Actor Peter Seamus Lorcan O’Toole was born on this day, August 2, 1932. He is most well known for his role in the epic “Lawrence of Arabia.”
Though born in England to an Irish father, Patrick Joseph 'Spats' O'Toole from Co Galway, and a Scottish mother, Constance Jane Eliot, O'Toole had a deep affinity for his Irish roots, even claiming for some of his life that he was born in Connemara.
"I consider myself an Irish man, but, I lived all my life or most of my life in England so I am a pretty bogus Irish actor as such," he said in 1963.
O'Toole, who had an Irish passport, later owned a home in Clifden, Co Galway.
O'Toole began his acting career as an exciting young talent on the British stage with his 1955 performance with the Bristol Old Vic theater company in the title role of the critically acclaimed "Hamlet."
He hit international stardom in 1962 when Sir David Lean cast him in "Lawrence of Arabia" as British adventurer TE Lawrence, the World War One soldier and scholar who led an Arab rebellion against the Turks.
The movie won several Oscars, although O'Toole was not one of the winners. Hellraiser O’Toole received eight Academy Award nominations, but he did not win a gong until 2003 when he was given a special Oscar by his peers for his contribution to film.
The New York Times said of him, “Blond, blue-eyed and well over six feet tall, Mr. O’Toole had the dashing good looks and high spirits befitting a leading man - and he did not disappoint in 'Lawrence,' David Lean’s wide-screen, almost-four-hour homage to T. E. Lawrence, the daring British soldier and adventurer who led an Arab rebellion against the Turks in the Middle East in World War I.”
His greatest performances included Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” and Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” on the stage.
On screen, he starred twice as a robust King Henry II: first opposite Richard Burton in “Becket” and then with Katharine Hepburn as his queen in “The Lion in Winter.”
He also earned an Oscar nomination for best actor as the repressed, decaying schoolmaster in “Goodbye, Mr. Chips” in 1970 and the crazed 14th Earl of Gurney in “The Ruling Class” in 1973.
Richard Burton once called him ‘the most original actor to come out of Britain since the war with something odd, mystical and deeply disturbing’ in his work.”
Actor Peter O'Toole poses backstage during the 75th Annual Academy Awards at the Kodak Theater on March 23, 2003 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Robert Mora/Getty Images)
British actor Sir Michael Gambon, who appeared with O’Toole when he played Hamlet in the National Theatre’s first production in 1963, said on the actor’s death, aged 81, on December 14, 2013: “He was a great actor. His early years were the best I thought. He was great fun to be with. He will be missed badly.”
Sir John Standing, a fellow actor and O’Toole’s best friend for more than 60 years, also said he had been lucky enough to work with him five times.
Standing added: “He was electrifying, which is what made him a star. You wanted to watch him no matter what he did.
“He was brilliantly funny as well. He couldn’t wait to make you, either on stage or offstage, laugh. He was a delight to work with. He was an amazingly brave and generous man.”
* Originally published in 2016. Updated in August 2024.
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