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. 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.
Early life:
Peter O'Toole was born on 2 August 1932, allegedly in Connemara, County Galway, Republic of
Ireland. However, some say he was born in Leeds. He was the son of an Irish bookmaker father
and a Scottish-born nurse mother. When Peter was one year old, the O’Tooles began a
five-year tour of major racetrack towns in northern England. Peter suffered through seven or
eight years of hated 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." Peter learned to take
pride in his Irish upbringing, despite the fact that he had spent less than a year living
there, even to the point of always wearing at least one item of green clothing - usually his
socks.
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."
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 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 legendary stage
of the Irish capital's Abbey Theatre in 1970 to play in "Waiting for Godot" by Samuel Beckett
alongside the celebrated stage actor Donal McCann. His 1980 performance as Macbeth was 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 took a rare television role as the older version of legendary 18th 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.
Personal life:
In 1960, he married Welsh actress, Siân Phillips, with whom he had two daughters, Kate O'Toole
(an award-winning actress, resident in 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,
making him diabetic. 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. 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 growing up in England and Ireland during the years leading up to WWII. His second,
"Loitering With Intent: The Apprentice" is about his years spent training with a fun 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.
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 off of 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.
Academy Award nominations:
O'Toole has received a total of eight nominations for Best Actor in a Leading Role Oscar over
45 years, but he has never won the award:
* 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
With Forest Whitaker taking Best Actor at the 79th Academy Awards in 2007, O'Toole is now the
most-nominated actor never to win a Best Actor Oscar. He was previously tied with Richard
Burton for this dubious honour, at seven losing nominations each.
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 had 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.
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)
Stage appearances:
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)
1959 Royal Court Theatre
* The Long and the Short and the Tall (Bamforth)
1960 Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford
* The Taming of the Shrew (Petruchio)
* The Merchant of Venice (Shylock)
* Troilus and Cressida (Thersites)
1963 National Theatre
* Hamlet (Hamlet)
1963-1965
* Baal (Phoenix Theatre, 1963) (Baal)
* Ride a Cock Horse (Piccadilly Theatre, 1965)
1966 Gaiety Theatre, Dublin
* Juno and the Paycock (Jack Boyle)
* Man and Superman (Tanner)
1969 Abbey Theatre, Dublin
* Waiting for Godot (Vladimir)
1973-74 Bristol Old Vic
* Uncle Vanya (Vanya)
* Plunder
* The Apple Cart (King Magnus)
* Judgement (monologue)
1978 Toronto, Washington, and Chicago
* Uncle Vanya (Vanya)
* Present Laughter (Gary Essendine)
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).
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