A leading man of prodigious talents, Irish-born Peter O'Toole was raised in Leeds, England, the son of a bookie. As a boy he decided to become a journalist, beginning as a newspaper copy boy. Although he succeeded in becoming a reporter, he discovered the theater and made his stage debut at 17. He served as a radioman in the Royal Navy for two years, then attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, where his classmates included Albert Finney, Alan Bates and Richard Harris. He spent several years onstage at the Bristol Old Vic, then made an inconspicuous film debut in 1960. In 1962 O'Toole was chosen by David Lean to play T.E. Lawrence in Lean's masterpiece Lawrence of Arabia. The part made O'Toole an international superstar. He continued successfully in artistically rich films as well as less artistic but commercially rewarding projects. He received Academy Award nominations (but no Oscar) for seven different films. However, 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 and My Favorite Year. His youthful beauty lost to time and drink, O'Toole has found meaningful roles increasingly difficult to come by, though he remains one of the greatest actors of his generation. He has two daughters, Pat and Kate, from his marriage to actress Siân Phillips. He also has a son, Lorcan, by model Karen Brown. He is partnered with Jules Buck in Keep Productions.
He attended a Catholic school where the nuns beat him to correct his left-handedness. O'Toole & Karen Brown's son's name is Lorcan. From 1952 to 1954 he attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art as a scholarship student. The title character in the comic strip "Alan Ford", widely popular in Italy, is styled after the physical features of Peter O'Toole Coaching cricket professionally in London. [1997] Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#47). [1995] His daughter Kate O'Toole is a well-respected actress in her own right. Is a supporter of Sunderland football club of the English Premiership. Father was Irish, mother was Scottish. He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 2000 (1999 season) for Outstanding Achievement Award for his theatrical career. Was friends with fellow Irish actor Richard Harris. After Harris died, his family hoped that O'Toole would replace him as Professor Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. He is only one of four actors to be nominated for an Oscar twice for playing the same role in two separate films. He was nominated as Best Actor for Henry II in Becket and for Henry II in The Lion in Winter. The others are Paul Newman as Fast Eddie Felson in The Hustler and The Color of Money, Bing Crosby as Father O'Malley in Going My Way and The Bells of St. Mary's, and Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II. Furthermore, O'Toole is the only one of these four who was nominated for playing the same character (at two different stages in his life) in two totally different films, neither of which was a sequel or prequel to the other. Became an Associate Member of RADA. Both he and his fellow Irish actor (and close friend), the late Richard Harris appeared in versions of 'Gulliver's Travels': Harris played the 1977 film version Gulliver's Travels and O'Toole played the Emperor of Lilliput in the 1996 TV-film version Gulliver's Travels, where Ted Danson played Gulliver. Has the played two kings (King Henry II in Becket and Sir/King Cedric Willingham in King Ralph), two emperors (Emperor Tiberius Caesar in Caligula and the Emperor of Lilliput in Gulliver's Travels, a prince (Prince Meleagre in The Rainbow Thief), a president (President Paul von Hindenburg in Hitler: The Rise of Evil) and several lords. In 1976 he underwent surgery to remove parts of his stomach and intestine due to his heavy drinking. In the following year he almost died from a blood disorder. These two serious illnesses greatly affected his ability to work at that time. When he was named the recipient of a Special Oscar for lifetime achievement in 2003, he originally intended to turn it down feeling that the lifetime award signaled the end of his career. He wrote the Academy a letter stating that he was "still in the game" and would like more time to "win the lovely bugger outright." It was only after the Academy informed him that they were bestowing the award on him whether he came to collect it or not that he relented. His performance as T.E. Lawrence in "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) is the #1 ranked performance of all time in Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006). The 1976 film adaptation of the book The Man Who Fell To Earth, directed by Nicholas Roeg, was originally meant to be a vehicle for O'Toole. His performance as Alan Swann in "My Favorite Year" (1982) is ranked #56 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time. Nominated 7 times for best actor he never won an Academy Award. He is one of few actors to be nominated 5 or more times without winning