Peter O'Toole

Peter Seamus O'Toole (Connemara, August 2, 1932 – London, December 14, 2013), known as Peter O'Toole, was an Irish actor, famous especially from his performance as the lead in the film Lawrence of Arabia (1962).

Biography

The place and date of Peter O'Toole's birth have been the subject of controversy, including in his autobiography. According to some sources, he would have been born in Connemara (County Galway, in the Irish Free State) and, according to others, in Leeds (West Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom), where he also grew up. There are even birth certificates issued in both places. O'Toole accepted August 2, 1932 as his date of birth, while the Irish birth certificate dates from June of the same year.

O'Toole was the son of Constance Jane Ferguson, a Scottish nurse, and Patrick Joseph O'Toole, an Irishman who was a metalsmith, soccer player, and racebook manager. When O'Toole was one year old, his parents began a five-year tour of the northern English cities where the highest stakes were placed. Shortly after the Second World War began, Peter O'Toole was evacuated to Leeds and entered a Catholic convent school, where he remained for 7 or 8 years. He remembered these years as very hard, and it was common for him to show bruises and other injuries from the disciplinary punishments that the nuns inflicted on him. He was left-handed and they tried to correct this "regulation defect" ^{[citation needed ]}

At the age of 15, he abandoned formal education and got a small job as a journalist and photographer in a provincial newspaper, until he was summoned by the National Service to work as a signal man (as the boys were called). responsible for operating and maintaining radio apparatus and antennas) in the Royal Navy. However, on one occasion he was questioned by a Navy officer about his true vocation, and O'Toole replied that he would love to be a poet or actor.

First roles

O'Toole made his first attempts at realizing his true calling in Dublin, where he applied to the Abbey Theater School of Drama; but Ernest Blythe, then the director, turned him down due to his poor knowledge of the Irish language. However, he was able to access the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (1952-1954), where he had Alan Bates, Albert Finney and Brian Bedford as fellow students. O'Toole remembers this group as "the most outstanding class the Academy ever had, even if we weren't recognized until a long time later". After these memorable years, he began working as an actor with the Bristol Old Vic Theater company, where he excelled as a talented performer of Shakespearean plays, and with the English Stage Company.

In 1954 he made his television debut, and in 1959 as a supporting actor in a minor film, Kidnapped. Then came The Day the Bank of England was Robbed (1960) and Innocent Savages (1960), directed by Nicholas Ray and starring Anthony Quinn. O & # 39; Toole always demonstrated a great ability to delve into the psychology of the most complicated characters, providing a histrionic element that is both his main virtue and his greatest defect. But his great emotional range and his talent for expressing the emotional ups and downs of extremely complex (and even internally tortured) characters in both drama and comedy is indisputable. Despite his half-Irish and half-Scottish background, he also frequently portrayed polished and intellectual English characters. As a result of this versatility and depth, in 1962 —and sooner than I expected— his consecration would come through the interpretation of one of the most fascinating and controversial figures of the 20th century: the English lieutenant colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence, better known like Lawrence of Arabia.

The milestone: Lawrence of Arabia

O'Toole as Lawrence of Arabia.

O'Toole's most remembered performances have been in the films Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Lord Jim (1964), Becket (1964), The Night of the Generals (1966), The Lion in Winter (1968), Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969), The Man of La Mancha (1972) and The Last Emperor (1987). His performances in Lord Jim, directed by Richard Brooks and based on the novel by Joseph Conrad, and The Night of the Generals, directed by Anatole Litvak and where after Lawrence of Arabia once again shares the bill with Omar Sharif, they are masterpieces of psychological probing.

But it is undoubtedly his portrayal of Lawrence of Arabia (1962), the famous and controversial English hero who fought on the Turkish front during World War I, which marked a milestone not only in his fledgling film career but also in his history of cinema.

The casting of O'Toole arose as a last resort after the lead role was turned down by Marlon Brando and Albert Finney. The character of Colonel T. E. Lawrence offered so many complexities, and the Irish actor had only played supporting roles in three films, so director David Lean did not have an adequate film performance where he could gauge the true scope of O'Lean's talents. Toole. Another problem was that Peter O'Toole was 22 centimeters taller than the real T. E. Lawrence, but his features were consistent. O'Toole's personality, considered cheerful and extroverted but also wayward, was another factor of discussion that appeared recurrently (in the film environment he was known as " the crazy Irishman ").

Exceeding all expectations, Peter O'Toole not only gave one of the best performances in the history of the seventh art, but he became so involved with the character that he did not hesitate to remain just another Bedouin under the sun of the deserts of Jordan and Morocco for long hours, where a large part of the sequences were filmed (Almería and Seville were other chosen locations). An actor fond of joking and singing continuously, based on his own experience in the desert, he considered that T. E. Lawrence must have been a person not without a sharp humor that allowed him to cope with the difficult vicissitudes that presented themselves in such strange and lonely lands.. Consequently, O'Toole used to unleash his own humor during breaks between filming. Several Bedouins who had known the real "Aurens" (including one of the filming assistants was a descendant of the tribal chief Auda Abu Tayi, a great companion of the real T. E. Lawrence) stated with tears in his eyes that he had returned to the desert at the hands of the Irish actor.

Written by David Lean, Lawrence of Arabia was a masterpiece both in terms of interpretation, plot (it is a strong argument against colonialism), narrative and photography, and even the soundtrack by Maurice Jarre became a classic to this day. Inexplicably or not so much (for Hollywood, O'Toole still had no relevant film history), this film received 7 Oscars in the 1962 edition, including Best Picture, but the one for Best Leading Actor went to Gregory Peck, for his performance in To Kill a Mockingbird.

After Lawrence of Arabia

During the 1960s and 1970s, O'Toole made important performances: Woody Allen's What's New Pussycat?; The Bible, by John Huston; How to Steal a Million and..., with Audrey Hepburn; The Night of the Generals; Murphy's War; and Man from La Mancha, with Sophia Loren; but none came to exceed the zenith reached in Lawrence of Arabia. He also came out as an active opponent of the Vietnam War. In the late 1970s, he nearly lost his life due to alcoholism, and had to undergo surgery to remove part of his stomach and intestines. Since his pancreas was severely affected, he became insulin dependent. He too contracted a seemingly fatal blood disease, though he subsequently recovered and slowly resumed his acting career, albeit without the success of previous years.

In 1979 he participated in the controversial Caligula, along with Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren, a film to which its producer added "pornographic" against the director's wishes. He was even nominated for the Razzie Award (the antithesis of the Oscar), for his worst performance in 1984, for his role in Supergirl .

After various food roles in commercial films, O'Toole resurfaced with Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor, and was featured in the blockbuster Troy, starring Brad Pitt.

He was nominated for Best Dramatic Actor at the 2006 Golden Globes and for an Oscar in 2007 for his role in Venus, marking the return of this veteran actor to the forefront of the international awards.

Advertising image for Lawrence of Arabia (1962).

He was married to Welsh actress Siân Phillips from 1958 to 1979, and with her he had two daughters: Kate and Patricia. Although he later married model Karen Brown and had another son, Lorcan Patrick, O'Toole never remarried, probably due to his Catholic beliefs related to divorce.

He became friends with American star Rose McGowan after working together on the 1998 film Phantoms. In addition to maintaining a good relationship on the set, the actress stated that they used to meet to talk and have tea, which she considered a true honor.

The Oscars

O'Toole was nominated eight times for an Oscar, unsuccessfully, for: Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Becket (1964), The Lion in Winter (1968), Goodbye Mr. Chips (1969), The Ruling Class (1972), Profession: The Stuntman (1980), My Favorite Year (1982) and Venus (2007), and yet he ended up winning the statuette for his career, in the 2003 edition At first he was reluctant to receive the Academy Award in this way, and even requested more time to win the Oscar for a role in a movie, but at the insistence of his children he changed his mind and was present at the ceremony to accept your award.

On a couple of those occasions he was nominated for playing the same character, the monarch Henry II of England: Becket (1964) and The Lion in Winter (1968).

Withdrawal

On July 11, 2012, Peter O'Toole announced through a statement released by his New York publicist, Bill Augustin, his retirement from film and theater. He said that he would continue working on writing the third volume of his memoirs.

On December 14, 2013, at the age of 81, his death was announced at Wellington Hospital in London after a long illness.

Filmography

Cinema and television

• 1959: The teeth of the devil (The Savage Innocents)
• 1960: Theft to the Bank of England (The Day They Robbed the Bank of England)
• 1960: The Kidnapped (Kidnappedlike Robin Mac Gregor.
• 1962: Lawrence of Arabia
• 1964: Becket
• 1965:
  • The Heart of Darkness
  • Lord Jim.
  • How are you, Pussycat?What's New, Pussycat?)
• 1966:
  • How to steal a million and... (How to Steal a Million)
  • The Bible (The Bible)
• 1967:
  • The night of the generals (The Night of the Generals)
  • Casino Royale
• 1968:
  • The lion in winter (The Lion in Winter)
  • Catherine the Great (Great.)
• 1969: Goodbye, Mr. Chips (Goodbye, Mr. Chips)
• 1970: Not all love is beautiful (Country Dance)
• 1971: Murphy's War (Murphy's War)
• 1972:
  • Under Milk Wood
  • The ruling class (The Ruling Class)
  • The Man of La Mancha (Man of La Mancha)
• 1975: Me, Friday (Man Friday)
• 1978: Assault on power (Power Play)
• 1979:
  • Dawning Zulu (Zulu Dawn)
  • Caligula
• 1980: Profession: the specialist (The Stunt Man)
• 1981: Antagonists: Masada (TV)
• 1982: My favorite year (My Favorite Year)
• 1983: Svenli (Svenli)
• 1984: Supergirl
• 1985: Creator (Dr. Harry Wolper)
• 1986: Club Paraiso (Club Paradise)
• 1987: The last emperor (The Last Emperor)
• 1988: Hotel of ghosts (High Spirits)
• 1990: The thief of the rainbow (The Rainbow Thief)
• 1991: Rafi, a king of weight (King Ralp)
• 1996: Gulliver's travels (TV)
• 1997: Fairytale (FairyTale: A True Story)
• 1998: Phantoms
• 1999:
  • Juana de Arco (Joan of Arc(TV)
  • Molokai: The History of Father Damián
• 2002: Rock my World
• 2003:
  • Augustus, the first emperor (TV)
  • Hitler: the reign of evil (TV)
  • Bright Young Things
• 2004: TroyTroy)
• 2005:
  • Casanova (TV)
  • Lassie
• 2006: Venus
• 2007: Ratatouille
• 2007: Stardust
• 2008: Dean Spanley
• 2009: The Tudor
• 2011: Cristiada

Awards and nominations

Oscar Awards

Golden Globe Awards

BAFTA Awards

Awards of the Union of Actors

Satellite Awards