This is just so doggone cool. Sir Anthony Hopkins, who now lives in Southern California, was driving by Thomas Aquinas College, saw the chapel tower, and stopped in for a visit.
“I feel very privileged to be in such a place,” he told the students, according to the college’s website. “I’ve never seen such a beautiful place in my life. It’s most amazing. It’s like Shangri-La!”His opening comment is about not being a very good student, and being grateful for it in a way because it pushed him to realize he had better find something else like music or painting to make something of his life. This being the silly season, I could not help but think of Rick Santorum's much-maligned remark that thinking college is for everyone is snobbery. In the full remark what he said was that working with your hands or in the arts is just as valuable as intellectual work and we should not disparage other gifts, and what Sir Anthony says here about his acting and music bolsters Santorum's comment.
Hopkins’ visit began with a spontaneous visit to campus two days earlier. Intrigued by the beauty of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel, whose dome and bell tower stand out above the treetops along California Highway 150, he stopped in. “I was driving past and I saw the Chapel tower, and so I called in here,” he explained. Upon visiting the campus he met various college officials, who invited him to return and give a talk. Graciously, Sir Anthony accepted their offer.
But anyway, you'll love his interaction with the students about Othello and about how to make verse sound "real."
