(An accomplished musician, Hopkins also had some experience as an orchestral conductor, making his debut in 1982 with the New Symphony Orchestra at London’s Royal Albert Hall.)

After starring opposite Alec Baldwin and Elle Macpherson in the disappointing action-adventure film The Edge, Hopkins earned critical raves—and a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination—for his performance as John Quincy Adams in the ambitious Steven Spielberg epic Amistad. He had more success with the action crowd-pleaser The Mask of Zorro, co-starring Antonio Banderas and Hopkins’ fellow Welsh native Catherine Zeta-Jones. He reunited with Pitt in Meet Joe Black (1998) and starred with Cuba Gooding Jr. and Donald Sutherland in the thriller Instinct (1999); both films met with only mediocre success.

In 1999, Hopkins played the title role in Titus, the acclaimed stage director Julie Taymor’s film adaptation of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus. The next year, he had a supporting turn in the spy thriller Mission: Impossible 2, starring Tom Cruise.

During the filming of Titus, Hopkins announced he was retiring from acting; he later retracted that statement and confirmed that he would be starring in an upcoming sequel to The Silence of the Lambs, based on Harris’ Hannibal. The film will be directed by Ridley Scott and will co-star Julianne Moore as Clarice Starling (Foster decided not to reprise the role).

Hopkins, who was knighted in 1993 by Queen Elizabeth II, has lived in the United States for extended periods since the mid-1970s. On April 12, 2000, he became a U.S. citizen in a private proceeding in Los Angeles, renouncing both his British citizenship and his honorary title (although he will still use the “Sir” while in Britain). His decision shocked many in his homeland, where one tabloid headline read “Hannibal Defector.”

Hopkins has one daughter, Abigail, from his first marriage, to Petronella Barker. He and Barker married in 1967 and divorced in 1972. He met his second wife, Jennifer Lynton, when she was a production secretary on one of his films. The couple married in 1973, separated in 1995, and reconciled in 1996; Hopkins reportedly filed for divorce in 1999.