Today I realized, Oliver Reed and Anthony Hopkins were the same age

Gladiator, 2000

Hannibal, 2001

We were robbed of a great actor at far too young an age. He was 61.

He was a known alcoholic almost all his life, but had been sober for 6 months before his death. During a break in filming during Gladiator he was at a bar with his wife when he was challenged to a drinking contest by sailors on leave , causing him to drank heavily. He died of a heart attack that night.

I was rewatching clips of Gladiator, and watching this one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xeCBPRmF4Y
He says, as a gladiator the crowd makes you feel like 'as if you were the thunder God himself' - I realized he looks a lot like Odin/Anthony Hopkins in this scene - just think, he could have been still be acting to this day.