He is one of the greatest actors of his generation but Sir Anthony Hopkins has described how he was "very difficult" to work with because he drank so heavily and was often hungover on set.
The Welsh actor spoke about his life and career to 500 students at the University Of California on Wednesday, and the Oscar-winner opened up about his longtime struggle with alcohol and how it impacted his early film career.
And he said he could not believe his life had turned out as it had, saying he "should have died in Wales, drunk".
"Because that's what you do in theatre, you drink," he said. "But I was very difficult to work with, as well, because I was usually hungover."
Sir Anthony, who is now 80 and was mistaken for a homeless man while filming King Lear , added he had been "disgusted, busted and not to be trusted" while he was drinking.
He told how he turned his life around following a talk with a woman from Alcoholics Anonymous in December 1975.
The actor said the woman asked him, "Why don't you just trust in God?" and from then on the urge to drink was "never to return".
Sir Anthony, who was knighted in 1993 for services to the arts, also admitted he got into acting "because he had nothing better to do", adding he was "not at all bright" in school and was often bullied.
He told the students at the 11th annual Leap, Leadership, Excellence and Accelerating Your Potential, conference: "I believe that we are capable of so much. From my own life, I still cannot believe that my life is what it is because I should have died in Wales, drunk or something like that."
He now lives in Malibu with his actress wife, Stella Arroyave, and advised students to "say yes to everything. Say yes and take the risk".
Hopkins, who shared a bizarre video on Twitter earlier this year , also answered some questions from the audience, and when he was asked how he separated his passion for real success from the appeal of financial wealth, he said: "If you chase the money, it's not gonna work. And if you chase success, it's not gonna work. You just have to chase whatever you want to be, but live it as if it is happening now. Act as if you're already there, and it'll fall into place."
As for advice on his own acting method, the iconic actor advised the students to "just learn the lines."
Anthony Hopkins was born in Margam in 1937. He has said he became an actor because he couldn't cope with life. But he has gone on to become one of the greatest living actors, with mesmerising performances in films like Remains of the Day and Silence of the Lambs.
He has spoken openly and often about his battles with alcohol addiction.
In 2002, he said: "I'm glad I'm an alcoholic. I wouldn't have missed it for the world. Of course I'm sorry for the hurt I caused people... but being an alcoholic was an amazing and powerful experience. There were some days when I'd drink a bottle of tequila and I didn't care if I died. I loved tequila."
And in 2010 he described his life as a young actor: "I hated the Sixties," he said.
"It was one long wet Wednesday afternoon in the Waterloo Road. For most of it I was drinking myself into oblivion. I remember grey miserable nights. I was in a coma for most of it, so I missed the whole decade, including the Beatles, completely.
"I would drink about eight pints a night - I remember being in Liverpool on those drizzly evenings in the pub, getting the last drop in. I drank a lot, but I wouldn't have missed it. I look back on it as sort of dreary enjoyment, because I don't have to be there any more. Most of the people were miserable and they're all dead and gone now. They were nasty and vicious, I never got close to any of them."
Hopkins made his film debut in The Lion In Winter with Katharine Hepburn and Peter O'Toole 40 years ago, having turned his back on the theatre, where he started out.
"I would show up on movie sets after drinking and not sleeping. I made a terrible film called The Looking Glass War in 1968. I had a scene with Ralph Richardson in the back of a car that I don't even remember doing because I was so drunk.
"I did the series of War And Peace in Yugoslavia in 1972 and we all got smashed the whole time drinking Vignac, which is a coarse brandy. It was a lot of fun getting smashed and smoking cigarettes on location. I loved smoking more than drinking. But I enjoyed the combination of both.
"I had some bizarre nights with Peter when we made The Lion In Winter, but to be honest I don't remember them.
"I was a horrible human being when I was young, I didn't like myself. When you're young and famous, you're kind of nasty. You're arrogant, you want this, you want that and there's a sense of expectation and entitlement. I was a general pain to everyone.
"Over the years I worked with a couple of younger actors who reminded me of myself. I like bad boys. I worked with Russell Crowe in Australia before he became a star. Russell is a bad boy. I think he is terrific. Richard Burton was a bad boy, but he shook the rafters of the world.
"What made me stop drinking was not remembering where I'd been the night before. One day I just thought, 'I've had enough of this'. It was simple. I didn't want to go on feeling bad. I don't miss drinking, not at all. I don't want to ever go back there. Now I just love English tea and digestive biscuits or Hobnobs."
After recently starring in season two of Westworld, Hopkins is set to appear in upcoming Netflix drama Pope, in which he stars as Pope Benedict, alongside Jonathan Pryce as Pope Francis.
He won an Oscar for his portrayal of cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter in 1991's The Silence Of The Lambs.
