Peter O'Toole From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Peter O'Toole In Lawrence of Arabia Born Peter Seamus O’Toole 2 August 1932 (1932-08-02) (age 76) Connemara, Ireland, or [1][2] Leeds, West Yorkshire, England Years active 1956-present Spouse(s) Siân Phillips (1959-1979) [show]Awards won Academy Awards Academy Honorary Award 2003 Lifetime Achievement BAFTA Awards Best Actor in a Leading Role 1962 Lawrence of Arabia Emmy Awards Outstanding Supporting Actor - Mini-series/Movie 1999 Joan of Arc Golden Globe Awards Most Promising Newcomer - Male 1963 Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama 1964 Becket 1968 The Lion in Winter Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy 1969 Goodbye, Mr. Chips Laurence Olivier Awards Best Actor 1989 Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell Irish Film and Television Awards Best Supporting Actor in Film/TV 2004 Troy Other awards NBR Award for Best Actor 1969 Goodbye, Mr. Chips 1972 The Ruling Class ; Man of La Mancha Peter Seamus O'Toole[2] (born 2 August 1932) is an Irish and British actor who achieved instant stardom in 1962 playing T.E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia. He is also known for playing the old Giacomo Casonava in the 2005 television film Casonava, alongside Scottish actor David Tennant. He also starred as Captain Fitch in The Day They Robbed the Bank of England. He went on to become one of the most honoured film and stage actors of his time. He has been nominated for more Academy Awards without winning than any other performer. Contents [hide] 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Career 1.3 Personal life 2 Academy Award nominations 3 Filmography 3.1 Film 3.2 Television 4 Stage appearances 4.1 1955–1958 Bristol Old Vic 4.2 1959 Royal Court Theatre 4.3 1960 Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford 4.4 1963 National Theatre 4.5 1963–1965 4.6 1966 Gaiety Theatre, Dublin 4.7 1969 Abbey Theatre, Dublin 4.8 1973–1974 Bristol Old Vic 4.9 1978 Toronto, Washington, and Chicago 4.10 1980–1999 5 References 6 External links [edit] Biography [edit] Early life Peter Seamus O'Toole was born in 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. O'Toole himself is not certain of his birthplace or date, noting in his autobiography that while he accepts 2 August as his birthdate, he has conflicting birth certificates in both countries, with the Irish one giving a June 1932 birthdate.[2] O'Toole is the son of Constance Jane (née Ferguson), a Scottish-born nurse, and Patrick Joseph O'Toole, an Irish metal plater, football player and racetrack bookmaker.[3][4] When O'Toole was one year old, the O’Tooles began a five-year tour of major racetrack towns in northern England. Peter O'Toole was evacuated from Leeds early in World War II and went to a Catholic School for seven or eight years, where he was "implored" to become right-handed. “I used to be scared stiff of the nuns: their whole denial of womanhood—the black dresses and the shaving of the hair—was so horrible, so terrifying,” he later commented. “Of course, that's all been stopped. They're sipping gin and tonic in the Dublin pubs now, and a couple of them flashed their pretty ankles at me just the other day.”[5]. Upon leaving school O'Toole obtained employment as a trainee journalist and photographer on the Yorkshire Evening Post, until he was called up for National Service as a signaller 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. 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, 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".[6] [edit] Career Peter O'Toole as T. E. LawrenceO'Toole began working 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 Marlon Brando proved unavailable and Albert Finney turned down the role.[7] His performance was ranked number one in Premiere magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Performances of All Time. The role introduced him to U.S. audiences and earned him the first of his eight nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor. 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 Sir 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 Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, fulfilling 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. In 1980, he received wide critical acclaim for playing the director in the behind-the-scenes movie The Stunt Man. His 1980 performance as Macbeth is often considered one of the greatest disasters in theatre history,[8] 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). Another fine performance from O'Toole, which gained him a nomination for Best Actor, was 1982's My Favorite Year, a light romantic comedy about the behind-the-scenes at a 1950s TV variety-comedy show, much like Your Show of Shows, in which O'Toole masterfully plays an aging swashbucking film star strongly reminiscent (intentionally) of Errol Flynn. 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. In 2005, he appeared on television 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. 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. Most recently, O'Toole co-stars in the Pixar animated film, Ratatouille, an animated film about a rat with dreams of becoming the greatest chef in Paris. O'Toole has recently starred in the second season of Showtime's hit drama series The Tudors in which he portrays Pope Paul III, who excommunicates King Henry VIII from the church. That leads to a showdown between the two men in seven of the ten episodes. Peter O'Toole at Savannah Film Festival, 2004 [edit] Personal life 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 1960, he married Welsh actress, Siân Phillips, with whom he had two daughters, Kate O'Toole (b. 1961), who is an award-winning actress and resident of Clifden, Ireland, and Patricia; the couple divorced in 1979. Phillips later revealed in two autobiographies that O'Toole had subjected her to mental cruelty - largely fuelled by drinking - and was subject to bouts of extreme jealousy when she finally left him for a younger lover.[9] He and his ex-girlfriend, model Karen Brown, had a son, Lorcan Patrick O'Toole (born 14 March 1983), born when Peter was in his fifties. Lorcan, now an actor, was a pupil at Harrow School, boarding at West Acre from 1996. 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. While studying at RADA in the early 1950s he was active in protesting British involvement in the Korean War. Later in the 1960s he was an active opponent of the Vietnam War. He is perhaps the only one of his "London" acting contemporaries not to be knighted. While a glaring omission at first glance, as an Irish citizen, O'Toole is not eligible for British Knighthood. However, according to London's Daily Mail, he was offered an honorary knighthood in 1987, but turned it down for personal and political reasons. 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 18, "Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day". O'Toole has written two books. Loitering With Intent: The Child chronicles his childhood in the years leading up to World War II and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 1992. His second, Loitering With Intent: The Apprentice, is about his years spent training with a cadre of friends at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. The books have been praised by critics such as Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times, who wrote: "A cascade of language, a rumbling tumbling riot of words, a pub soliloquy to an invisible but imaginable audience, and the more captivating for it. O'Toole as raconteur is grand company." O'Toole spent parts of 2007 writing his third instalment. This book will have (as he described it) "the meat", meaning highlights from his stage and filmmaking career. O'Toole is a noted fan of rugby and used to attend Five Nations matches with friends and fellow rugby fans Richard Harris and Richard Burton. He is also a lifelong player, coach and enthusiast of cricket. O'Toole is licensed to teach and coach cricket to children as young as ten. O'Toole is a fan of the football club Sunderland A.F.C.. During an interview with DJ Chris Evans on his show TFI Friday, he was asked about his soccer allegiances and snarled 'Sunderland!' as if blighted by the experience. O'Toole has been interviewed more than three times by Charlie Rose on The Charlie Rose Show. In the last year interview 17 January 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." However, in other venues (including the DVD commentary for Becket), O'Toole has also credited Donald Wolfit as being his most important mentor. In an appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on 11 January 2007, O'Toole said that the actor he most enjoyed working with was his close friend, actress Katharine Hepburn with whom he played Henry II to her Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter. O'Toole remains close friends with his Lawrence of Arabia co-star Omar Sharif and his RADA classmate Albert Finney. [edit] Academy Award nominations O'Toole has been nominated eight times for the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, making him the most-nominated actor never to win the award. Nominations (actual winner in parentheses) 1962 - Lawrence of Arabia (Gregory Peck) 1964 - Becket (Rex Harrison) 1968 - The Lion in Winter (Cliff Robertson) 1969 - Goodbye, Mr. Chips (John Wayne) 1972 - The Ruling Class (Marlon Brando) 1980 - The Stunt Man (Robert De Niro) 1982 - My Favorite Year (Ben Kingsley) 2006 - Venus (Forest Whitaker) In 2003, the Academy honoured him with an Academy Honorary Award for his entire body of work and his lifelong contribution to film.[10] 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 honour 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] Filmography [edit] Film Year Film Role Other notes 1960 Kidnapped Robin MacGregor The Day They Robbed the Bank of England Captain Fitch The Savage Innocents First Trooper 1962 Lawrence of Arabia T. E. Lawrence 1964 Becket Henry II 1965 Lord Jim Lord Jim What's New Pussycat? Michael James The Sandpiper (voice) 1966 How to Steal a Million Simon Dermott The Bible: In the Beginning... The Three Angels 1967 The Night of the Generals General Tanz Casino Royale Piper (uncredited) 1968 The Lion in Winter Henry II Great Catherine Capt. Charles Edstaston 1969 Goodbye, Mr. Chips Arthur Chipping 1970 Country Dance Sir Charles Ferguson 1971 Murphy's War Murphy 1972 Under Milk Wood Captain Tom Cat The Ruling Class Jack Gurney, 14th Earl of Gurney Man of La Mancha Don Quixote de La Mancha/Miguel de Cervantes/Alonso Quijana 1975 Rosebud Larry Martin Man Friday Robinson Crusoe 1976 Foxtrot Liviu Rogue Male Sir Robert Thorndyke 1978 Power Play Colonel Zeller 1979 Zulu Dawn Lord Chelmsford Caligula Tiberius Caesar 1980 The Stunt Man Eli Cross 1981 Masada General Cornelius Flavius Silva 1982 My Favorite Year Alan Swann 1983 Sherlock Holmes and the Valley of Fear Sherlock Holmes (voice) Sherlock Holmes and a Study in Scarlet Sherlock Holmes (voice) Sherlock Holmes and the Sign of Four Sherlock Holmes (voice) 1984 Supergirl Zaltar 1985 Creator Harry 1986 Club Paradise Governor Anthony Cloyden Hayes 1987 The Last Emperor Reginald Johnston 1988 High Spirits Peter Plunkett 1989 As Long as It's Love Prof. Yan McShoul 1990 The Rainbow Thief Prince Meleagre Wings of Fame Cesar Valentin The Nutcracker Prince Pantaloon (voice) 1991 King Ralph Sir Cedric Charles Willingham 1992 Rebecca's Daughters Lord Sarn Isabelle Eberhardt Maj. Lyautey 1993 The Seventh Coin Emil Saber 1997 FairyTale: A True Story Arthur Conan Doyle 1998 Phantoms Dr. Timothy Flyte 1999 The Manor Mr. Ravenscroft Molokai: The Story of Father Damien William Williamson 2002 Global Heresy Lord Charles Foxley The Final Curtain J.J. Curtis 2003 Bright Young Things Colonel Blount 2004 Troy Priam 2005 Lassie The Duke 2006 Venus Maurice One Night with the King Samuel, the Prophet 2007 Ratatouille Anton Ego (voice) Stardust King of Stormhold 2008 Dean Spanley Fisk Senior gala premiere at TIFF Thomas Kinkade's The Christmas Cottage Glen Wesman 2009 Love and Virtue Atlantes in production God's Spy pre-production [edit] Television Year Title Role Other notes 1956 The Scarlet Pimpernel First Soldier TV show (1 episode) 1961 Rendezvous John TV show (3 episodes) 1980 Strumpet City Jim Larkin TV show 1981 Masada General Cornelius Flavius Silva miniseries 1982 Man and Superman Jack Tanner TV movie 1983 Pygmalion Professor Henry Higgins TV movie Sherlock Holmes and the Baskerville Curse Sherlock Holmes (voice) TV movie Svengali Anton Bosnyak TV movie 1984 Kim Lama TV movie 1986 The Ray Bradbury Theater John Hapmton TV show (1 episode) 1987 The Dark Angel Uncle Silas TV movie 1990 Crossing to Freedom John Sidney Howard TV movie 1992 Civvies Barry Newman TV movie 1994 Heaven & Hell: North & South, Book III Sam Trump miniseries 1995 Heavy Weather Clarence, Earl of Emsworth TV movie 1996 Gulliver's Travels Emperor of Lilliput TV movie 1998 Coming Home Colonel Carey-Lewis TV movie 1999 Joan of Arc Bishop Cauchon Emmy Award Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell Jeffrey Bernard TV movie 2002 The Education of Max Bickford Sidney McKnight TV show (1 episode) 2003 Hitler: The Rise of Evil President Paul von Hindenburg TV movie Imperium: Augustus Augustus Caesar TV movie 2005 Casanova Older Casanova TV movie 2008 The Tudors Pope Paul III TV show (7 episodes) Iron Road Relic miniseries [edit] Stage appearances [edit] 1955–1958 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) directed by Laurence Olivier [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] 1973–1974 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] References ^ O'Toole's birthplace is unclear as two birth certificates exist. Although he, himself is uncertain, most sources list Connemara. ^ a b c O'Toole, Peter, Loitering With Intent, London: Macmillan London Ltd., 1992, p. 10 ^ "Peter O'Toole Biography". filmreference. 2008. http://www.filmreference.com/film/26/Peter-O-Toole.html. Retrieved on 2008-04-04. ^ Frank Murphy (31 January 2007). "Peter O'Toole, A winner in waiting". The Irish World. http://www.theirishworld.com/article.asp?SubSection_Id=10&Article_Id=1911. Retrieved on 4 April 2008. ^ Alan Waldman. "Tribute to Peter O'Toole". films42.com. http://www.films42.com/tribute/otoole.asp. Retrieved on 4 April 2008. ^ Guy Flatley (24 July 2007). "The Rule of O'Toole". MovieCrazed. http://www.moviecrazed.com/outpast/otoole.htm. Retrieved on 2008-04-04. ^ "Peter O’Toole". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 2008. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9057661/Peter-OToole. Retrieved on 4 April 2008. ^ "Tribute to Peter O'Toole". Tribute to Peter O'Toole. films42.com. 2003. http://www.films42.com/tribute/otoole.asp. Retrieved on 3 January 2009. ^ Nathan Southern (2008). "Peter O'Toole: Overview". Allmovie. MSN Movies. http://movies.msn.com/celebs/celeb.aspx?c=330239. Retrieved on 2008-04-04. ^ "Peter O'Toole Biography". Yahoo Movies. 2007. http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/artists/o/Peter-OToole/biography-325919.html. Retrieved on 2008-04-04. [edit] External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Peter O'Toole Peter O'Toole at the Internet Broadway Database Peter O'Toole at the Internet Movie Database Peter O'Toole at the TCM Movie Database Peter O'Toole at Yahoo! Movies Peter O'Toole at the British Film Institute's Screenonline The Unofficial Peter O'Toole Pages "Peter O'Toole as Casanova" The Unfinished Epic of Peter O’Toole University of Bristol Theatre Collection, University of Bristol The Making of Lawrence of Arabia, Digitised BAFTA Journal, Winter 1962-3 Awards and achievements Preceded by Peter Finch for No Love for Johnnie BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role 1962 for Lawrence of Arabia Succeeded by Dirk Bogarde for The Servant Preceded by Sidney Poitier for Lilies of the Field Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama 1965 for Becket Succeeded by Omar Sharif for Doctor Zhivago Preceded by Rod Steiger for In the Heat of the Night Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama 1969 for The Lion in Winter Succeeded by John Wayne for True Grit Preceded by Ron Moody for Oliver! Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy 1970 for Goodbye, Mr. Chips Succeeded by Albert Finney for Scrooge Preceded by Sidney Poitier, Robert Redford Academy Honorary Award 2003 Succeeded by Blake Edwards [show]v • d • ePrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor - Miniseries or a Movie Scott Jacoby (1972) · Marlon Brando (1979) · George Grizzard (1980) · David Warner (1981) · Laurence Olivier (1982) · Richard Kiley (1983) · Art Carney (1984) · Karl Malden (1985) · John Malkovich (1986) · Dabney Coleman (1987) · John Shea (1988) · Derek Jacobi (1989) · Vincent Gardenia (1990) · James Earl Jones (1991) · Hume Cronyn (1992) · Beau Bridges (1993) · Michael A. Goorjian (1994) · Donald Sutherland (1995) · Tom Hulce (1996) · Beau Bridges (1997) · George C. Scott (1998) · Peter O'Toole (1999) · Hank Azaria (2000) Complete list: (1972-2000) · (2001-present) 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 Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_O%27Toole" Categories: 1932 births | Living people | Academy Honorary Award recipients | BAFTA winners (people) | Best Drama Actor Golden Globe (film) winners | Best Musical or Comedy Actor Golden Globe (film) winners | English people of Irish descent | English people of Scottish descent | Emmy Award winners | Irish film actors | Irish stage actors | Irish television actors | People from County Galway | English film actors | English stage actors | English television actors | People from Leeds | Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art | Royal National Theatre Company members | Royal Shakespeare Company members | Shakespearean actors