Peter Seamus O'Toole (2 August 1932 – 14 December 2013) was a British-Irish actor.
His Star-Making Role was Lawrence of Arabia in 1962. Regarded as one of the best actors of all time, he received a record of eight Academy Award nominations without ever winning one. However, in 2003 the Academy gave him an Honorary Oscar for his entire body of work and his lifelong contribution to film. On July 10, 2012, Mr. O'Toole announced his retirement from acting. He passed away on December 14, 2013 at age 81 after a long illness.
Though he preferred to be called Irish all his life, claimed he was born in Connemara, and had an Irish and an English birth certificate, records verify O'Toole was really born in Leeds, and he grew up in Yorkshire. His parents were Irish and Scottish. Nevertheless, Ireland happily claims him as one of her own. His ashes even resided temporarily in Áras an Uachtaráin, as he was a personal friend of President Michael D Higgins.
He was married to Welsh actress Siân Phillips from 1959 to 1979.
Notable Roles:
Film:
- Lawrence of Arabia (1962) as Thomas Edward Lawrence
- Becket (1964) as King Henry II of England
- Lord Jim (1965) as Lord Jim
- What's New Pussycat? (1965) as Michael James
- The Bible (1966) as The Three Angels
- How to Steal a Million (1966) as Simon Dermott
- The Night of the Generals (1967) as General Wilhelm Tanz
- The Lion in Winter (1968) as Henry II of England
- Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969) as Arthur Chipping
- Murphy's War (1971) as Murphy
- Man of La Mancha (1972) as Don Quixote de La Mancha / Miguel de Cervantes / Alonso Quijano
- The Ruling Class (1972) as Jack Gurney, 14th Earl of Gurney
- Caligula (1979) as Tiberius
- Zulu Dawn (1979) as Lord Chelmsford
- The Stunt Man (1980) as Eli Cross
- My Favorite Year (1982) as Alan Swann
- Supergirl (1984) as Zaltar
- Creator (1985) as Dr. Harry Wolper
- Club Paradise (1986) as Governor Anthony Cloyden Hayes
- The Last Emperor (1987) as Reginald Johnston
- High Spirits (1988) as Peter Plunkett
- King Ralph (1991) as Sir Cedric Charles Willingham
- Fairy Tale (1997) as Arthur Conan Doyle
- Phantoms (1998) as Dr. Timothy Flyte
- Molokai (1999) as William Williamson
- Global Heresy (2002) as Lord Charles Foxley
- Imperium Augustus (2003) as Augustus
- Troy (2004) as King Priam
- Lassie (2005) as The Duke
- Venus (2006) as Maurice Russell
- Stardust (2007) as the King of Stormhold
- Ratatouille (2007), voice of Anton Ego
- Decline of an Empire (2013) as Gallus, his last role
Live Action Television:
- Masada (1981) as General Cornelius Flavius Silva
- Gulliver's Travels (1996) (1996) as the Emperor of Lilliput
- Joan of Arc (1999) as Bishop Pierre Cauchon
- Hitler: The Rise of Evil (2003) as Paul von Hindenburg
- Imperium: Augustus (2003) as Emperor Augustus Caesar
- Casanova (2005) as old Giacomo Casanova
- The Tudors (2007) as Pope Paul III
Tropes in his works:
- Doing It for the Art: He wanted to star in The Ruling Class so much that he waived his salary, appearing in the film for nothing.
- Dyeing for Your Art: O'Toole had naturally curly brown hair, but dyed it blond and straightened it to play Lawrence of Arabia. He apparently liked this style, or else felt it suited certain characters of his better than his natural colour, as he switched repeatedly throughout his career.
- Hostility on the Set: He said in an interview that the experience of making Troy was the worst of his career, due to an acrimonious relationship between himself and the director. He never watched the film as a result.
- Large Ham: His tendency to overact was legendary. And awesome.
- No-Hit Wonder: As mentioned above, he held a record of eight Oscar nominations without ever winning one. When he was given an honorary one in 2001, he said he'd seriously considered turning it down, as he was still working and "wanted to win the lovely bugger outright."
- The Queen's Latin: Got to play quite a few characters in ancient world (mainly Roman) settings, such as Tiberius in Caligula, Flavius Silva in Masada, king Priam in Troy, emperor Augustus in Imperium: Augustus and, finally, Gallus in Katherine of Alexandria.
- Star-Making Role: Lawrence of Arabia.
- What Could Have Been: After the passing of Richard Harris, his family wanted O'Toole to take up the role of Albus Dumbledore due to the close friendship between the two actors. The studio decided against it, worried that he too would die before the series concluded. Ironically O'Toole would pass away two years after the release of the final film.
