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Peter O'Toole

Peter O'Toole's illustrious career spans five decades. During that time, the range of recognition his big- screen performances have garnered includes a total of eight Academy Award nominations for Best Actor and an Honorary Academy Award in 2003, three BAFTA nominations for Best Actor (and a win for David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia), and three Golden Globe Awards for Best Motion Picture Actor for Herbert Ross' Goodbye Mr. Chips, Peter Glenville's Becket (1964) and Anthony Harvey's A Lion in Winter (1968). He has been nominated for the Golden Globe an additional seven times. He most recently received an Oscar nomination for his role as an aging stage actor in Venus and will next be heard voicing the role of a restaurant critic in the Pixar animated film Ratatouille.

O'Toole's cinematic credits range from such classics as Clive Donner's What's New Pussycat? (1965), Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor (1987), Richard Benjamin's My Favorite Year (1982), Richard Rush's The Stunt Man (1980), Peter Medak's The Ruling Class (1972) and Richard Brooks' Lord Jim (1965), to more recent roles in Wolfgang Petersen's Troy (2004), Stephen Fry's Bright Young Things (2003), Charles Sturridge's Lassie (2005), Fairy Tale -- A True Story (1997), Sidney J. Furie's Global Heresy (2002), Joe Chappelle's Phantoms (1998) and Karl Francis' Rebecca's Daughters (1992).

O'Toole's stage career includes four years with The Old Vic Company at the Theatre Royal, Bristol; The Long, The Short And The Tall -- Royal Court; Shylock in The Merchant of Venice and Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew -- Stratford-on-Avon; Waiting For Godot at the Abbey Theatre Dublin; Juno And The Paycock -- Dublin; Look Back In Anger, Hamlet, Macbeth -- Old Vic Company; Pygmalion -- London and Broadway; The Apple Cart and Man And Superman, Theatre Royal, London; Uncle Vanya and Present Laughter -- Toronto and Kennedy Center, Washington.

Modern plays include Ride a Cock Horse, Our Song and Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell -- on the West End and at the Old Vic, for which he won a special Olivier Award in 1999. On the small screen Peter O'Toole recently starred in the BBC/Red Productions adaptation of Casanova. His credits extend to live television in the '50's including his own play The Laughing Woman and also include Coming Home, Gulliver's Travels, Rogue Male, Heavy Weather, Strumpet City, Joan of Arc and Masada.

He has published two volumes of his autobiography, Loitering with Intent: The Child and Loitering with Intent: The Apprentice. He is, at present, working on a third installment. O'Toole was appointed Commandant De L'Ordre des Arts et de Lettres, France's highest order of merit, in 1989.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2007.
Read earlier biographies on this page.

Peter O'Toole Facts

Birth NamePeter Seamus O'Toole
OccupationActor
BirthdayAugust 2, 1932 (91)
SignLeo
BirthplaceConnemara, County Galway, Ireland
Height6' 3" (1m91)  How tall is Peter O'Toole compared to you?
Awards2003 Academy Awards: Honorary Award
1970 Golden Globe Awards: Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical (for Goodbye, Mr. Chips)
1969 Golden Globe Awards: Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama (for The Lion in Winter)
1965 Golden Globe Awards: Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama (for Becket)

Selected Filmography

Ratatouille
Stardust
Rock My World
Lawrence Of Arabia
Molokai
Augustus Part I
Bible According to Hollywood
Troy
Diamond Cartel
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