One of filmdom’s greatest living leading men, Irish actor Peter O’Toole first came to international superstardom at age 30 for his eponymous role in Sir David Lean’s epic masterpiece, “Lawrence of Arabia” (1962). Named in 2006 by Premiere magazine as the #1 ranked performance of all time, O’Toole’s unforgettable turn as the British expatriate T.E. Lawrence, kicked off a film career that spanned over four decades and garnered a record seven Academy Award nominations for Best Actor (tied only by his friend, Richard Burton.) Though, amazingly enough, he never won, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences finally rectified this glaring oversight in 2003 by bestowing O’Toole with an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement – an honor O’Toole only reluctantly accepted. Proving the veteran actor only improved with age, his work as an older actor in love with a twenty-something girl in “Venus” (2006) had tongues wagging yet again, buzzing with talk of another Oscar nomination for the esteemed actor.
Born Peter Seamus O’Toole in Connemara, County Galway, Ireland on Aug. 2, 1932, O’Toole grew up in Leeds, England, the son of a bookmaker father and a Scottish-born nurse mother. A mediocre student in his youth, O’Toole attended Catholic school as a boy, where he received frequent beatings from nuns to correct his left-handedness. At the age of seven, O’Toole decided on a career in journalism after landing a job as a newspaper copy boy. While he succeeded in becoming a newspaper reporter by his mid-teens, O’Toole discovered that his true passion lay elsewhere – specifically, in the theatre. After a brief wartime stint as a radioman in the British Royal Navy, O’Toole applied to the Abbey Theatre's Drama School in Dublin, but was rejected for his inability to speak proper Irish. Humiliated, but undeterred, O’Toole subsequently applied to and was accepted at England’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1952.
After making a name for himself as a solid Shakespearean player at the Old Bristol Vic, O’Toole made an inauspicious film debut in “Kidnapped” (1960), a faithful adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic. His major break, however, would come two years later when Albert Finney turned down the role of British author T.E. Lawrence in David Lean’s historically-based drama, “Lawrence of Arabia.” In the first major screen role of his career, the golden haired, blue-eyed O’Toole made a powerful impact on American audiences as the conflicted British liaison officer caught at the center of an Arab revolt. Considered by most to be David Lean’s masterpiece, this visionary motion picture launched the film careers of both O’Toole and his co-star, Omar Sharif, while also setting the standard for cinematic epics for generations to come. Nominated for an astounding 10 Academy Awards that year, “Lawrence of Arabia” took home seven statuettes, including one for Best Picture. O’Toole, however, while justly nominated for Best Actor, wound up losing to Gregory Peck for “To Kill a Mockingbird” (1962) – a tough race to call that year.
O’Toole’s Oscar loss signified the start of an unfortunate pattern which would plague the actor for rest of his career. By the end of the 1960’s, O’Toole would be nominated no less than three more times for “Becket” (1964), “The Lion in Winter” (1968), and “Goodbye, Mr. Chips” (1969). Alas, O’Toole lost all three. While the motive for O’Toole’s constant snubbing by the Academy was unknown, it was speculated that it may have been due to his flamboyant personal life. Known as one of Hollywood’s most infamous party animals in his prime, O’Toole earned a reputation as a prodigious drinker alongside his contemporaries and fellow countrymen Richard Harris, Richard Burton, and Oliver Reed. O’Toole’s booze-fueled hijinks eventually took their toll, however, on both his career and his health. While the actor did manage to pick up his fifth Oscar nomination for the wickedly funny “The Ruling Class” (1972), the seventies were, generally speaking, a decade long low-point in the actor’s personal life and career. By the mid-70’s, O’Toole’s legendary overindulgence resulted in a near fatal hemorrhaging which required life-saving surgery. The painful operation cost the actor portions of his stomach, pancreas, and intestines, but this brush with death luckily served as the wake-up call O’Toole so desperately needed. Giving up alcohol, O’Toole struggled to regain his career momentum, but found good parts lacking – due, in no small part, to his physical deterioration. Once considered one of the most beautiful men ever to grace the silver screen only a decade earlier, O’Toole’s alcoholism had exacted a heavy price from his once golden physical appearance. To add insult to injury, O’Toole’s 20-year marriage to Irish actress Sian Phillips ended in divorce in 1979.
As always, Hollywood has loved a comeback. In 1980, O’Toole made a triumphant return to the screen in director Richard Rush’s “The Stunt Man,” a black comedy that earned O’Toole his sixth Oscar nod – as well as his sixth loss. Luckily, O’Toole, who by now was quite used to being ignored by the Academy, took it in characteristic stride. Two years later, O’Toole scored his seventh Oscar nomination for his performance in “My Favorite Year” (1982), a hilarious comedy that satirized television’s golden age of comedy. O’Toole followed this up with a couple of stinkers like “Supergirl” (1984), “Creator” (1985) and “Club Paradise” (1986), but was fortunately back in prime fighting form in time for Bernardo Bertolucci’s grand epic, “The Last Emperor” (1987). O’Toole maintained a busy schedule in the nineties with a string of roles in such commercial vehicles as “King Ralph” (1991) and the television movie, “Gulliver Travels” (NBC, 1996) to name a few.
In 2003, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences finally bestowed O’Toole with an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement. While O’Toole initially balked at receiving the honor – claiming he’d prefer to win it outright, rather than as a token – the actor ultimately relented and showed up to accept his Oscar before an enthusiastic and appreciative audience.
Ironically, contrary to his stated intentions, the new millennium saw O’Toole mostly slumming; playing supporting roles in a string of forgettable films, including O’Toole’s pivotal but ultimately, forgettable cameo as the dying King Priam in Wolfgang Petersen’s mythological misfire, “Troy” (2004). O’Toole followed this up with subsequently phoned-in roles in “Lassie” (2005) and the romantic drama, “Romeo and Me” (2006). In late 2006, however, audiences were richly rewarded with a performance truly worthy of O’Toole’s talents in the May-December romantic comedy, “Venus” – his first leading role in nearly 20 years. His performance was so well received, that the inevitable Oscar buzz began spreading amongst critics and fans. O’Toole received a nod for a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama, followed by a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role – Theatrical Motion Pictures. He then earned yet another Academy Award nomination for the 79th Annual Academy Awards, joining the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Ryan Gosling, Will Smith and Forest Whitaker in the Best Actor category.