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Peter O'toole (2 August 1932-14 December 2013)

2/8/2020

Peter O'toole in film Lawrence of Arabian (1962)

name: Peter O'toole
original name: Peter Seamus O'Toole
birth place:   Connemara Ireland
birth date: 2 August 1932
zodiac sign:   Leo
death place: London England
death date:   14 december 2013

"I will not be a common man. I will stir the smooth sands of monotony."
-- peter o'toole

Profile of Peter O'Toole

Peter Seamus O'Toole was a British stage and film actor of Irish descent. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and 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 film debut in 1959.

He achieved international recognition playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia (1962) for which he received his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. He was nominated for this award another seven times – for Becket (1964), The Lion in Winter (1968), Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969), The Ruling Class (1972), The Stunt Man (1980), My Favorite Year (1982), and Venus (2006) – and holds the record for the most Academy Award nominations for acting without a win. In 2002, O'Toole was awarded the Academy Honorary Award for his career achievements.[1] He was additionally the recipient of four Golden Globe Awards, one British Academy Film Award and one Primetime Emmy Award.

Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif in film Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Colonel T.E. Lawrence, better known in history as Lawrence of Arabia (16 August 1888 - 19 May 1935)

Biography of Peter O'Toole

Peter O'Toole with his wife Sian Phillips and their daughter Kate

1950s: Shakespeare and George Bernard shaw

O'Toole attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) from 1952 to 1954 on a scholarship after being rejected by the Abbey Theatre's drama school in Dublin by the director Ernest Blythe, because he couldn't speak the Irish language. 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.

O'Toole began working in the theatre, gaining recognition as a Shakespearean actor at the Bristol Old Vic and with the English Stage Company from 1956 to 1958, appearing in productions of King Lear (1956), The Recruiting Officer (1956), Major Barbara (1956), Othello (1956), and The Slave of Truth (1956).

He also acted in George Bernard Shaw's plays: as Henry Higgins in Pygmalion (1957), as Tanner in Man and Superman (1958), a performance he would reprise often during his career.

O'Toole made his London debut in a musical Oh, My Papa and gained fame on the West End in the play The Long and the Short and the Tall, performed at the Royal Court starting January 1959.

Peter O'Toole

1960: Lawrence of Arabia

Peter O'Toole in film Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif in film Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

O'Toole made his television debut in 1954, and at the beginning of 60s, he made a few films, but his major break came in November 1960 when he was chosen to play T. E. Lawrence in Sir David Lean's $12 million epic Lawrence of Arabia (1962), after Marlon Brando proved unavailable and Albert Finney turned down the role.

His performance was ranked number one in Premiere magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Performances of All Time. The role introduced him to US audiences and earned him the first of his eight nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor.