Sir Anthony Hopkins knew he needed to get help for his drinking when he realised he "could have killed" someone

He told The New York Times' The Interview podcast: "I was drunk and driving my car here in California in a blackout, no clue where I was going, when I realised that I could have killed somebody - or myself, which I didn't care about.

"I came to my senses and said to an ex-agent of mine at this party in Beverly Hills, 'I need help.' "

The Silence of the Lambs actor had a "spooky" moment where he heard a "vocal, male, reasonable, like a radio voice" speak to him from the inside, and he instantly lost his desire to drink.

He continued: "It was 11 o'clock precisely - I looked at my watch - and this is the spooky part: Some deep, powerful thought or voice spoke to me from inside and said: 'It's all over. Now you can start living. And it has all been for a purpose, so don't forget one moment of it.'

"The craving to drink was taken from me, or left. Now I don't have any theories except divinity or that power that we all possess inside us that creates us from birth, life force, whatever it is.

"It's a consciousness, I believe. That's all I know."

The Academy Award-winning star had gone through a "lonely" childhood and was bullied so turned to alcohol to "nullify that discomfort or whatever it was in me, because it made me feel big."

He added: "You know, booze is terrific because it makes you instantly feel in a different space.

"Actors in those days - Peter O'Toole, Richard Burton, all of them - I remember those drinking sessions, thinking: 'This is the life. We're rebels, we're outsiders, we can celebrate.' And at the back of the mind is: 'It'll kill you as well.' "

Anthony feels grateful that he is "still here".

He said: "Those guys I worked with have all gone...

"There are monstrous difficulties in life and you take notice of them. But finally, approaching 88 years of age, I wake up in the morning going: 'I'm still here. How?'

"I don't know. But whatever's keeping me here, thank you very much! Much obliged!"