Posted on 07/11/2012 7:45:32 AM PDT by beaversmom
Screen legend Peter O'Toole announced today that he is retiring from acting.
"It's time for me to chuck in the sponge," he said in a statement. "To retire from stage and screen. The heart for it has gone out of me; it won't come back."
O'Toole, who turns 80 on Aug. 2, achieved international stardom and his first Oscar nomination for David Lean's 1962's Academy Award-winning epic "Lawrence of Arabia." O'Toole was 27 when he earned the coveted title role. When he was cast in 1960, The Times quoted a London critic who called the young actor "a blazing new talent."
At the time, O'Toole was known mainly for his work on stage. But producer Sam Spiegel told The Times he wanted a new face for the part of T.E. Lawrence.
O'Toole went on to earn best actor nominations -- but no wins -- for 1964's "Becket," 1968's "The Lion in Winter," 1969's "Goodbye, Mr. Chips," 1972's "The Ruling Class," 1980's "The Stunt Man," 1982's "My Favorite Year" and 2006's "Venus." He earned an honorary Oscar in 2003.
This Tuesday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is presenting the U.S. premiere of the new digital restoration of "Lawrence of Arabia" at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
I thought he was dead.
I like the guy, but something about him always seemed a bit creepy. Maybe that was his intent as part of his characters and, if so, he was successful.
Aside from is personal induced problems, he was a great actor.
The Academy gave him a special Academy Award about 10 years ago he thanked America and talked about how much he loved America. I am going to try to find it. One of the best Actorsnof his generation. MY FAVOTITE YEAR is timeless!
Lawrence, Lawrence of Arabia
He was an English guy
He came to fight the Turkish
Too bad. He is one of the greats, even a this age. Curiously he showed up in two movies I saw this year. One was in clips of “Lawrence of Arabia” (his breakout film) shown in Prometheus. The other, maybe his last? role, as a priest in the remarkable, and under appreciated film, “For Greater Glory.”
I’ve always admired Peter O’Toole as an actor. He’s in a category, in my mind, that contains NONE of today’s Hollywood types. None. ‘Becket’ and ‘The Lion in Winter’ are two of my favorite films. Two that I never miss whenever they’re on the tube and that I pop in the DVD Player at least twice a year.
I remember that. He was very gracious.
A great actor from a great generation of actors.
“The Lion in Winter” an incredible, physically demanding performance, with what must have been Anthony Hopkins first screen role. Every scene, has O’Toole forcefully delivering lines like a roaring old lion for upwards of 20 minutes without interruption. Great lungs for a chain smoker!
Auda abu Tayi: [to Lawrence] I carry twenty-three great wounds, all got in battle. Seventy-five men have I killed with my own hands in battle. I scatter, I burn my enemies’ tents. I take away their flocks and herds. The Turks pay me a golden treasure, yet I am poor! Because *I* am a river to my people!
LoA was my Dad’s all-time favorite movie.
I really enjoyed ‘The Night of the Generals’ (1967).
All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible. This I did.
...one of the best cast films including Kate Hepburn, and a much younger Anthony Hopkins and Timothy Dalton.
I watched “My Favorite year” on Sunday. O’Toole was fantastic in that movie: “I’m not an actor! I’m a movie star!”
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