in California, where he befriended another aspiring actor, Dustin Hoffman. Seen as outsiders by their classmates, Hackman and Hoffman were voted “The Least Likely to Succeed,” and Hackman got the lowest score the Pasadena Playhouse had yet given.

Determined to prove them wrong, Hackman moved to New York City. A 2004 article in Vanity Fair described Hackman, Hoffman, and Robert Duvall as struggling California-born actors and close friends, sharing NYC apartments in various two-person combinations in the 1960s.

To support himself between acting jobs, Hackman was working at a Howard Johnson’s restaurant, when he encountered an instructor from the Pasadena Playhouse, who said that his job proved that Hackman “wouldn’t amount to anything”. A Marine officer who saw him as a doorman said “Hackman, you’re a sorry son of a bitch”. Rejection motivated Hackman, who said: It was more psychological warfare, because I wasn’t going to let those fuckers get me down. I insisted with myself that I would continue to do whatever it took to get a job. It was like me against them, and in some way, unfortunately, I still feel that way. But I think if you’re really interested in acting there is a part of you that relishes the struggle. It’s a narcotic in the way that you are trained to do this work and nobody will let you do it, so you’re a little bit nuts. You lie to people, you cheat, you do whatever it takes to get an audition, get a job.

Harrelson, Woody: No

Father: convicted criminal

Mother: secretary

Class: working, poor

Tracy Harrelson was born 1960 in Midland, Texas, to secretary Diane (née Oswald) and convicted hitman Charles Voyde Harrelson.

He was raised in a Presbyterian household alongside his two brothers, Jordan and Brett, the latter of whom also became an actor. Their father received a life sentence for the 1979 killing of federal judge John H. Wood Jr.

Harrelson has stated he had little contact with his father during childhood. Charles died in the US Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facility on March 15, 2007.

Harrelson’s family was poor and relied on his mother’s wages. He attended The Briarwood School in Houston, Texas. In 1973, he moved to his mother’s native city of Lebanon, Ohio,[7] where he attended Lebanon High School, from which he graduated in 1979. He spent the summer of 1979 working at Kings Island amusement park.

Harrelson attended Hanover College in Hanover, Indiana, where he studied theater and English.

While there, he was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity and became friends with future vice president Mike Pence. He graduated in 1983.

Harvey, Laurence

Harvey’s civil birth name was Laruschka Mischa Skikne. His Hebrew name was Zvi Mosheh. He was born in Joniškis, Lithuania, the youngest of three sons of Ella (née Zotnickaita) and Ber Skikne, Lithuanian Jewish parents.

When he was 5, his family travelled with Riva Segal and her two sons, Louis and Charles Segal on the SS Adolph Woermann to South Africa, where he was known as Harry Skikne.

After growing up in Johannesburg, he served as a teen with the entertainment unit of the South African Army during the Second World War.

As the Mystery Guest on USA TV show What’s My Line screened 1 May 1960, he states he arrived in South Africa in 1934 and moved to the UK in 1946.

After moving to London, he enrolled in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, but left RADA after three months.

Billed as Larry Skikne, he appeared in the play “Uprooted” at the Comedy Theatre in 1947. He also appeared on stage at the Library Theatre in Manchester. His performances in Manchester led to him being cast in his first film.

Film Debut and Stage Name

Harvey made his film debut in the British feature, House of Darkness (1948), but its distributor British Lion thought someone named Larry Skikne was not commercially viable. Accounts vary as to how the actor acquired his stage name of Laurence Harvey. It may have been the idea of talent agent Gordon Harbord who decided Laurence would be appropriate first name. In choosing a British-sounding last name, Harbord thought of two British retail institutions, Harvey Nichols and Harrods.

 

 

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Hoffman, Philip Seymour

Rochester suburb of Fairport, New York

Father: Xerox Corporation.

Mother: elementary school teacher; family court judge

Divorced when he was 9

Passion: sports until he saw Miller’s “All My Sons” age 12

Fairport High School

New York University’s (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts

Training: at the Circle in the Square, NY; summer

TV debut: 1991, in a Law & Order episode; aged 24

Breakthrough: Scent of Woman, 1992; aged 24 (attention)

—–

Hoffman was born on July 23, 1967, in the Rochester suburb of Fairport, New York,

His mother, Marilyn O’Connor (née Loucks), came from nearby Waterloo and worked as an elementary school teacher before becoming a lawyer and eventually a family court judge.

His father, Gordon Stowell Hoffman, was a native of Geneva, New York, and worked for the Xerox Corporation.

Along with one brother, Gordy, Hoffman had two sisters, Jill and Emily. His ancestry included German and Irish.

The village of Fairport, New York, Hoffman’s hometown
Hoffman was baptized a Catholic and attended Mass as a child, but did not have a heavily religious upbringing.

His parents divorced when he was 9, and the children were raised primarily by their mother. Hoffman’s childhood passion was sports, particularly wrestling and baseball, but at age 12, he attended a stage production of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons and was transfixed.

He recalled in 2008, “I was changed—permanently changed—by that experience. It was like a miracle to me”. Hoffman developed love for the theater, and proceeded to attend regularly with his mother, who was a lifelong enthusiast.

He remembered that productions of Quilters and Alms for the Middle Class, the latter starring a teenaged Robert Downey, Jr., were also particularly inspirational.

At 14, Hoffman suffered a neck injury that ended his sporting activity, and he began to consider acting.

Encouraged by his mother, he joined a drama club, and initially committed to it because he was attracted to a female member.

Acting became a passion for Hoffman: “I loved the camaraderie of it, the people, and that’s when I decided it was what I wanted to do.”

At 17, he was selected to attend the 1984 New York State Summer School of the Arts in Saratoga Springs, where he met his future collaborators Bennett Miller and Dan Futterman.

Miller later commented on Hoffman’s popularity at the time: “We were attracted to the fact that he was genuinely serious about what he was doing. Even then, he was passionate.”

New York University’s (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. Between graduating from Fairport High School and beginning the program, he continued training at the Circle in the Square Theatre’s summer program.

Hoffman had positive memories of his time at NYU, where he supported himself by working as an usher. With friends, he co-founded the Bullstoi Ensemble acting troupe. He received a drama degree in 1989.

After graduating, Hoffman worked in off-Broadway theater and made additional money with customer service jobs.

He made his screen debut in 1991, in a Law & Order episode called “The Violence of Summer”, playing a man accused of rape.

His first cinema role came the following year, when he was credited as “Phil Hoffman” in the independent film Triple Bogey on a Par Five Hole. After this, he adopted his grandfather’s name, Seymour, to avoid confusion with another actor.

More film roles promptly followed, with appearances in the studio production My New Gun, and a small role in the comedy Leap of Faith, starring Steve Martin.

He gained attention playing spoiled student in the Oscar-winning Al Pacino film Scent of a Woman (1992). Hoffman auditioned 5 times for his role, which The Guardian journalist Ryan Gilbey says gave him an early opportunity “to indulge his skill for making unctuousness compelling”.  The film earned US$134 million worldwide and was the first to get Hoffman noticed.

Reflecting on Scent of a Woman, Hoffman later said, “If I hadn’t gotten into that film, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”[12] At this time, he abandoned his job in a delicatessen to become a professional actor

Holden, William

O’Fallon, Illinois

2 younger brothers

Father: Industrial chemist

Mother: Schoolteacher

Family moved to South Pasadena when he was 3.

South Pasadena High School, Pasadena Junior College, involved in local radio plays.

Columbia assistant director and scout Harold Winston named him Holden

Golden Boy, 1939, aged 21; Our Town, 1940; aged 22

Holden was born William Franklin Beedle Jr. on April 17, 1918, in O’Fallon, Illinois, son of Mary Blanche Beedle (née Ball), schoolteacher, and her husband, William Franklin Beedle Sr., industrial chemist.

He had two younger brothers, Robert Westfield Beedle and Richard Porter Beedle. One of his father’s grandmothers, Rebecca Westfield, was born in England, while some of his mother’s ancestors settled in Virginia’s Lancaster County after emigrating from England in the 17th century.

His brother Robert (“Bobbie”) became a U.S. Navy fighter pilot and was killed in action in World War II, over New Ireland, a Japanese-occupied island in the South Pacific.

His family moved to South Pasadena when he was 3. After graduating from South Pasadena High School, Holden attended Pasadena Junior College, where he became involved in local radio plays.

Holden appeared uncredited in Prison Farm (1939) and Million Dollar Legs (1939) at Paramount.

A version of how he obtained his stage name “Holden” was given by George Ross of Billboard in 1939: “William Holden, the lad just signed for the coveted lead in Golden Boy, used to be Bill Beadle [sic]. And here is how he obtained his new movie tag. On the Columbia lot is an assistant director and scout named Harold Winston. Not long ago, he was divorced from the actress, Gloria Holden, but carried the torch after the marital rift.

Winston was one of those who discovered the Golden Boy newcomer and who renamed him—in honor of his former spouse!”

Holden’s first starring role was in Golden Boy (1939), costarring Barbara Stanwyck, in which he played a violinist-turned-boxer. The film was made for Columbia, which negotiated a sharing agreement with Paramount for Holden’s services.

Holden was still unknown actor when he made Golden Boy, while Stanwyck was already a film star. She liked Holden and went out of her way to help him succeed, devoting her personal time to coaching and encouraging him, which made them into lifelong friends.

When she received her Honorary Oscar at the 1982 Oscar ceremony, Holden had died in an accident just a few months prior. At the end of her acceptance speech, she paid him personal tribute: “I loved him very much, and I miss him. He always wished that I would get an Oscar. And so tonight, my golden boy, you got your wish.”

Next he starred with George Raft and Humphrey Bogart in the Warner Bros. gangster epic Invisible Stripes (1939), billed below Raft and above Bogart.

Back at Paramount, he starred with Bonita Granville in Those Were the Days! (1940) followed by the role of George Gibbs in the film adaptation of Our Town (1940), done for Sol Lesser at United Artists.

Columbia put Holden in a Western with Jean Arthur, Arizona (1940), then at Paramount he was in a hugely popular war film, I Wanted Wings (1941) with Ray Milland and Veronica Lake.

He did another Western at Columbia, Texas (1941) with Glenn Ford, and musical comedy at Paramount, The Fleet’s In (1942) with Eddie Bracken, Dorothy Lamour, and Betty Hutton.[8]

He stayed at Paramount for The Remarkable Andrew (1942) with Brian Donlevy, then made Meet the Stewarts (1943) at Columbia. Paramount reunited Bracken and him in Young and Willing (1943).

Holden served as a second and then a first lieutenant in the US Army Air Force during World War II, where he acted in training films for the First Motion Picture Unit, including Reconnaissance Pilot (1943).

Holden’s first film back from the services was Blaze of Noon (1947), an aviator picture at Paramount directed by John Farrow.

He followed it with a romantic comedy, Dear Ruth (1947) and he was one of many cameos in Variety Girl (1947).[9] RKO borrowed him for Rachel and the Stranger (1948) with Robert Mitchum and Loretta Young. Holden starred in the 20th Century Fox film Apartment for Peggy (1948). At Columbia, he starred in film noirs, The Dark Past (1948), The Man from Colorado (1949) and Father Is a Bachelor (1950). At Paramount, he did another Western, Streets of Laredo (1949). Columbia teamed him with Lucille Ball for Miss Grant Takes Richmond (1949), and the sequel to Dear Ruth, Dear Wife (1949).

Hopkins, Anthony, Welsh: No

Margam district of Port Talbot

Working class

Father: Baker

Inspired by Burton; spotted by Olivier

Cowbridge Grammar School, Vale of Glamorgan

Served in Brit Army

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art

Philip Anthony Hopkins was born in the Margam district of Port Talbot on December 31, 1937, the son of Annie Muriel (née Yeates) and baker Richard Arthur Hopkins.

One of his grandfathers was from Wiltshire, England. He stated his father’s working-class values have underscored his life, “Whenever I get a feeling that I may be special or different, I think of my father and I remember his hands – his hardened, broken hands.”

His school days were unproductive; he would rather immerse himself in art, such as painting and drawing, or playing the piano than attend to his studies.

In 1949, to instill discipline, his parents insisted he attend Jones’ West Monmouth Boys’ School in Pontypool. He remained there for 5 terms and was then educated at Cowbridge Grammar School in the Vale of Glamorgan. In an interview in 2002: “I was a poor learner, which left me open to ridicule and gave me inferiority complex. I grew up absolutely convinced I was stupid.”

Hopkins was inspired by fellow Welsh actor Richard Burton, whom he met at the age of 15. He later called Burton “very gracious, very nice” but elaborated, “I don’t know where everyone gets the idea we were good friends. I suppose it’s because we are both Welsh and grew up near the same town. For the record, I didn’t really know him at all.”

He enrolled at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff, from which he graduated in 1957. He next met Burton in 1975 as Burton prepared to take over Hopkins’s role as the psychiatrist in Peter Shaffer’s Equus, with Hopkins stating, “He was a phenomenal actor. So was Peter O’Toole – they were wonderful, larger-than-life characters.”

After two years of his national service between 1958 and 1960, which he served in the British Army, Hopkins moved to London to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Hopkins made his first professional stage appearance in the Palace Theatre, Swansea, in 1960 with Swansea Little Theatre’s production of Have a Cigarette.

In 1965, after several years in repertory, he was spotted by Laurence Olivier, who invited him to join the Royal National Theatre in London.

Hopkins became Olivier’s understudy, and filled in when Olivier was struck with appendicitis during 1967 production of August Strindberg’s The Dance of Death. Olivier later noted in memoir, Confessions of an Actor, that a new young actor in the company of exceptional promise named Anthony Hopkins was understudying me and walked away with the part of Edgar like a cat with a mouse between its teeth.

Up until that night, Hopkins was always nervous prior to going on stage. This has since changed, and Hopkins quoted his mentor as saying: “Olivier said: ‘Remember: nerves is vanity – you’re wondering what people think of you; to hell with them, just jump off the edge’. It was great advice.”

 

 I (1)

Irons, Jeremy, UK: No

Cowes, Isle of Wight

Middle class

Father: accountant

Sherborne School in Dorset; drummer and harmonica player

Bristol Old Vic Theatre School

Godspell on stage for years

British TV

Breakthrough: Brideshead Revisited (1981)

Irons was born on 19 September 1948 in Cowes on the Isle of Wight, to Paul Dugan Irons, an accountant, and Barbara Anne Brereton Brymer (née Sharpe).

Irons has brother, Christopher (born 1943), and sister, Felicity Anne (born 1944).

Educated at the independent Sherborne School in Dorset from 1962 to 1966.

Drummer and harmonica player in a four-man school band called the Four Pillars of Wisdom.

Irons trained as an actor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and later became president of its fundraising appeal. He performed a number of plays, and busked on the streets of Bristol.

He appeared on the London stage as John the Baptist and Judas opposite David Essex in Godspell, which opened at the Roundhouse on Nov 17, 1971 before transferring to Wyndham’s Theatre playing a total of 1,128 performances.

Irons’s TV career began in British in early 1970s, children’s series Play Away and as Franz Liszt in the BBC series Notorious Woman (1974).

He starred in the 13-part adaptation of H. E. Bates’s novel Love for Lydia (1977) for London Weekend Television, and attracted attention for his role as pipe-smoking German student, romantic pairing with Judi Dench, in Harold Pinter’s adaptation of Aidan Higgins’s novel Langrishe, Go Down (1978) for BBC Television.

The role which significantly raised his profile was Charles Ryder in the TV adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited (1981). The show ranks among most successful British TV dramas, with Irons receiving Golden Globe nom for his performance.  Brideshead reunited him with Anthony Andrews, with whom he had appeared in The Pallisers 7 years earlier.

He starred in the film The French Lieutenant’s Woman (also 1981) opposite Meryl Streep.

He played the lead of exiled Polish building contractor, working in the Twickenham area of southwest London, in Jerzy Skolimowski’s Moonlighting (1982).

March 23, 1991, he hosted Saturday Night Live on NBC in the US, and appeared as Sherlock Holmes in the Sherlock Holmes’ Surprise Party sketch.

In 2004 Irons played Severus Snape in the BBC’s Comic Relief’s Harry Potter parody, “Harry Potter and the Secret Chamberpot of Azerbaijan.”

 

J (4)

Jannings, Emil

Jenkins, Richard

Jones, James Earl, Black

Jones, Tommy Lee (winner of Supp. Actor)