Irish actor of stage and screen Peter O'Toole died yesterday (December 14, 2013) following a long illness. 

From Wikipedia:

O'Toole was born in 1932. Some sources give his birthplace as Connemara, County Galway, Ireland, while others have reported Leeds, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. O'Toole himself was not certain of his birthplace or date, noting in his autobiography that, while he accepted 2 August as his birthdate, he had a birth certificate from each country, with the Irish one giving a June 1932 birthdate. He grew up in the Hunslet industrial area of Leeds, son of Constance Jane Eliot (née Ferguson), a Scottish nurse, and Patrick Joseph "Spats" O'Toole, an Irish metal plater, football player, and racecourse bookmaker. When O'Toole was one year old, his family began a five-year tour of major racecourse towns in Northern England. He was brought up as a Catholic.

O'Toole starred in a long list of major motion pictures, including Lawrence of Arabia, Murphy's War, and The Last Emperor.  He was nominated for more Academy Awards without winning than any other performer.

Which of Peter O'Toole's roles did you enjoy the most?

Tags: Drama, Film

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I actually haven't watched all that many of O'Toole's films, but he was tremendous in The Last Emperor.  Really enjoyed that film on the whole, and he was perfect for the role he filled.

Had one degree of separation, I think. My mother, who lived then in Paris, shared with me an encounter she had with O'Toole there in the mid-1960s. He saw her there in a cafe or in a public square, approached her and asked her to join him for a drink or somesuch. My mother demurred, noting to me that she knew he was married, then to Sian Phillips. She did find him quite charming.

You got your "O's" mixed up there I think, Gerry. No doubt you meant "O'Toole" and not "O'Neill."

Thank you, Joe. Typing faster than I'm thinking is a habit I'm trying to eliminate.

lol Gerry  I had the same kind of 'encounter' ! 

At a concert in Edmonton Alberta back in '77 Tom Jones sent 'his man there' over to invite me to one of his infamous back stage after show parties.  He didn't know my husband was his promoter at the time.  This is a photo of Tom signing autographs (my husband Ken is on the left) after making everyone wait for 2 hours while he 'entertained' behind closed doors.  There is a woman out there who has a very clear memory of walking out of that room, in a dishevelled state to find about 50 people staring at her lol ...those were the days.  Peter, Tom and Richard Burton were the real wild bunch!

"Lawrence of Arabia" is one of the great, classic movies of all time. Although it's a war movie to some extent, there is so much more to it. It's a 4 hour "war" movie that doesn't really have many battle scenes. The "war" is more the one between the Lawrence and his idealistic vision of Arabs fighting for freedom from Turkish colonialism and the British vision of the outcome of the conflict, which is to merely to impose their own colonial system onto the Arabs in place of the Turkish one they are destroying. The Arabs essenially fought the Turks merely to go sideways, rather than forward. Lawrence triumphs against tremendous odds in uniting the various Arab factions, and yet in the end nothing is really accomplished beyond destruction and death, as is so often the case in war. It is an epic film that needs a huge screen to be fully appreciated. If some theater within 100 miles of me would run it, I'd make the drive to see it. Definitely one of the top ten motion pictures of all time.

Love him so much with Audrey Hepburn in How to Steal a Million.

I've several times driven by his beautiful home near Clifden in Galway on An Bothar Speir .. a large, modern, but tasteful structure on the hillside with an immense lawn sweeping down to the ocean.  There is a castle ruin on his front lawn.  He must have spent many peaceful days there ..  I hope so.

I think he was an original personality and enormously talented actor.

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