Born in Connemara, Galway, on August 2, 1932, Peter O'Toole departed Irish shores when his family relocated to Leeds. As a teenager, he set his heart on becoming a journalist and dropped out of school at the age of 14 to join the Yorkshire Evening Post as a copy boy. It wasn't long before the desire to perform struck, however.
Peter O'Toole's Early Career
Following a stint as a radio man in the Royal Navy, the youngster won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where his peers included Albert Finney, Richard Harris and Alan Bates. After Peter joined the Bristol Old Vic in 1955 at the age of 23 his reputation grew, with critic Kenneth Tynan commenting on his role in The Long, The Short And The Tall: "In the case of Mr O'Toole I sense a technical authority that may, given discipline and purpose, presage greatness."
Peter O'Toole's Rise to Fame
It wasn't long before the prediction came to fruition when, in 1962, Peter landed a part that would change his life forever. His performance in David Lean's desert tribesmen epic Laurence Of Arabia earned him a best actor Bafta and an Oscar nomination while making him a global star. The Academy Award that year went to Sydney Poitier, though, and despite Peter's numerous nominations, the coveted gong was a long time in coming. It was to be 2003 before he took an Honorary statuette home with him, and then he initially turned down the offer, saying: "I'm still in the game and might win the lovely bugger outright. Would it be possible to defer the honour until I'm 80?"
Eventually persuaded to change his mind, he declared, "Always a bridesmaid, never a bride, my foot!", as he accepted the honour, adding: "I have my very own Oscar now, to be with me 'til death do us part." Hand in hand with his career was his reputation as a hell-raiser. "I can't stand light. I hate weather. My idea of heaven is moving from one smoke-filled room to another," he once joked. The boozing which accompanied such a lifestyle nearly cost the actor his life, in the seventies, and in 1975 after undergoing extensive surgery for pancreatitis he stopped drinking.
His personal life also suffered, and his marriage to Welsh actress Sian Phillips, with whom he had two children, Pat and Kate, ended in the Seventies. "I was a willing accomplice," Sian later said of the years she spent putting up with her husband's misadventures. "I did a lot of things I would never have done on my own. I owe him a lot." For his part, the actor was equally understanding: "Thank God for the tolerance shown to me by ladies with whom I've had long stretches because I'm quite hopeless with women."
Peter O'Toole's Later Career
In 1982 came his seventh Oscar nomination for his portrayal of a star who disappears into the bottle in My Favourite Year. At the end of that decade, and again in 1999, he won further plaudits for his theatre performances playing the notoriously pickled title character in Jeffrey Barnard Is Unwell. But in spite of triumphs such as these and his turn as an English tutor in Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor, Peter's career came to be characterised by minor roles in prestigious productions and larger parts in smaller flicks.
The 2000s offered a wave of new roles for Peter. In 2004, he shone brightly as King Priam in Troy, starring opposite Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom. Later, in 2007, the actor lent his voice to the bitter food critic Anton Ego in Disney's Ratatouille, before joining the cast of Stardust. By 2012 – at the age of 80 – Peter decided to retire from Hollywood, owing to a recurrence of stomach cancer.
Months later, on 14 December 2013, it was announced that Peter had passed away aged 81. Following his death, the actor's legacy has continued to inspire fans around the world. In 2014, a new prize was launched in memory of Peter at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He also has a memorial plaque in St Paul's, the Actors' Church in Covent Garden. But beyond all else, the memory of Peter O'Toole lives on in his iconic performances on the silver screen.
