A Tribute to Peter O'Toole

He was Henry II, he was Lord Jim, Emperor Tiberius, Miguel de Cervantes and Don Quixote de la Mancha, Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle… he laid siege to Masada, he saw his beloved Troy fall, he wrote critiques of food made for rats and he even challenged King Henry VIII… and he will always be remembered as history's great enigma, T. E. Lawrence, as he conquered the Turkish Empire in a plight to save Arabia.

I won't pretend that I knew Peter O'Toole very well, because I don't.  If I say anything about him acknowledging his personal life here, it's just quick research.  All that I can say definitively is that when I read of his death just an hour ago, I knew we had lost a treasure of screen and stage and a true craftsman, as well as the actor who I most trusted, admired, respected for their work.  Ever since I saw Lawrence of Arabia at age 17, I knew that I had witnessed the performance of a lifetime, something that no other actor could possibly provide the role.  O'Toole inspired so many performers from such an early age and is well acknowledged for it; anything that I say can hardly add very much to what has already been said about him, except what I've seen and admired so much about his craft.

Long time friend of classic actor Richard Burton, with whom he collaborated on Becket, O'Toole shared with Burton the record of most Academy Award nominations never to have won (seven) at the time of Burton's death; O'Toole later broke that record in 2006 with his eighth nomination for the film Venus.  He did eventually receive an Honorary Oscar at the 75th Academy Awards and a well deserved one.  Like Burton, O'Toole was among the most energetic and enthusiastic of the performers from the classic era of filmmaking, which is why I came to appreciate him so much.  Every character of his was portrayed with incredible joy and commitment to a degree that some people may call flamboyance.  His performance in the musical film Man of La Mancha demonstrates O'Toole at his most excitable, playing both the playwright and his creation in both their most agitated and most vulnerable.  But at the same time, there are still any number of performances where he proved just as expressive in subtler ways; if you watch The Last Emperor, wherein he played Reginald Johnston, Scottish diplomat and tudor to Emperor Puyi, you see a man of honour and courtesy who expresses himself with incredible restraint, acting as both a voice of reason and a kindly, supporting man in a curious land which both he and his student have yet to fully comprehend.

Although today better known for his film work, any number of his performances showed his continual love and appreciation of the theatre.  His first major appearance in England was a highly acclaimed presentation of Shakespeare's Hamlet and he once said on Charlie Rose that the major difference between his generation and modern actors was that he was trained for theatre and nothing else.  I mentioned in my review of O'Toole's breakthrough film, Lawrence of Arabia, how I thought that O'Toole's Lawrence stood out as the grander and more exciting character when compared to Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird - with no disrespect to Gregory Peck - partially because of O'Toole's theatrics.  If you will, rather than giving a cinematic performance in a theatrical film - as I had often interpreted other actors to be doing in other epic films - he gave a theatrical performance in a cinematic film.  His was a performance that embraced and expressed every little detail within the character through both grand and subtler means and not just a stoic man of a single expression; his Lawrence is a man of unbelievable energy, fluidity, versatility and strength.

The same can be said for his other roles, not just Don Quixote but also his other Oscar-nominated performances, three of which were based on stage plays.  Look at his Henry II in The Lion in Winter, a role which he reprised after Becket and the film that many say should have won him the Oscar.  Look at the "My Life" soliloquy made to his sons and you see not a man simply angry but a man in agony, a man of fortitude, sadness and jealousy all at once, and all of these expressed in just three scenes each about thirty seconds long; not even his co-star Katherine Hepburn succeeds in conveying such a mesmerizing blend - no disrespect to her either.  Even later in life, in the role of King Priam in Troy, the first film of his I ever saw before I was even an admirer of his, he still gave incredible heart to a man of weary mind and body.  No other actor really was quite as successful at bringing to life what may otherwise be such dramatic and theatrical characters.

O'Toole had long struggled with illness, including a diagnosis of stomach cancer in the 1970's, but this hardly stopped him from carrying on and though his career had its peaks and low points, no one could disregard the passion and strength of his presence and skill.  It was a sad day for me when he announced his retirement in 2012, yet it also seemed appropriate; though I may have wanted to find out, how can one predict the nature of the man's career after such an enormous number of honours and distinctions?  Peter O'Toole broke through with a character who was certain he could change history and in a way, he himself did; I may never see an actor of such equal power and I would not be disappointed at all.

It is as Don Quixote once said: Peter O'Toole come in a world of iron and made a world of gold.  My condolences go to his family and my thanks to him for his vibrant and resounding contribution to the world of film.

Seamus Peter O'Toole

1932 - 2013

"What I owe you is beyond evaluation." - Lawrence of Arabia

This was my first film review. It began as an assignment in my last year in high-school. I have since edited it to more concisely express my opinions, but the content is all accurate to my very first viewing of the film.

Directed by David Lean

U. K., 1962

227 minutes

First viewed: April 2011
Titular Quote by: Alec Guinness as Prince Faisal

Back in the day before modern visual effects made modern epics - such as James Cameron’s Titanic and Avatar or Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings - possible, filmmakers who intended to create true spectacles were forced to do just that.  They found the right locations to film, they designed the sets and costumes to place there, they cast hundreds, even thousands, of extras, and they used all the false blood possible in order to convey the spectacle that audiences were beginning to demand. Several famed filmmakers rose from the ashes during that time, but few have had such a profound effect on the present day filmmaker as Sir David Lean, the director of The Bridge over the River Kwai, Doctor Zhivago, and the subject of my first review, Lawrence of Arabia.

Drawing inspiration from the autobiographical novel 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom', among other documents written by T. E. Lawrence, the film tracks Lawrence’s journey through the desert nations of the Middle East and Africa during the English occupation of WWI. Considered nothing more than a nuisance to his general in Cairo, Lawrence is transferred to a position on the Arab Bureau and shipped to Arabia on assignment to discover the motives of a certain Prince Faisal. Seeing the struggles that the Arabs face from the overruling Turkish Empire and amongst their own tribes, Lawrence’s insubordination comes to his aid when, without order, he forms together a band of Arabic allies, joint-led by himself, his reluctant compatriot Sherif Ali and the historical figure Auda abu Tayi, set on subduing the Turks through any means possible, most often violently.

You needn't look far to find what is immediately so great about Lawrence of Arabia, but let me begin with one name: Peter O'Toole. Peter O’Toole’s performance is as complex and as memorable as a classical actor can get, from delivering every line he can with a clever eye and a suave smile to a point where he leads a vengeful charge onto a crowd of Turkish refugees. Being an adaptation of the autobiography of the actual T. E. Lawrence, a great deal of the work went into the development of the character, an egotistical man whose motives are generally ambiguous. When I first saw the film, I was certain Lawrence was only in the struggle for the glory of taking history into his own hands, but further viewings opened up further possibilities.  Lawrence’s alleged homosexuality and masochistic tendencies are hidden in plain sight throughout the film, which is also part of the joy of re-watching the film as you can continually search for subtle hints in both the writing and in O'Toole's performance. O’Toole ultimately did not win the Oscar for Best Actor, which is a real shame; as much as I respect Gregory Peck in To Kill A Mockingbird, O'Toole's joyful, energetic and heavily theatrical performance has transferred much more successfully to the present day and solidified his reputation as one of the true greats of cinematic history.

In the role of Sherif Ali, Omar Sharif provides Lawrence with a conscience and plays the role of the mediator with wonderful gravitas and internal turmoil, equally worthy of his Best Supporting Actor nomination.  The late Alec Guinness and the late Anthony Quinn also provide terrific performances, as do all the other actors in a fairly unorthodox ensemble. This is the only film in Academy Award history that ever featured a credited cast consisting solely of male actors; if I hadn’t mentioned that though, chances are no one would have even noticed should they ever consider watching it, for the story is engrossing from start to finish without the common Hollywood romance attached to it.

The grandest unacknowledged star in Lawrence of Arabia is the epic landscape, which is brought uncompromisingly to life by Freddie Young’s spellbinding cinematography. But perhaps it is more admirable, and more daunting, to consider this when also considering the filmmaking process itself. The film’s exterior scenes were shot over a 2-year period in some of the hottest conditions on Earth; the Panavision cameras needed frequent shading to avoid ruining the footage, and following every take, any disturbance in the sand made by man or camel had to be flattened again in preparation for the next shot. The art direction and costumes are gorgeous; every shade of every dye harkens back to the age of desert warriors. The dialogue in Robert Bolt’s screenplay is of the highest sophistication and intelligence that can be written, gripping, witty, poetic and highly quotable.  And Maurice Jarre’s original score is among the finest that has ever graced the silver screen; its use of a full orchestra to convey the sounds of traditional Arabic music outmatches even the Irish-piped themes of James Horner’s score to Braveheart, one of my very favourite film scores of all time.

Over the years, I’ve seen a fair deal of films that are considered classic epics from the 1950s/60s and more often than not, they’ve looked and felt long, garish, over-produced, forced and even silly at times; what separates Lawrence of Arabia from these is difficult to tell, although I have a feeling that it might partially be because it was not a Hollywood-based production but in fact a completely British financed production, so it has hardly any large exaggerated constructions and zero cheap-looking animated effects that seem to be there simply to show how much money they cost. This film is almost unmistakably the fastest moving 3 hours and 45 minutes I have ever seen; it’s an epic that fascinates and envelops its audience throughout with its complex, even disturbing anti-hero, its stunning photography and its historical background and story. How influential is this film exactly? Think of Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese all listing this film and the other works of director David Lean as one of their greatest influences in becoming filmmakers, and considering my intent on following similar footsteps, I’m backing that opinion. Epics like this are so hard to find today and even harder to find made well.  In total, I've probably seen Lawrence of Arabia nine times and I was there in the theatre to celebrate its 50th Anniversary last year; any serious filmgoer or aspiring filmmaker should be encouraged to experience it the same way.

Star-rating: ********** out of **********

Final evaluation: Absolute Masterpiece!

"DAMASCUS!"