Gratitude Monday: Peter O'Toole

Gratitude Monday, and I’m remembering the amazing presence of Peter O’Toole in some fabulous films over the past…well, 50-some years. He died yesterday at age 81.

It was a seven-day wonder, of course, that he lived that long, given the amount of booze he drank and hell he raised throughout his remarkable life.

It’s interesting to me that all the obits I saw had headlines along the lines of “Lawrence of Arabia star dies”—when that was about his third film; out of nearly 100. Well, Lawrence was stunning, and O’Toole tore up the desert with his performance; he’s probably what everyone pictures when they think of T.E. Lawrence.

But he also owned the persona of Henry II, playing the younger king in Becket, and then the, well, The Lion in Winter. He tore up the castles in both of those, duking it out with fellow hell-raiser Richard Burton in the former and Katharine Hepburn in the latter. You probably didn’t even notice Anthony Hopkins as Richard in that one, because O’Toole and Hepburn just commanded the screen. 

And then there was The Stunt Man; and The Last Emperor. Even King Ralph—shoot, I bought him as hereditary king of Britain.

O’Toole took a wide range of roles—some because he needed the money, and some, I think, out of sheer cheekiness. Or maybe it was bloody-mindedness.

But the one I love the most was as the past-his-prime swashbuckling film star doing a guest stint with a live 1950s TV show in My Favorite Year. By the time this film was made, O’Toole’s drinking had caused him so many problems he was actually on the wagon. But he gave a bravura performance as the alcoholic actor with more mettle than you might have expected.

Well, I expect O’Toole is probably having a major discussion somewhere with Burton, Oliver Reed and Richard Harris. If booze is on offer, everyone else better watch out, because the convo will get raunchy and the fists will probably fly.

We’ve lost a Titan, but I’m truly grateful for the gift of Peter O’Toole in the movies I grew up with. Damn, I’m going to miss him.