Irish born actor Peter O’Toole gained immortality via one of the truly iconic film roles in cinema history, the titular Lawrence of Arabia in director David Lean’s production. It was one of his earliest roles, and unsurprisingly he never really equaled its success again. He worked until the time of his death, though. He still has several projects yet unreleased.
Born in 1932, Mr. O’Toole followed the venerable British tradition of stage training, attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. He quickly gained a reputation as (what else?) a Shakespearean actor, before following the siren call of the cinema. His career was highly successful, although he holds the record for most Oscar acting nominations–seven in all–without a win.
My own favorite film of Mr. O’Toole’s was The Lion in Winter (a good, if dark, Christmas movie, by the way), opposite Katharine Hepburn and a young Anthony Hopkins. In this he reprised the role of King Henry II, previously a supporting character in Becket, opposite an equally young Richard Burton. I once had the extremely satisfying opportunity to see those two films play back to back in a gorgeous, if run down, old movie palace. It was a good day.
Mr. O’Toole’s apparent own choice for his best movie, though, was the cult picture The Stunt Man. Many people, though, will stick with the heartwarming and quite funny My Favorite Year.
In his long career, Mr. O’Toole managed to avoid falling into the clutches of Jabootu overmuch, unlike his most notable contemporaries, Richard Burton and Richard Harris. Otto Preminger’s 1975 thriller Rosebud is supposed to be pretty bad. He appeared in the infamous 1979 production of Caligua. He appeared in the less than stellar Supergirl (1984). And he did star in a comedy so dire, 1988’s High Spirits, that I literally walked out of it at a theater.
Mr. O’Toole was 81 at the time of his passing.
