62-64 Gower St, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 6ED, United Kingdom
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art where Peter O'Toole studied from 1952 to 1954.
Career
Gallery of Peter O'Toole
1961
Peter O'Toole studying for his role in Lawrence of Arabia. Photo by Dennis Oulds.
Gallery of Peter O'Toole
1965
Peter O'Toole at the tiller of his dinghy in a scene from the film 'Lord Jim'. Photo by Columbia Pictures.
Gallery of Peter O'Toole
1965
British director Clive Donner (left) with Swiss actress Ursula Andress, Swiss actress Capucine, American screenwriter Woody Allen, Irish actor Peter O'Toole, British actor Peter Sellers and Austrian-born German actress Romy Schneider on the set of 'What's New Pussycat'. Photo by United Artists.
Gallery of Peter O'Toole
1969
Peter O'Toole as Arthur Chipping, and English singer and actress Petula Clark as Katherine Bridges, in 'Goodbye, Mr. Chips'. Photo by Silver Screen Collection.
Gallery of Peter O'Toole
1981
Peter O'Toole in New York City on the set of the movie 'My Favourite Year'. Photo by The LIFE Picture Collection.
Gallery of Peter O'Toole
1982
Peter O'Toole. Photo by Steve Schapiro.
Gallery of Peter O'Toole
1982
Peter O'Toole as Alan Swann in 'My Favorite Year'. Photo by Steve Schapiro.
Gallery of Peter O'Toole
1982
Peter O'Toole in a promotional portrait for 'My Favourite Year'. Photo by Silver Screen Collection.
Gallery of Peter O'Toole
1982
Jodie Foster and Peter O'Toole on the set of the movie 'Svengali'. Photo by The LIFE Picture Collection.
Gallery of Peter O'Toole
1982
Peter O'Toole on the set of the movie 'Svengali'. Photo by The LIFE Picture Collection.
Gallery of Peter O'Toole
1982
Jodie Foster and Peter O'Toole on the set of the movie 'Svengali'. Photo by The LIFE Picture Collection.
Gallery of Peter O'Toole
2003
6801 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, CA 90028, United States
Peter O'Toole poses backstage during the 75th Annual Academy Awards at the Kodak Theater (currently the Dolby Theatre) on March 23, 2003, in Hollywood, California. Photo by Robert Mora.
Gallery of Peter O'Toole
2004
3934 Washington Blvd, Ogden, UT 84403, United States
(Left to right) Peter O'Toole, Eric Bana, and Brad Pitt during 'Troy' New York Premiere at Zeigfeld Theater. Photo by KMazur.
Gallery of Peter O'Toole
2006
Jodie Whittaker (left) and Peter O'Toole at The Times BFI London Film Festival, Gala Screening of 'Venus' at Odeon West End in London. Photo by David Lodge.
Gallery of Peter O'Toole
2007
350 King's Rd, Chelsea, London SW3 5UU, United Kingdom
Peter O'Toole with daughter Kate O'Toole at a drinks reception prior to the gala screening of "Venus" at Bluebird restaurant in 2007 London. Photo by Dave Hogan.
Gallery of Peter O'Toole
2007
100 Strand, London WC2R 0EW,
Peter O'Toole and Leslie Phillips (left) at The Oldie Magazine's 'Oldie of the Year Awards 2007' at Simpson's-in-the-Strand in London. Photo by Chris Jackson.
Gallery of Peter O'Toole
2011
925 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, CA 90028, United States
Peter O'Toole at the TCM Classic Film Festival opening night gala and world premiere of the newly restored 'An American in Paris' at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, California. Photo by Jason LaVeris.
Gallery of Peter O'Toole
2011
6925 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, CA 90028, United States
(Left to right) Kate O'Toole, Peter O'Toole, and Lorcan O'Toole at the Peter O'Toole Hand and Footprint Ceremony at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California. Photo by Jeffrey Mayer.
Gallery of Peter O'Toole
Peter O'Toole at the Coach and Horses pub in Soho as a character of Jeffrey Bernard. Photo by Michael Birt.
Gallery of Peter O'Toole
Peter O'Toole and Richard Griffiths (left) at the Times BFI London Film Festival, Gala Screening of 'Venus' at Odeon West End in London. Photo by David Lodge.
Achievements
2003
Peter O'Toole with his Academy Honorary Award.
Membership
Awards
British Academy Film Award
The British Academy Film Award which Peter O'Toole received in 1963.
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award which Peter O'Toole obtained four times.
David di Donatello Award
The David di Donatello Award which Peter O'Toole received four times.
Honorary Academy Award
Peter O'Toole was given the Academy Honorary Award in 2003.
Laurence Olivier Theatre Award
The Laurence Olivier Theatre Award which Peter O'Toole obtained in 1989.
British director Clive Donner (left) with Swiss actress Ursula Andress, Swiss actress Capucine, American screenwriter Woody Allen, Irish actor Peter O'Toole, British actor Peter Sellers and Austrian-born German actress Romy Schneider on the set of 'What's New Pussycat'. Photo by United Artists.
Peter O'Toole as Arthur Chipping, and English singer and actress Petula Clark as Katherine Bridges, in 'Goodbye, Mr. Chips'. Photo by Silver Screen Collection.
Peter O'Toole at a United Nations luncheon in New York City hosted by UNICEF to introduce O'Toole's TV movie 'Crossing to Freedom' in 1990. Photo by The LIFE Picture Collection.
6801 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, CA 90028, United States
Peter O'Toole poses backstage during the 75th Annual Academy Awards at the Kodak Theater (currently the Dolby Theatre) on March 23, 2003, in Hollywood, California. Photo by Robert Mora.
Jodie Whittaker (left) and Peter O'Toole at The Times BFI London Film Festival, Gala Screening of 'Venus' at Odeon West End in London. Photo by David Lodge.
350 King's Rd, Chelsea, London SW3 5UU, United Kingdom
Peter O'Toole with daughter Kate O'Toole at a drinks reception prior to the gala screening of "Venus" at Bluebird restaurant in 2007 London. Photo by Dave Hogan.
Peter O'Toole at Hearts on Fire during the 2007 Luxury Lounge presenting Marie Claire Fashion Closet in Beverly Hills, California. Photo by Barry Brecheisen.
Peter O'Toole and Leslie Phillips (left) at The Oldie Magazine's 'Oldie of the Year Awards 2007' at Simpson's-in-the-Strand in London. Photo by Chris Jackson.
925 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, CA 90028, United States
Peter O'Toole at the TCM Classic Film Festival opening night gala and world premiere of the newly restored 'An American in Paris' at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, California. Photo by Jason LaVeris.
6925 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, CA 90028, United States
(Left to right) Kate O'Toole, Peter O'Toole, and Lorcan O'Toole at the Peter O'Toole Hand and Footprint Ceremony at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California. Photo by Jeffrey Mayer.
Peter O'Toole and Richard Griffiths (left) at the Times BFI London Film Festival, Gala Screening of 'Venus' at Odeon West End in London. Photo by David Lodge.
Peter O'Toole with actress Celeste Holm and a group of international children at a United Nations luncheon in New York City hosted by UNICEF to introduce O'Toole's TV movie 'Crossing to Freedom' in 1990. Photo by The LIFE Picture Collection.
(Peter O'Toole delivers an electrifying performance as the...)
Peter O'Toole delivers an electrifying performance as the mischievous Henry II, who surprises England by naming his fellow rogue and trusted valet Thomas Becket (Richard Burton) as Chancellor.
(The 12th Century, and the obsession of Henry II of Englan...)
The 12th Century, and the obsession of Henry II of England to find a successor, after the death of the heir to the throne, causes him, one Christmas, to summon his three remaining sons.
(In 1954, the era of live TV, a hapless production assista...)
In 1954, the era of live TV, a hapless production assistant is given the task of keeping his alcoholic film idol out of trouble long enough to appear on the King Kaiser Hour.
(Academy Award nominee Peter O'Toole leads a powerful cast...)
Academy Award nominee Peter O'Toole leads a powerful cast to deliver a charming and poignant portrayal of Maurice, an aging veteran actor who becomes absolutely taken with Jessie - the grandniece of his closest friend.
(A look at the inspiration behind Thomas Kinkade's paintin...)
A look at the inspiration behind Thomas Kinkade's painting The Christmas Cottage, and how the artist was motivated to begin his career after discovering his mother was in danger of losing their family home.
Peter O'Toole was a British actor, producer, and director of Irish descent. He won acclaim for his work on the stage, in movie, and television. One of his best-remembered roles was the character of T. E. Lawrence in a 1962 Lawrence of Arabia.
Background
Ethnicity:
Peter O’Toole's father was Irish, and his mother was Scottish.
Peter O'Toole was born on August 2, 1932, in Conemara, County Galway, Ireland. He was a son of Patrick Joseph O'Toole, a metal plater and racecourse bookmaker, and Constance O'Toole (maiden name Ferguson), a nurse. Peter had an elder sister named Patricia.
Education
Peter O'Toole spent much of his childhood in various Irish and English cities, including Leeds, Yorkshire where he studied at St. Anne's convent school.
At the beginning of the Second World War, O'Toole was evacuated from the city to Hunslet. While there, he attended St. Joseph's Secondary School (currently St. Joseph's Catholic Primary School) for about eight years.
After a series of jobs and a stint in the Royal Navy, O'Toole began traveling throughout the United Kingdom. ln 1952, he attended a performance of William Shakespeare's King Lear. Michael Redgrave's rendering of the title character powerfully impressed O'Toole, inspiring him to become an actor.
Despite his lack of experience, he obtained a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1952. O'Toole studied along with Albert Finney, Alan Bates, Richard Harris, and Brian Bedford for two years.
Peter O'Toole started his career in his teens serving as a trainee journalist and photographer on the Yorkshire Evening Post. At the age of seventeen, O'Toole made his amateur debut as an actor at the stage of Leeds Civic Theatre. In 1950, he was called up for military service in the Royal Navy. He served as a signaler and decoder for two years.
In 1955, Peter O'Toole joined the repertory of the Bristol Old Vic Company. For the next three and a half years, he appeared in a variety of productions, including a particularly admired Hamlet that featured him in the lead role.
After leaving the Bristol Old Vic in 1958, O'Toole began acting in West End productions. He scored a notable success with the play The Long and the Short and the Tall and subsequently found himself being recruited by movie studios in both London and Hollywood. In 1960, the actor made his movie debut with a brief appearance, as a gregarious bagpiper, in the Walt Disney production Kidnapped. After appearing in other supporting roles in movies, O'Toole returned to the stage, having signed with the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre (currently the Royal Shakespeare Company), which was under the direction of Peter Hall. During the next few years, O'Toole distinguished himself as one of the English stage's finest performers. He won great praise for his portrayal of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice and Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew.
In 1962 O'Toole won widespread acclaim for his performance as the mysterious, charismatic title character in director David Lean's epic film Lawrence of Arabia. In preparing for this role of T. E. Lawrence, O'Toole studied the customs of the Middle Eastern Bedouin culture and even learned to ride a camel. His work was rewarded when the performance brought him the first of his eight Academy Award nominations for best actor.
Upon completing Lawrence of Arabia, O'Toole returned to the London stage for appearances in Hamlet and Bertolt Brecht's Baal. He then realized another film triumph as the lead in Becket, an adaptation of Jean Anouilh's play about the friendship, and eventual rivalry, between Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, and Henry II of England. Four years later, in 1968, O'Toole secured his third nomination for his rendering of Henry II in A Lion in Winter, a study of the middle-aged king and his relationships with both his wife and his ambitious sons.
In 1969 O'Toole received a fourth Academy Award nomination for his lead role in the musical Goodbye, Mr. Chips. Three years later he won still another nomination for his role as a wealthy, exuberant lunatic in director Peter Medak's The Ruling Class. That same year, the actor also appeared as Don Quixote in the movie musical Man of La Mancha.
Eight years passed before O'Toole triumphed again on a movie, winning an Academy Award nomination for his performance as an emotionally inscrutable moviemaker in director Richard Rush's distinctive drama The Stunt Man. Further success came in 1982 when O'Toole received rave reviews for his role as an alcoholic actor, once renowned for his swashbucklers, who proved unmanageable in the comedy My Favorite Year. This movie brought O'Toole his seventh Oscar nomination.
In 1980, the actor became an associate director of the Bristol Old Vic. In the ensuing years, Peter O'Toole continued to perform with distinction in both dramas and comedies acting in movies and television productions. In addition, O'Toole published an autobiography, Loitering with Intent: The Child, in 1992. This characteristically exuberant volume of memoirs traced his life from childhood to his initial years as an actor. It was followed four years later by the second volume of memoirs, entitled Loitering with Intent: The Apprentice.
The major O'Toole's movie projects of the 2000s included Troy, a comedy-drama Venus which provided the actor with the eighth Best Actor Academy Award, Dean Spanley, the animated movie Ratatouille (as a voice actor), The Tudors TV series, and a historical drama For Greater Glory.
Peter O'Toole announced his retirement from acting a year before his death, in 2012.
(Constantine joins the Roman Army to find his missing chil...)
2014
Religion
Although Peter O'Toole was raised in Catholic traditions, he rejected organized religion as a young man. However, the actor highlighted his positive attitude to the life of Jesus calling himself "a retired Christian" who trusted more in "education and reading and facts" rather than in faith.
Politics
Peter O'Toole was against the involvement of the United Kingdom in the Korean War at the beginning of the 1950s. The actor had the same negative position to the Vietnam War the next decade.
Views
Quotations:
"Acting is just being a man. Being human. Not forcing it."
"When I'm doing theatre, I prefer to be doing cinema. When I'm doing cinema, I prefer to be doing theatre."
"Actors have to stay optimistic. The moment we start thinking otherwise, we're dead."
"Actors have given up their clout. Now decision making is in the hands of lighting men, designers, bankers, special-effects people. We need to cut that out and just go with the most able trained actors in the business."
"There are only three indispensable things: the audience, the actor and the author. The rest is dross."
"I do not choose to be a common man…it is my right to be uncommon – if I can…I seek opportunity – not security…I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed… to refuse to barter incentive for a dole… I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence, the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopias…."
"When did I realize I was God? Well, I was praying and I suddenly realized I was talking to myself."
"I've never looked for women. When I was a teenager, perhaps. But they are looking for us, and we [men] must learn that very quickly. They decide. We just turn up. Never mind the superficialities – tall and handsome and all that. Just turn up."
"My life is littered with copies of Moby Dick."
"No one can take Jesus away from me... there's no doubt there was a historical figure of tremendous importance, with enormous notions. Such as peace."
Membership
Peter O'Toole was a member of the Garrick Club.
Personality
Pretending to be a romantic, Peter O'Toole stated in one of his interviews that he knew by heart all 154 of Shakespeare's sonnets which were the finest example of English poetry in his opinion.
O'Toole cited British actors Eric Porter and Donald Wolfit among those who had the most important influence on him in a professional way. He said that Katharine Hepburn was his most beloved co-star.
As a child, O'Toole enjoyed playing rugby. In addition, the actor was a lifelong fan of cricket and borrowed the support for Sunderland Association Football Club from his father.
Physical Characteristics:
At the end of the 1970s, Peter O'Toole's life was almost destroyed by the health problems misattributed to be the consequence of his alcoholic abuse while it was actually a stomach cancer. Fortunately, the actor survived due to the timely medical actions and by giving up drinking.
Quotes from others about the person
[O'Toole had] probably the most heady blend of sensitivity and vitality I have known in an actor" Sam Spiegel, American motion-picture producer.
"Peter O'Toole – I really loved that man. They sent me into the desert, and I lived there with him for 100 days. And there were no women! Can you believe it?" Omar Sharif, actor.
Interests
fly fishing
Writers
William Shakespeare
Sport & Clubs
cricket, Sunderland A.F.C
Connections
Peter O’Toole was married twice. In 1959, a Welsh actress Siân Phillips became O’Toole’s wife. The family produced two children named Kate and Patricia. Peter and Siân divorced in 1979. Peter O’Toole then formed a family with a model Karen Brown with whom he had a son Lorcan Patrick. Kate O’Toole and Lorcan Patrick O’Toole followed their father’s steps and both chose the careers of actors.
Peter O'Toole: A Biography
The book rrofiles the mercurial actor who made a solid reputation at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art before becoming an international star in the film "Laurence of Arabia" and whose career has been marked alternately by brilliance, failure, and personal excess.
1982
Peter O'Toole: A Biography
A biography of the Irish-born actor follows his career in films and the theater, and provides a glimpse of his personal life.
1983
Peter O'Toole: The Definitive Biography
With the help of exclusive interviews with colleagues and close friends, Robert Sellers' book paints the first complete picture of this complex and much-loved man.
1963, for Most Promising Newcomer, Lawrence of Arabia
1965, for Best Actor (Motion Picture Drama), Becket
1969, for Best Actor (Motion Picture Drama), The Lion in Winter
1970, for Best Actor (Motion Picture Musical or Comedy), Goodbye, Mr. Chips
1963, for Most Promising Newcomer, Lawrence of Arabia
1965, for Best Actor (Motion Picture Drama), Becket
1969, for Best Actor (Motion Picture Drama), The Lion in Winter
1970, for Best Actor (Motion Picture Musical or Comedy), Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Laurel Awards Top New Male Personality,
United States
1964, for Best Foreign Actor, Lawrence of Arabia
1967, for Best Foreign Actor, The Night of the Generals
1970, for Best Foreign Actor, Goodbye, Mr. Chips
1988, for Best Supporting Actor, The Last Emperor
1964, for Best Foreign Actor, Lawrence of Arabia
1967, for Best Foreign Actor, The Night of the Generals
1970, for Best Foreign Actor, Goodbye, Mr. Chips
1988, for Best Supporting Actor, The Last Emperor
Sant Jordi Awards,
Spain
1965, for Best Performance in a Foreign Film, Becket
1984, for Best Foreign Actor, My Favorite Year
1965, for Best Performance in a Foreign Film, Becket
1984, for Best Foreign Actor, My Favorite Year
National Board of Review Award,
United States
1970, for Best Actor, Goodbye, Mr. Chips
1972, for Best Actor, Man of La Mancha and The Ruling Class
1970, for Best Actor, Goodbye, Mr. Chips
1972, for Best Actor, Man of La Mancha and The Ruling Class
National Society of Film Critics Award,
United States
1981, for Best Actor, The Stunt Man
1981, for Best Actor, The Stunt Man
CableACE Award,
United States
1987, for Best Actor in a Dramatic Series, The Ray Bradbury Theater
1987, for Best Actor in a Dramatic Series, The Ray Bradbury Theater
Primetime Emmy Award,
United States
1999, for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie, Joan of Arc
1999, for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie, Joan of Arc