Seven-time Oscar nominee Peter O'Toole has joined the impressive list of Hollywood legends to be given an honorary Oscar. But in a handwritten letter to the Academy, the 70-year-old actor says he doesn't want the accolade – just yet, anyway.
Though he is "enchanted" by the thought of receiving an honorary golden boy, Peter has asked the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to put the statuette on ice. "(Since I am) still in the game and might win the lovely bugger outright, would the Academy please defer the honour until I am 80?"
The Oscar board responded that they chose him for the prize because he had "earned it and deserved it". In a letter to the star, they wrote: "As to being 'in the game', nobody ever thought you were out of it. The award is for achievement and contribution to the art of the motion picture, not for retirement." Stars who have received the honour and then went on to win acting awards include Paul Newman and Henry Fonda.
Should Peter not collect the statuette during the March 23 ceremony, the note continued, the famed award "will be at the Academy for you to pick up when you're 80 or whenever you're ready." The actor, who was nominated for Lawrence of Arabia in 1963 – he lost to Gregory Peck for To Kill A Mockingbird – would be the first person in Oscar history to turn down an honorary accolade.
Even if the Irish screen star waits until he turns the big 8-0, that doesn't mean he's out of the running for acting awards. Both Driving Miss Daisy star Jessica Tandy and comedic legend George Burns won gongs as octogenarians.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
