In this March 23 2003 file photo Peter O'Toole appears backstage without his Oscar after receiving the Academy Award's Honorary Award during the 75th annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles.(Photo REED SAXON AP)
Story HighlightsThe actor was nominated for a record eight best acting OscarsHis last film 'Katherine of Alexandria ' will be released in 2014A stomach ailment nearly killed him in the 1970sWhen the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences told Peter O'Toole that he'd be receiving an honorary Oscar for a body of work that included seven best actor nominations and no wins he surprised officials with his response.
While he would eventually accept the honor he politely reminded academy members that he was still in the game and that he'd rather win the bugger outright.
He never would. But O'Toole 81 who died Saturday in a London hospital following a long illness would earn an eighth nomination and cement his legend as yeoman actor Oscar bridesmaid and poster boy for the Hollywood hell raiser.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING Peter O'Toole's Oscar record Eight nods
INTERVIEW Peter O'Toole's last face to face USA TODAY interview
REACTION Celebrities react to Peter O'Toole's death
Over a half century of films O'Toole would inspire a legion of young actors earn a record number of Oscar nominations without a win and remain a reformed but unrepentant bad boy to the end. His unfettered observations of the industry (he once called Troy co star Brad Pitt a fair actor a delightful young man ) underscored O'Toole's view of acting as a profession not a path to celebrity.
I earn my living he told USA TODAY in 2007. I put steam on the table by being an actor. That is how I live. The longer I live the more expensive it becomes. So I do my work. And I can't be immensely picky. How many beautiful scripts come in one's lifetime I have had more than anybody practically.
Indeed his good fortune began in 1962 when the blond 6 foot 2 actor earned the attention of director David Lean who chose him to play T.E. Lawrence the real life British Army officer who became legend in Lawrence of Arabia after Albert Finney and Marlon Brando dropped out.
His rise to stardom was immediate. The film earned seven Oscar wins including best picture and best director.
O'Toole's youthful looks and anti authoritarian swagger made him an instant heartthrob. British playwright Noel Coward famously quipped after seeing O'Toole traversing the desert in flowing robes If you'd been any prettier it would have been Florence of Arabia.
Though he wouldn't win the statuette O'Toole would set the course for another generation of actors. Tom Cruise once told USA TODAY that O'Toole was his role model. I remember seeing Lawrence of Arabia one of my first movies and seeing (O'Toole) going through that vast desert and I knew I wanted to be an actor.
For O'Toole high profile parts would follow. He earned Oscar nominations as Henry II in 1968's The Lion in Winter and Arthur Chipping in Goodbye Mr. Chips.
But his personal life took a downturn in the 1970s as he struggled with alcohol and ended his 20 year marriage to the revered Welsh actress Sian Phillips. He nearly died after a stomach ailment forced the removal of parts of his intestines.
Still O'Toole would rebound shining in Oscar nominated turns such as The Stunt Man playing a tough minded filmmaker not unlike Arabia director Lean. In My Favorite Year he earned another nomination as a washed up matinee idol. Both like his other major roles earned him Oscar nominations. In his last film Katherine of Alexandria he plays Cornelius Gallus a palace orator. The film is set for release in 2014.
A diehard rugby and Shakespeare fan (he once confessed to knowing all of Shakespeare's 154 sonnets by heart) O'Toole never seemed to take himself too seriously. He once strode into an interview with David Letterman on a camel. Citing personal and political reasons he declined a knighthood in 1987.
Even in his last Oscar nominated turn in 2006's Venus as an aging actor attracted to his friend's young great niece O'Toole relished extreme roles.
For me he once said life has either been a wake or a wedding.
{ 0 comments... Views All / Send Comment! }
Post a Comment