of an Actor, that Up until that night, Hopkins was always nervous prior to going on stage. This has since changed, and Hopkins quoted his mentor as saying: "He [Olivier] said: 'Remember: nerves is [sic] vanity – you're wondering what people think of you; to hell with them, just jump off the edge'. It was great advice." Despite the success he’d seen at the National, Hopkins tired of repeating the same roles nightly and yearned to be in films. As a result, he gradually distanced himself from the stage to become a more experienced television and film actor. 1983–1989: Pravda and Antony and Cleopatra In 1983, Hopkins also became a company member of The Mirror Theater Ltd's Repertory Company. In 1985, Hopkins starred opposite Colin Firth in the Arthur Schnitzler play The Lonely Road at The Old Vic. That same year, he featured in the National Theatre production of Pravda as Lambert Le Roux by David Hare and Howard Brenton. Frank Rich, in his New York Times review, praised the performance writing, "Mr. Hopkins creates a memorable image of a perversely brilliant modern-day barbarian." In 1986 he starred in David Hare’s production of King Lear, Hopkins's favourite Shakespeare play, at the National Theatre. The next year, he starred as Antony in the National Theatre production of Antony and Cleopatra opposite Judi Dench, and in 1989, Hopkins made his last appearance on stage in a West End production of M. Butterfly. "It was a torment", he claimed in a later interview. Of a matinee where nobody laughed, there was, he said "not a titter”. When the lights came up, the cast realised the entire audience was Japanese. "Oh God," he recalled, "You’d go to your dressing room and someone would pop their head round the door and say, ‘Coffee? Tea?’ And I’d think, ‘An open razor, please.’" Film 1968–1978: Film debut and Attenborough collaborations In 1968, Hopkins got his break in The Lion in Winter playing Richard the Lionheart, a performance which saw him nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Making a name for himself as a screen actor, he appeared in Frank Pierson's neo-noir action thriller The Looking Glass War (1970), and Étienne Périer's When Eight Bells Toll (1971). The first of five collaborations with director Richard Attenborough, in 1972 Hopkins starred as British politician David Lloyd George in Young Winston, and in 1977