Peter O'Toole Retires From Acting

[coolinout1]

Peter O'Toole retires with 'dry-eyed farewell'
Associated Press – 49 mins ago



....LOS ANGELES (AP) — Peter O'Toole is retiring from show business, saying he no longer has the heart for it and that it's time to "chuck in the sponge."

O'Toole, who turns 80 on Aug. 2, said in a statement Tuesday that his career on stage and screen fulfilled him emotionally and financially and put him in the company of fine people.

But the eight-time Oscar nominee says the time is right to quit and that he's bidding the actor's life a dry-eyed farewell.

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I kinda wish he had a shot at winning a competitive Oscar, perhaps even a Best Supporting Actor win to end that streak.

For 2012, he had a supporting role this year in For Greater Glory: The True Story of Cristiada (w/Andy Garcia), and he has two remaining films set for 2013: Katherine of Alexandria and Mary Mother of Christ.

[Orlean]

Well, that's sad.
But he should look at Christopher Plummer.
Maybe he could even finally win with one of his last movies?

[Ceilidh-ann]

Damn, I was hoping he could pull off a proper win before he retired. I also thought he was already in his eighties.

[Donezo]

Maybe it just doesn't matter to him anymore.

[lazarus]

Coincidentally, I just watched him in Lord Jim last night.

[Capt. January]

O'Toole will be remembered for the omission long after a lot of those who've won.

I've never seen a soap opera in my life, but I sure know who Susan Lucci is - and I wouldn't recognize her if she walked right in front of me. I think she won an Emmy in the end, but let's face it - that's not what she's famous for.

[Mike Aiello]

Maybe it just doesn't matter to him anymore.

You mean acting or the Oscar? If I were him, the Oscar would have become meaningless after losing to Cliff Robertson for what was one of his greatest performances (he sadly never had a chance in 1962...that was Gregory Peck's year).

[Markku Palo]

A good choice, given how it seems he only gets offered bit parts in Christian propaganda films these days.

A gracious farewell is preferable to wasting his few remaining years in worthless schlock that's not going to bring him any Oscar nominations in the foreseeable future.

[Mike Aiello]

O'Toole will be remembered for the omission long after a lot of those who've won.

He did have some bad luck...competing against Gregory Peck in his signature role as Atticus Finch; Rex Harrison in a Best Picture winner playing his signature role, Henry Higgins; John Wayne, beloved actor who never won an Academy award until 1969; Marlon Brando for one of the most iconic screen performances of all time; Robert De Niro for one of the greatest performances of all time; and Ben Kingsley for playing Gandhi.

His losses to Robertson and Whitaker are kind of mind-boggling though, but in at least Whitaker's defense, "Venus" wasn't very good.

[Markku Palo]

Looking at the 1968 Best Actor field, O'Toole should have been the prohibitive favorite in that group. Did he piss on Jack Warner's shoes or something?

[Ben7]

Looking at the 1968 Best Actor field, O'Toole should have been the prohibitive favorite in that group. Did he piss on Jack Warner's shoes or something?

Nothing against O''Toole (or Robertson), but I would have given it to Ron Moody that year.

[Markku Palo]

Nothing against O''Toole (or Robertson), but I would have given it to Ron Moody that year.

I meant more in terms of who actually had a chance to win. I would've voted for Alan Arkin myself, but O'Toole was at the height of his career and fame, hand won the Globe and starred in a fairly strong Best Picture nominee.

[lenka73]

I would have given him the win for LAWRENCE...but I get the Peck Factor

[Mike Aiello]

I meant more in terms of who actually had a chance to win. I would've voted for Alan Arkin myself, but O'Toole was at the height of his career and fame, hand won the Globe and starred in a fairly strong Best Picture nominee.

I've heard Burton and O'Toole had certain "reputations" in Hollywood and for that reason, neither ever won. I'm not sure how accurate this is, but that's what I've heard/read.

O'Toole's loss is very strange to me though. This was his third nomination, he was (as you said) at the height of his popularity, he was in a BP nominee (so was Moody, but I doubt Moody was a real contender for the win, it was almost a supporting role), and his costar won the Oscar, so people obviously saw the film and liked it enough to give it a win for Hepburn (or they just love Hepburn enough to give her a second consecutive win).

Anyway, very strange. Feel bad for O'Toole...if he should have lost to anyone (he's my winner), I think it should have been Arkin too. Not Robertson.

[Capt. January]

He did have some bad luck...competing against Gregory Peck in his signature role as Atticus Finch; Rex Harrison in a Best Picture winner playing his signature role, Henry Higgins; John Wayne, beloved actor who never won an Academy award until 1969; Marlon Brando for one of the most iconic screen performances of all time; Robert De Niro for one of the greatest performances of all time; and Ben Kingsley for playing Gandhi.

His losses to Robertson and Whitaker are kind of mind-boggling though, but in at least Whitaker's defense, "Venus" wasn't very good.

I don't mean he'll be remembered more than those he lost to. I was talking about a slew of Oscar winners that HAVE already been virtually forgotten - Paul Scofield, stellar as he was, for example. I don't think Wayne or Peck will ever be forgotten, and their Oscar winning status has nothing to do with it. If anything, Peter o'Toole never having won is probably already a more notorious fact than John Wayne being an Oscar winner. If the roles were reversed we might be saying "how can Peck not have an Oscar and why did they give it to Otoole on his first try?" or "Whitaker deserved it but they gave it to O'Toole for his career + the academy is racist" etc.

Re. 1968, it was also Alan Bates ONLY Oscar nomination, and for my money he may have been a better actor than OToole himself. But he had the most uncommercial taste in films. But no argument that O'Toole in Winter would have been an extremely good and classy choice. But would he be as notorious and revered now if he'd won? I don't know.

[Buster]

Oh, that's quite sad. Though I guess it's a preferable headline this week to actually being a Best Actor Oscar winner and then dying ala Ernie.

Watching Peter in his Kodak theatre aisle seat as Whitaker's name was read from the envelope was perhaps the saddest of many sad Oscar moments. It was as if he'd been shot through the heart. If there ever was a career-capping performance, it was O'Toole's in Venus. Pure brilliance (and nasty too!). It may even be my favorite O'Toole performance of so many great ones.

If you scroll down in this TCM fest coverage from last year, there's a lengthy section on O'Toole and lots of photos of Pete's handprint ceremony.

An acting god to be sure ... here's to twenty more years of happy, contented retirement. I look forward to the next volume of his memoirs (which this time will likely concentrate on his film work).

[RRA]

Arguably snubbed from the win a few times? Sure. But I don't exactly feel bad that he never won a competitive Oscar. At least he won a honorary Oscar, something that fellow snubbie Richard Burton unfortunately didn't receive before he croaked.

Thank you Pete, thanks for having a double phallic name to amuse me in middle school. And even now.

[Blasty]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K561m7Nq7kk"]Peter O'Toole on Letterman - The Late Show in London (Pt.1) - YouTube[/ame]

I love him so fucking much. He's fantastic in everything. And I HATE the Academy for never giving him an Oscar. The worst, absolute worst acting snub of all time, and I don't even feel that's hyperbole.

And what makes it worse is that one of his best performances in The Lion in Winter lost to what I consider the worst Best Actor winner ever (Cliff Robertson in Charly)

[Patty]

Strangely enough, I have been thinking of O'Toole now that I finally got to see Prometheus. The fact that David models himself after O'Toole as El Aurens pleased me so much, in so many ways. I am considerably older than most of you here, and this was the first time I totally fell in love with an actor, a character, and a movie. After I read more about and by T.E. Lawrence, I sort of decided to stick with Peter O'Toole and the movie character, but O'Toole in that role still epitomizes the magic and iconic nature of movies to me.

Here's to you, Peter. Enjoy your retirement and please do write more of your memoirs.

[cassius]

VENUS... nice that he got nominated, but no, that was not the movie to win for. Frankly, I'd have taken any of the others that year (Gosling, Smith, DiCaprio, Whitaker) over him, and it wasn't a great year.

LION IN WINTER--oof! losing to CHARLY! I agree, that is the worst performance to witn Best Actor (at least that I've seen.) Although, my sympathy that year really goes with Tony Curtis, who was always baffled as to how he didn't even get nominated for THE BOSTON STRANGLER, and I can;t say I disagree.

One performance where I always thought he shot himself in the foot was TROY. OK, not a great movie, but everyone raved about his one big scene with Brad Pitt. Then he went around trashing the movie. Admittedly, not a great movie, but he would have been a more worthy nominee than Alan Alda in THE AVIATOR (a movie and actor I like very much).

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOwuxYvqKM8&feature=related "]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOwuxYvqKM8&feature=related[/ame]