Peter O'Toole

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Peter O'Toole
O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia
Birth name	Peter James O'Toole
Born	August 2, 1932 (age 74)
Spouse(s)	Siân Phillips (1959-1979)
Academy Awards
Nominated for Best Actor: 1962 Lawrence of Arabia 1964 Becket 1968 The Lion in Winter 1969 Goodbye, Mr. Chips 1972 The Ruling Class 1980 The Stunt Man 1982 My Favorite Year 2006 Venus Academy Honorary Award: 2002
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie 1999 Joan of Arc
Golden Globe Awards
Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama 1964 Becket 1968 The Lion in Winter Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy 1969 Goodbye, Mr. Chips
BAFTA Awards
Best Actor in a Leading Role 1962 Lawrence of Arabia

Peter Seamus O'Toole (born Peter James O'Toole on August 2, 1932) is an eight-time Academy Award-nominated Irish actor.

He has received three Golden Globes and an Emmy Award. He was also awarded an honorary Oscar for his body of work (2003). Despite eight nominations, he has yet to win a Best Actor Oscar for any individual performance.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Personal life 4 Trivia 5 Academy Award nominations 6 Selected filmography 7 Stage appearances 7.1 1955-58 Bristol Old Vic 7.2 1959 Royal Court Theatre 7.3 1960 Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford 7.4 1963 National Theatre 7.5 1963-1965 7.6 1966 Gaiety Theatre, Dublin 7.7 1969 Abbey Theatre, Dublin 7.8 1973-74 Bristol Old Vic 7.9 1978 Toronto, Washington, and Chicago 7.10 1980-1999 8 See also 9 References 10 External links

[edit] Early life

Peter O'Toole was born on 2 August 1932, with some sources giving his birthplace as Connemara, County Galway, Ireland, and others as Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England, where he also grew up. He was the son of an Irish bookmaker father and a Scottish-born nurse mother.^[1][2] When O'Toole was one year old, the O’Tooles began a five-year tour of major racetrack towns in northern England. He suffered through seven or eight years of Catholic school education, in which nuns beat him to change his left-handedness. “I used to be scared stiff of the nuns: their whole denial of womanhood—the black dresses & the shaving of the hair—was so horrible, so terrifying,” he later commented. “Of course, that's all been stopped. They're sipping gin & tonic in the Dublin pubs now, & a couple of them flashed their pretty ankles at me just the other day.”^[3] O'Toole later took pride in his Irish ancestry, even to the point of apparently always wearing at least one item of green clothing - usually his socks.^[4]

O'Toole was called up for National Service in Britain and served as a radioman in the Royal Navy. As reported in a radio interview in 2006 on NPR, he was asked by an officer whether he had something he'd always wanted to do. His reply was that he'd always wanted to try being either a poet or an actor. Fortunately for him, acting worked out.

O'Toole attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) (1952–1954) on a scholarship after being rejected by the Abbey Theatre's Drama School in Dublin by the then director Ernest Blythe, because he couldn't speak Irish. At RADA, he was in the same class as Albert Finney, Richard Harris, Alan Bates and Brian Bedford. O'Toole described this as "the most remarkable class the academy ever had, though we weren't reckoned for much at the time. We were all considered dotty."^[5]

[edit] Career

He began getting work in the theatre, gaining recognition as a Shakespearean actor at the Bristol Old Vic and with the English Stage Company, before making his television debut in 1954 and a very minor film debut in 1959.

O'Toole's major break came when he was chosen to play T.E. Lawrence in David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia (1962), after Albert Finney turned down the role. His performance introduced him to U.S. audiences and earned him the first of his eight nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor. For further information, see Academy Award nominations below.

O'Toole is also one of a handful of actors to be Oscar-nominated for playing the same role in two different films; he played King Henry II in both 1964's Becket and 1968's The Lion in Winter.

O'Toole played Hamlet under Laurence Olivier's direction in the premiere production of the Royal National Theatre in 1963. He has also appeared in Sean O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock at Dublin's Gaiety Theatre and fulfilled a lifetime ambition when taking to the stage of the Irish capital's Abbey Theatre in 1970 to play in Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, alongside the stage actor Donal McCann. His 1980 performance as Macbeth is often considered one of the greatest disasters in theatre history, but he has redeemed his theatrical reputation with his performances as John Tanner in Man and Superman and Henry Higgins in Pygmalion, and won a Laurence Olivier Award for his performance in Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell (1989).

In 2005, he appeared on television as the older version of legendary 18^th century Italian adventurer Giacomo Casanova in the BBC drama serial Casanova. O'Toole's role was mainly to frame the drama, telling the story of his life to serving maid Edith (Rose Byrne). The younger Casanova seen for most of the action was played by David Tennant, who had to wear contact lenses to match his brown eyes to O'Toole's blue.

O'Toole won an Emmy Award for his role in the 1999 mini-series Joan of Arc.

In 2004, O'Toole played King Priam in the summer blockbuster Troy. He was once again nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award for his portrayal of Maurice in the 2006 film Venus, directed by Roger Michell, his eighth such nomination.

[edit] Personal life

In 1960, he married Welsh actress, Siân Phillips, with whom he had two daughters, Kate O'Toole (an award-winning actress and resident of Clifden, Ireland) and Patricia; the couple divorced in 1979. He and his ex-girlfriend, Karen Brown, have a son, Lorcan O'Toole, born when Peter was in his fifties.

Severe illness almost ended his life in the late 1970s. Due to his heavy drinking, he underwent surgery in 1976 to have his pancreas and a large portion of his stomach removed, which resulted in insulin dependent diabetes. O'Toole eventually recovered and returned to work, although he found it harder to get parts in films, resulting in more work for television and occasional stage roles. However, he gave a star turn in 1987's much-garlanded The Last Emperor.

He has resided in Clifden, County Galway, Ireland since 1963 and at the height of his career maintained homes in Dublin, London and Paris (at the Ritz), but now only keeps his home in London.

He is perhaps the only of his "London" acting contemparies not to be knighted. While a glaring omission at first glance, it is one that, according to London's Daily Mail in 2006, is one of his own making.^{[citation needed]} According to the paper's Richard Kay, he was offered an honorary knighthood in 1987, but turned it down for personal and political reasons.

He is a noted fan of rugby and used to attend Five Nations matches with friends and fellow rugby fans Richard Harris and Richard Burton.

O'Toole has written two books. "Loitering With Intent: The Child," which chronicles his childhood in the years leading up to WWII. His second, "Loitering With Intent: The Apprentice" is about his years spent training with a cadre of friends at RADA. His writing is infused with his love of language, poetry and literature, and much usage of rhyme and tempo is woven into the prose. The books have been praised by critics such as Charles Champlin in the Los Angeles Times Book Review, who wrote: "A cascade of language, a rumbling tumbling riot of words, a pub soliliquoy to an invisible but imaginable audience, and the more captivating for it. O'Toole as raconteur is grand company."

O'Toole is taking the rest of 2007 to finish his third instalment. This book will have (as he described it) "the meat," meaning highlights from his stage and filmmaking career.

[edit] Trivia

• The Italian comic book character Alan Ford is graphically inspired by O'Toole.
• O'Toole is sometimes confused with the Irish musician of the same name who played mandolin on a few tracks on The Indigo Girls' self-titled album. The other O'Toole is a member of the band Hothouse Flowers
• A lifelong player, coach and enthusiast for the game cricket. O'Toole is licensed to teach and coach cricket to children as young as ten.
• His performance as T.E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia was ranked number one in Premiere magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Performances of All Time.
• In a BBC radio interview in January 2007, O'Toole said that he had studied women for a very long time, had given it his best try, but knew "nothing."
• In an NPR interview in December 2006, O'Toole revealed that he knows all 154 Shakespeare sonnets. A self-described romantic, O'Toole regards the sonnets as among the finest collection of English poems. He reads them daily. In the movie Venus, he recites sonnet xvii, "Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day".
• In an appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on January 11, 2007, O'Toole said that the actor he most enjoyed working with was his close friend, actress Katharine Hepburn. They made the movie The Lion in Winter. He played King Henry II to her Eleanor of Aquitaine.
• O'Toole has been frequently mocked on the NBC show Saturday Night Live.
• O'Toole has been interviewed three times by Charlie Rose on The Charlie Rose Show. On the last interview January 17, 2007, O'Toole said that the actor who had influenced him the most was Eric Porter. He also said that the difference between actors of yesterday and today are that actors of his generation were trained for "theatre, theatre, theatre." He also believes that the challenge for the actor is "to use his imagination to link to his emotion" and that "good parts make good actors."
• On acting: "Whenever I find something getting a bit ornate, I think no, no, deepen. Don't go out, go in." -Charlie Rose Show, January 2007.
• Richard Harris's family wanted O'Toole to replace him as Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban.

He was last seen in the Old Vic theatre watching The Entertainer by John Osbourne.

[edit] Academy Award nominations

Peter O'Toole has been unsuccessfully nominated eight times for the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. This makes him the most-nominated actor never to win the award. His nominations were for:

• 1962 - Lawrence of Arabia
• 1964 - Becket
• 1968 - The Lion in Winter
• 1969 - Goodbye, Mr. Chips
• 1972 - The Ruling Class
• 1980 - The Stunt Man
• 1982 - My Favorite Year
• 2006 - Venus

In 2003, the Academy honoured him with an Academy Honorary Award for his entire body of work and his lifelong contribution to film. O'Toole initially balked about accepting, and wrote the Academy a letter saying he was "still in the game" and would like more time to "win the lovely bugger outright."^{[citation needed]} The Academy informed him that they would bestow the award whether he wanted it or not. Further, as he related on The Charlie Rose Show in January 2007, his children admonished him, saying that it was the highest honor one could receive in the filmmaking industry. And so, O'Toole agreed to appear at the ceremony and receive his Honorary Oscar. It was presented to him by Meryl Streep, who has the most Oscar nominations of any actor (14).

[edit] Selected filmography

• Kidnapped (1960)
• The Day They Robbed the Bank of England (1960)
• Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
• Becket (1964)
• Lord Jim (1965)
• What's New Pussycat? (1965)
• How to Steal a Million (1966)
• The Bible: In The Beginning (1967)
• The Night of the Generals (1967)
• Great Catherine (1968)
• The Lion in Winter (1968)
• Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969)
• Country Dance (aka Brotherly Love) (1970)
• Murphy's War (1971)
• The Ruling Class (1972)
• Man of La Mancha (1972)
• Under Milk Wood (1973)
• Rosebud (1975)
• Rogue Male (1976)
• Power Play (1978)
• Zulu Dawn (1979)
• Caligula (1979)
• The Stunt Man (1980)
• My Favorite Year (1982)
• Supergirl (1984)
• Creator (1985)
• The Last Emperor (1987)
• High Spirits (1988)
• Wings of Fame (1990)
• King Ralph (1991)
• The Seventh Coin (1992)
• FairyTale: A True Story (1997)
• Phantoms (1998)
• Rock My World (2002)
• The Final Curtain (2002)
• Hitler: The Rise of Evil (2003)
• Imperium: Augustus (2003)
• Troy (2004)
• Lassie (2005)
• Casanova (2005, television)
• One Night with the King (2006)
• Venus (2006)
• Ratatouille (2007) (voice of Anton Ego)
• Stardust (2007)
• La Fenice (film) (scheduled 2008)
• Love and Virtue (scheduled 2008)

[edit] Stage appearances

[edit] 1955-58 Bristol Old Vic

• King Lear (1956) (Cornwall)
• The Recruiting Officer (1956) (Bullock)
• Major Barbara (1956) (Peter Shirley)
• Othello (1956) (Lodovico)
• Pygmalion (1957) (Henry Higgins)
• A Midsummer Night's Dream (1957) (Lysander)
• Look Back in Anger (1957) (Jimmy Porter)
• Man and Superman (1958) (Tanner)
• Hamlet (1958) (Hamlet)
• Amphitryon '38 (1958) (Jupiter)
• Waiting For Godot (1957) (Vladimir)

[edit] 1959 Royal Court Theatre

• The Long and the Short and the Tall (Bamforth)

[edit] 1960 Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford

• The Taming of the Shrew (Petruchio)
• The Merchant of Venice (Shylock)
• Troilus and Cressida (Thersites)

[edit] 1963 National Theatre

• Hamlet (title role)

[edit] 1963-1965

• Baal (Phoenix Theatre, 1963) (Baal)
• Ride a Cock Horse (Piccadilly Theatre, 1965)

[edit] 1966 Gaiety Theatre, Dublin

• Juno and the Paycock (Jack Boyle)
• Man and Superman (Tanner)

[edit] 1969 Abbey Theatre, Dublin

• Waiting for Godot (Vladimir)

[edit] 1973-74 Bristol Old Vic

• Uncle Vanya (Vanya)
• Plunder
• The Apple Cart (King Magnus)
• Judgement (monologue)

[edit] 1978 Toronto, Washington, and Chicago

• Uncle Vanya (Vanya)
• Present Laughter (Gary Essendine)

[edit] 1980-1999

• Macbeth (1980) (Macbeth) (Old Vic Theatre)
• Man and Superman (Theatre Royal, Haymarket)
• Pygmalion (Professor Higgins) (Shaftesbury Theatre, 1984, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, and Plymouth Theatre, New York, 1987)
• The Apple Cart (Theatre Royal Haymarket, 1986)
• Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell (Apollo Theatre, 1989, Shaftesbury Theatre, 1991 and Old Vic, 1999)
• Our Song (Apollo, 1992).

[edit] See also

Plastic Paddy

Leeds

Famous People from Leeds

[edit] References

1. ^ Yahoo Movies, "Peter O'Toole Biography", Baseline 2007
2. ^ Frank Murphy, "The Irish World, Irish News 31 January 2007",
3. ^ Alan Waldman, "Tribute to Peter O'Toole ",
4. ^ "All about Peter ",
5. ^ MovieCrazed

[edit] External links

• Peter O'Toole at the Internet Movie Database
• Peter O'Toole at the TCM Movie Database
• Peter O'Toole at the Internet Broadway Database
• Peter O'Toole at Yahoo! Movies
• The Unofficial Peter O'Toole Pages
• "Peter O'Toole as Casanova"
• The Unfinished Epic of Peter O’Toole

Persondata
NAME	O'Toole, Peter Seamus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	O'Toole, Peter James (birth name)
SHORT DESCRIPTION	actor
DATE OF BIRTH	2 August 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH	Connemara, County Galway, Ireland?
DATE OF DEATH	living
PLACE OF DEATH