Burton Tim - Peter OToole: the definitive biography

THE DEFINITIVE BIOGRAPHY

ROBERT SELLERS

Thomas Dunne Books
St. Martins Press
New York

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I would like to thank the many friends and colleagues of Peter OToole who agreed to share their memories.

Sheila Allen, David Andrews, Mark Linn-Baker, Keith Baxter, Frawley Becker (also excerpts from his book: And the Stars Spoke Back), Martin Bell, Philip Bond, Barbara Taylor Bradford, Ivar Brogger, Martyn Burke, Sally Burton, Michael Byrne, John Cairney, Barbara Carrera, Peter Cellier, Joe Chappelle, Petula Clark, Ray Cooney, Delia Corrie, Mary Coughlan, Michael Craig, Barry Cryer, Paul DAlton, Michael Deeley, Pauline Devaney, Clive Donner, Donald Douglas, Patrick Dromgoole, Mark Eden, Susan Engel, Derek Fowlds, Billy Foyle, Christopher Fulford, William Gaskill, Jack Gold, Nonnie Griffin, Michael Gruskoff, Steve Guttenberg, Bryan Hands, Edward Hardwicke, Lisa Harrow, Elizabeth Harris, Rosemary Harris, Anthony Harvey, Arthur Hiller, Keith Hunt, Gemma Jones, Nicole Keniheart, Sara Kestelman, Terence Knapp, Nate Kohn, Phyllida Law, Brad Lewis, Kevin Loader, Peter Medak, Jane Merrow, Roger Michell, Royce Mills, Zia Mohyeddin, Bruce Montague, Michael Neilson, Lee Nelson, Richard Oliver, Tony Palmer, Basil Pao, Johnnie Planco, Amanda Plummer, Erik Preminger, Kevin Quarmby, Steve Railsback, Gary Raymond, Michael Redwood, Tony Rimmington, Malcolm Rogers, Richard Rush, Oliver Senton, Carolyn Seymour, Andrew Sinclair, Brian Trenchard-Smith, Bernardo Stella, Peter Strauss, Jeremy Thomas, Stephen Thorne, David Tringham, Joseph Wambaugh, Roger Young.

All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.

T. E. LAWRENCE (Seven Pillars of Wisdom)

He was like Peter Pan, Captain Hook and Tinker Bell all in one.

DIRECTOR ANTHONY HARVEY ON PETER OTOOLE.

When I was a very young man, Peter OToole was a deity, he had the status of God. There was a different kind of celebrity then, than there is now. It was less defined by behaviour, by fist bumps and twerking as you leave the room. It was an international celebrity that included the greatest of artists, writers, philosophers, actors, royalty: Laurence Olivier, Kurt Vonnegut, Jackie Kennedy, Mick Jagger, Elizabeth Taylor, Princess Grace of Monaco, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Truman Capote. Squinting through the glare of this luminous world you could make out the dominant profile of Peter OToole. I was in awe of their world.

I remember asking my young bride, What do you have to accomplish in life in order to know these people, to have a cup of coffee with Peter OToole? Im telling you all this because I found out what. While we were making The Stunt Man, Peter and I became friends. We had coffee. And we talked a lot about the movies and about other things. Im a pilot and Peter would go flying with me. I would give him the controls, and he loved to zoom down from the Santa Monica Mountains down into the city and out over Malibu. Id occasionally meet his friends. I remember running into John Hurt in a coffee shop with Peter. It was the year Hurt won the BAFTA for Best Actor in The Elephant Man. Peter was teasing him mercilessly, guffawing loudly because John won the award for a picture where you never once saw his face. It was completely wrapped in a burlap sack. You won for the soundtrack. John was happily sharing the joke.

On another occasion, I was having a meal with Peter and John Mills, who had won an Academy Award for his work in David Leans film Ryans Daughter. I was seeking advice from both of them as to whether the behaviour of Eli Cross as written in a certain scene in my film was too sinister. Mills gave me an example of David Leans behaviour. They are shooting. Mills is in a boat, in the surf. The boat capsizes. Mills is seriously drowning. He screams for help. The crew rush out to save him as David Lean screams, Stop! You fucking idiots, dont cross the fucking beach! Youll make footprints in the sand! Im shooting here! Eli Cross seemed suddenly more benevolent to me.

After the movie, Peter was visiting the States and living with us temporarily. On the morning when he and I were going to the Oscar ceremony Peter was up for Best Actor and me for directing and writing Peter staggered sleepily out of the guest house to poolside, rose to his full height and stature, and proclaimed at the top of his lungs, Today, I am a movie star! Truth is, he was a movie star every day, but never at the expense of sacrificing a speck of his perfection as an artist.

Richard Rush 2014

In January 2003 the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced their decision to bestow upon Peter OToole their Lifetime Achievement Oscar. Far from chuffed about it, he told them to get lost. Here was an actor who over the course of his career had received seven nominations for Best Actor without a single win, a record he shared with Richard Burton. , says his Stunt Man co-star Steve Railsback. He had all those nominations and not a single win! And some of the most brilliant performances we can ever see.

They do say its an honour just to be nominated. Well, for OToole it wasnt, not any more.. Im fed up. Second prize is no prize, thank you very much indeed. And thats how he felt about this honorary Oscar farrago. It sounded too much like a consolation prize and they could stick it. He didnt exactly put it like that, instead declaring in a note to the Academy that he was Still in the game and might win the lovely bugger outright. And so he asked, Would the Academy please defer the honour until I am eighty?

Somewhat affronted, the Academys board of directors replied, We unanimously and enthusiastically voted you the honorary award because youve earned and deserved it. The shows producer went further, branding OToole silly for not attending the ceremony. Not half as silly as the Academy failing seven times to give the man a proper Oscar.

he changed his mind, somewhat at the last minute, says Johnnie Planco, who represented OToole in America. He had talked to a lot of people, those whose opinions he respected, and theyd said, are you crazy not to do this! So he agreed to attend the ceremony and flew his son Lorcan and his daughter Kate out there. It was a special night.

Of course, having left it so late all the best hotels in Los Angeles were booked solid and he ended up staying at the Le Montrose, a popular hangout for musicians just off the Sunset Strip, but not the sort of establishment normally reserved for a star of OTooles standing.

The ceremony on 23 March was taking place under controversial circumstances. Just days earlier America had invaded Iraq and several actors had resigned from their roles as presenters citing safety concerns and respect for military families. Broadcaster ABC had even tried to postpone proceedings, but the show went on with thousands of anti-war protesters gathered outside the Kodak Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. None of this seemed to affect OToole, who was taking everything in his stride. both at rehearsal and on the night in the palm of his hand, confirms Planco. Because he was always so calm. He wasnt excited about, oh its the Oscars! He remained composed and calm the whole evening.