United Kingdom, Nov. 6 -- Sir Anthony Hopkins "never had any idea" that he was an alcoholic.

The 87-year-old actor is nearing half a century of sobriety but has confessed that he was in the dark about the "pain" he caused due to his excess drinking as a younger man.

Hopkins writes in his new memoir We Did OK, Kid: "My memories of that time are foggy.

"During my drinking years I had caused a lot of pain. I never had any idea that I was an alcoholic. Rarely does a heavy drinker wake up to that without an intervention of some kind, and even then it takes a while to sink in. Denial is the greatest killer. And I was still in the grips of my addiction, though it was getting harder to deny it."

The Silence of the Lambs star added: "Booze is ...