Peter O'Toole Biography

He walked straight out of drama school into the repertory company at Bristol Old Vic. Although the company had no places for young actors at that time, they were so impressed by his audition that space was made.

At the age of only 24, he was given the opportunity to star in 'Hamlet'. His appearance the following year, in 'The Long, The Short and The Tall', at the Royal Court in London, won him the London Critic's Award for Best Actor. He then moved to the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford.

However, on a trip to New York, the Hollywood producer Sam Speigel approached him, looking for an actor to star in a new film about T. E. Lawrence.

'Lawrence of Arabia' was a massive undertaking, and took two years, three months to complete. Even forty years on, it is still impressive. The picture won five Academy Awards, although unfortunately not one for O'Toole.

Peter married the actress Sian Phillips in 1959. They divorced in 1979 and have two daughters. He also has a son, Lorcan, by model Karen Brown.

Medical problems - originally thought to have been brought on by his drinking but which turned out to be stomach cancer - threatened to destroy his career and life in the 1970s. He survived by giving up alcohol and, after serious medical treatment, returned to films with triumphant performances in The Stunt Man (1980) and My Favorite Year (1982).

In the years that have followed, he has continued to work almost ceaselessly both on screen and in the theatre, but for many people he has never again been able to reach the stunning heights of his performance as Lawrence.
 

More recently, O'Toole won critical acclaim for the title role in 'Jeffery Bernard is Unwell', when it was first performed in 1989, and again in the 1999 revival.

In 2004, O'Toole played King Priam in the big-budget blockbuster, Troy. He was once again nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award for his portrayal of Maurice in the 2006 film Venus, directed by Roger Michell, his eighth such nomination

O'Toole has also found success as a writer, with two volumes of his highly entertaining autobiography, 'Loitering with Intent', already published, and the promise of more to follow.