Hawn and Hopkins Reunite After 30 Years

By Stephen M. Silverman And William Keck

Thursday October 23, 2003 12:00 PM EDT

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Three decades ago, Anthony Hopkins starred in "The Girl from Petrovka" with Goldie Hawn. Monday night at the Beverly Hilton, the two were reunited at the Hollywood Awards, to accept his and hers Lifetime Acting awards, reports PEOPLE.

"Exactly 30 years ago this month we started shooting in Vienna," Hopkins, 65, told PEOPLE at the L.A. event. "Then Goldie Hawn and myself came out here. That was my first trip to Hollywood. I was a bad boy in those days. I don't think she enjoyed my company. I was drinking a little too much, you know?"

Hawn, 57, dressed in Ungaro and accompanied by Kurt Russell, said she felt Hopkins was being too hard on himself with his recollections.

"Aw, I love Tony," she insisted. "It was his first film, and he was just unbelievably genius. ... We had a great time together. He doesn't need to say that."

Hawn's award was presented by pal Diane Keaton, also 57, who called her friend "the greatest comic actress ever. ... And she's also down to earth -- one of us. She's the great example of what it is to be ordinary extraordinary."

Meanwhile, presenter Haley Joel Osment, 15, says he's in that stage where he has to be routinely fitted for new tuxedos. "That's the downside of growing up," he said. "Last year was a big growth year for me. I'm 5'5" now and it wasn't so long ago that I was almost about five feet squared."

Former child actor Ron Howard, honored for his body of directing work ("A Beautiful Mind," "Apollo 13"), says while he's not an "L.A. basher," he chose to raise his family in New York since 1985 because, "L.A. can be a very, very rough place. Working here in the business, there's a tendency for it to become an industry town, and I didn't want to raise my kids in a town where they were completely swallowed up by the business."

Had he continued pursuing acting instead of directing, Howard, 49, says he'd probably be playing, "twisted villains or sitcom dads."