Post by Ace on Aug 5, 2012 15:12:29 GMT -5
One of my all time favorite actors - so so so brilliant with tremendous range and charm - and one of film's best raconteurs. Sigh
www.picktainment.com/blog/2012/07/extraordinary-peter-otoole/
The Extraordinary Peter O’Toole
July 24th, 2012 at 9:41 pm | by Dino Ladki
Legendary actor Peter O’Toole, who shot to stardom 50 years ago in the title role of Lawrence of Arabia, has announced his retirement. He is just shy of 80 years old. He bid farewell with a public statement that said in part: “It is time for me to chuck in the sponge. To retire from films and stage. The heart for it has gone out of me: it won’t come back.”
They broke the mold when they made Mr. O’Toole. To start with, his looks have always been (and continue to be) utterly unique. In his youth he was hauntingly good-looking and almost pretty. Mesmerizing really. As Noel Coward said, ‘If you were any better looking you would be Florence of Arabia.’ Whether it carries the beauty of his youth or the wizened, regal look we see today, his is simply not a face one easily forgets.
His life and work are equally memorable: He partied like a rock star (once saying that [booze is] ‘the most outrageous of drugs, which is why I chose it’) and lived like an aristocrat (he was made a commander in the prestigious French Legion d’Honneur), all the while, turning in one brilliant performance after another.
He has been nominated for an Oscar no less than eight times. He has never won, but was awarded an honorary one in 2003, which he initially balked at receiving, saying he was “still in the game” and that he would like more time to “win the lovely bugger outright.” He did indeed earn himself one more shot, three years later, with his masterful performance in Venus, though still to no avail.
It’s easy to rattle-off a figure like “8 nominations, 0 wins,” which has been done ad-nauseam since his retirement was announced (it is a record after all). But what few have done is to put his nomination history into perspective. Put it this way: Some of the people that Peter O’Toole has lost an Oscar to include: Marlon Brando (for The Godfather), Robert De Niro (for Raging Bull), Gregory Peck (for To Kill a Mockingbird), Ben Kingsley (for Gandhi) & John Wayne (for True Grit). Not bad company. And, this last time around, with Venus, he was up against a whole new crop of Hollywood’s best and brightest: Leonardo DiCaprio, Ryan Gosling, Will Smith & Forest Whitaker (who won for The Last King of Scotland). Again, not bad company.
As with his life, his work often had a sense of mischief, danger and audacity to it – whether it was in the dramatic (Arabia) or comedic (My Favorite Year) his characters were often eccentric and always unpredictable. Journalist Glenys Roberts who has known him since 1970 put it best: “There was no one who had more passion than this long-limbed, mercurial eccentric with his blazing blue eyes and aura of ever-present danger…he was compelling but it was the danger that made him a star. Mayhem used to follow O’Toole and that’s the way he and his hard-drinking, hellraising friends liked it.” To clarify, the friends to which Roberts was referring were O’Toole’s merry band of thespians – Richard Burton, Oliver Reed and Richard Harris whose debauched exploits are the stuff of legend. Those guys made the Rat Pack look like school girls.
At once a Shakespearean stage actor of the highest order, a movie-star in the truest sense of the word and an actor’s actor if there ever was one, his marvelous work will be sorely missed. If you’re under a certain age and haven’t seen any of his films, do your self a favor and go rent a few. Here are ten of his best:
Lawrence of Arabia (1962) O’Toole plays T.E. Lawrence in this epic about the flamboyant and controversial British military figure and his conflicted loyalties during wartime service.
Becket (1964) King Henry II (O’Toole) comes to terms with his affection for his close friend and confidant Thomas Becket (Richard Burton), the Archbishop of Canterbury, who finds his true honor by observing God’s divine will rather than the King’s.
Night of the Generals (1967) An unhinged Nazi general (O’Toole) may be guilty of killing prostitutes in early-1940s Warsaw.
The Lion in Winter (1968) O’Toole’s second time playing King Henry II. His three sons all want to inherit the throne, but he won’t commit to a choice. They and his wife variously plot to force him.
Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969) A shy, withdrawn English school teacher (O’Toole) falls for a flashy showgirl.
The Ruling Class (1972) A member of the House of Lords dies leaving his estate to his insane son (O’Toole) who at turns believes he is Jesus Christ and the reincarnation of Jack the Ripper.
The Stunt Man (1980) A maniacal movie director (O’Toole) directs a stunt man (Steve Railsback) who is actually a fugitive who stumbled onto the movie set.
My Favorite Year (1982) Alan Swann (O’Toole) is an aging movie idol, former star of swashbucklers, a womanizer and an alcoholic who is to be this week’s guest star on a 1950′s comedy variety/show. When he finds out the show is live he declares “I’m not an actor, I’m a movie star.”
The Last Emperor (1987) A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China (O’Toole plays his tutor).
Venus (2006) An elderly actor (O’Toole) who finds himself increasingly attracted to his friends great-niece (Jodie Whittaker) while simultaneously finding himself in deteriorating health due to prostate cancer.
It is fitting to end here with one of O’Toole’s most famous quotes:
“I have no intention of uttering my last words on the stage. Room service and a couple of depraved young women will do me quite nicely for an exit.”
www.picktainment.com/blog/2012/07/extraordinary-peter-otoole/
The Extraordinary Peter O’Toole
July 24th, 2012 at 9:41 pm | by Dino Ladki
Legendary actor Peter O’Toole, who shot to stardom 50 years ago in the title role of Lawrence of Arabia, has announced his retirement. He is just shy of 80 years old. He bid farewell with a public statement that said in part: “It is time for me to chuck in the sponge. To retire from films and stage. The heart for it has gone out of me: it won’t come back.”
They broke the mold when they made Mr. O’Toole. To start with, his looks have always been (and continue to be) utterly unique. In his youth he was hauntingly good-looking and almost pretty. Mesmerizing really. As Noel Coward said, ‘If you were any better looking you would be Florence of Arabia.’ Whether it carries the beauty of his youth or the wizened, regal look we see today, his is simply not a face one easily forgets.
His life and work are equally memorable: He partied like a rock star (once saying that [booze is] ‘the most outrageous of drugs, which is why I chose it’) and lived like an aristocrat (he was made a commander in the prestigious French Legion d’Honneur), all the while, turning in one brilliant performance after another.
He has been nominated for an Oscar no less than eight times. He has never won, but was awarded an honorary one in 2003, which he initially balked at receiving, saying he was “still in the game” and that he would like more time to “win the lovely bugger outright.” He did indeed earn himself one more shot, three years later, with his masterful performance in Venus, though still to no avail.
It’s easy to rattle-off a figure like “8 nominations, 0 wins,” which has been done ad-nauseam since his retirement was announced (it is a record after all). But what few have done is to put his nomination history into perspective. Put it this way: Some of the people that Peter O’Toole has lost an Oscar to include: Marlon Brando (for The Godfather), Robert De Niro (for Raging Bull), Gregory Peck (for To Kill a Mockingbird), Ben Kingsley (for Gandhi) & John Wayne (for True Grit). Not bad company. And, this last time around, with Venus, he was up against a whole new crop of Hollywood’s best and brightest: Leonardo DiCaprio, Ryan Gosling, Will Smith & Forest Whitaker (who won for The Last King of Scotland). Again, not bad company.
As with his life, his work often had a sense of mischief, danger and audacity to it – whether it was in the dramatic (Arabia) or comedic (My Favorite Year) his characters were often eccentric and always unpredictable. Journalist Glenys Roberts who has known him since 1970 put it best: “There was no one who had more passion than this long-limbed, mercurial eccentric with his blazing blue eyes and aura of ever-present danger…he was compelling but it was the danger that made him a star. Mayhem used to follow O’Toole and that’s the way he and his hard-drinking, hellraising friends liked it.” To clarify, the friends to which Roberts was referring were O’Toole’s merry band of thespians – Richard Burton, Oliver Reed and Richard Harris whose debauched exploits are the stuff of legend. Those guys made the Rat Pack look like school girls.
At once a Shakespearean stage actor of the highest order, a movie-star in the truest sense of the word and an actor’s actor if there ever was one, his marvelous work will be sorely missed. If you’re under a certain age and haven’t seen any of his films, do your self a favor and go rent a few. Here are ten of his best:
Lawrence of Arabia (1962) O’Toole plays T.E. Lawrence in this epic about the flamboyant and controversial British military figure and his conflicted loyalties during wartime service.
Becket (1964) King Henry II (O’Toole) comes to terms with his affection for his close friend and confidant Thomas Becket (Richard Burton), the Archbishop of Canterbury, who finds his true honor by observing God’s divine will rather than the King’s.
Night of the Generals (1967) An unhinged Nazi general (O’Toole) may be guilty of killing prostitutes in early-1940s Warsaw.
The Lion in Winter (1968) O’Toole’s second time playing King Henry II. His three sons all want to inherit the throne, but he won’t commit to a choice. They and his wife variously plot to force him.
Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969) A shy, withdrawn English school teacher (O’Toole) falls for a flashy showgirl.
The Ruling Class (1972) A member of the House of Lords dies leaving his estate to his insane son (O’Toole) who at turns believes he is Jesus Christ and the reincarnation of Jack the Ripper.
The Stunt Man (1980) A maniacal movie director (O’Toole) directs a stunt man (Steve Railsback) who is actually a fugitive who stumbled onto the movie set.
My Favorite Year (1982) Alan Swann (O’Toole) is an aging movie idol, former star of swashbucklers, a womanizer and an alcoholic who is to be this week’s guest star on a 1950′s comedy variety/show. When he finds out the show is live he declares “I’m not an actor, I’m a movie star.”
The Last Emperor (1987) A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China (O’Toole plays his tutor).
Venus (2006) An elderly actor (O’Toole) who finds himself increasingly attracted to his friends great-niece (Jodie Whittaker) while simultaneously finding himself in deteriorating health due to prostate cancer.
It is fitting to end here with one of O’Toole’s most famous quotes:
“I have no intention of uttering my last words on the stage. Room service and a couple of depraved young women will do me quite nicely for an exit.”