He seemingly skyrocketed to the top of the movie scene with his star role in the 1962 Oscar winning film “Lawrence of Arabia,” and became a riviting presence on the screen in films such as “My Favorite Year.” He was considered one of the most solid — and classiest — actors in the business. Yet, he never won an Oscar. But he was clearly appreciated — and now Peter O’Toole is dead at 81:
The actor Peter O’Toole who found stardom in David Lean’s masterpiece Lawrence of Arabia, has died aged 81, his family has annouced.
The acclaimed leading man who overcame stomach cancer in the 1970s passed away at the Wellington hospital in London following a long illness.
His daughter Kate O’Toole said: “His family are very appreciative and completely overwhelmed by the outpouring of real love and affection being expressed towards him, and to us, during this unhappy time. Thank you all, from the bottom of our hearts.”
O’Toole announced last year he was stopping acting saying: “I bid the profession a dry-eyed and profoundly grateful farewell.”
He said his career on stage and screen fulfilled him emotionally and financially, bringing him together “with fine people, good companions with whom I’ve shared the inevitable lot of all actors: flops and hits.”
The president of Ireland, Michael Higgins, was among the first to pay tribute: “Ireland, and the world, has lost one of the giants of film and theatre.”
“In a long list of leading roles on stage and in film, Peter brought an extraordinary standard to bear as an actor,” Higgins said. “He had a deep interest in literature and a love of Shakespearean sonnets in particular. While he was nominated as best actor for an Oscar eight times, and received a special Oscar from his peers for his contribution to film, he was deeply committed to the stage. Those who saw him play leading roles on the screen from Lawrence in 1962, or through the role of Henry II in Becket, and The Lion in Winter, or through the dozens of films, will recognise a lifetime devoted to the artform of the camera.
Higgins, who knew O’Toole as a friend since 1969, said “all of us who knew him in the west will miss his warm humour and generous friendship.
“He was unsurpassed for the grace he brought to every performance on and off the stage,” he said.
The British prime minister, David Cameron, paid tribute to the actor, saying that Lawrence of Arabia, his favourite film, was “stunning”.
Here’s O’Toole accepting honorary Oan scar in 2003:
CNN:
O’Toole’s portrayal of Lawrence was followed in 1964 by the role of King Henry II in “Becket,” opposite Richard Burton as Thomas Becket. Both men were nominated for the best actor Oscar for the film, but both lost.
The pattern of Oscar nominations, but no statuettes, for O’Toole is unmatched. “Always the bridesmaid, never the bride,” he once said.
GoldDerby.com writer Tom O’Neil said it was one of Hollywood’s biggest mistakes, but that O’Toole took the oversight in stride.
O’Toole was nominated for the best actor Oscar again for playing Henry II opposite Katharine Hepburn in the 1968 film “The Lion in Winter.”
His fourth Oscar nomination came in 1969 for the role of a shy English school teacher in “Goodbye, Mr. Chips.”
Although his portrayal of the 14th Earl of Gurney in the 1972 movie “The Ruling Class” was nominated for best actor, Fitzwilliams cited it as an example of O’Toole’s overacting.
“He was an actor, admittedly, of uneven merit, but what you had was this phenomenal life force, almost a wayward genius,” Fitzwilliams said.
O’Toole’s battle with an alcohol addiction hampered his career in the 1970s, but he staged a comeback with his 1980 leading role in “The Stunt Man.” It brought him a sixth best actor nomination from the Academy.
He mocked his own image as an over-the-hill, alcoholic matinee idol in “My Favorite Year” (1982). He was again nominated for best actor but did not win.
O’Toole was presented an honorary Oscar by Meryl Streep during the 2003 Academy Awards. The engraving on the gold statuette reads: “Whose remarkable talents have provided cinema history with some of its most memorable characters.”
But he was not done. He was also nominated for the best actor Oscar for his role as an aging, out-of-work actor obsessed with a young woman in the 2006 film “Venus.”
In “My Favorite Year,” O’Toole, playing a drunk, cading matinee idol, uttered a now classic line: “”I’m not an actor, I’m a movie star!” Above all, O’Toole was the quintessential example in terms of imagery and movie viewer response and the respect he had among his own colleagues of the 20th century style real movie star. A legend — who proved you could be a solid actor and a movie star.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.