Katharine Hepburn, his consort in The Lion in Winter (1968), once told Peter OToole that he was profligate with his talent as an actor. But perhaps OTooles metier was always risk. Even in Lawrence of Arabia (1962), when he was not quite 30, he looked like an elegant wreck, dipped in suntan, his eyes full of fever. OToole, who has died aged 81, made his height, his giddy conviction and his theatricality hold that epic together. He was a freed bird in white robes, yet he shuddered like a schoolboy at the thought of torture. In our classic film tonight - Peter OToole stars in THE STUNT MAN. As the monstrous movie director Eli Cross, the picture deliberately court extremism, and which might have been written for OToole. He was outstanding, but his bravura left vague the question of just how good the film was. He was nominated for best actor – and he lost to Robert De Niro in Raging Bull. That was a mark of cult work, true to his private spirit, but not close to the public pulse.
Posted on: Wed, 04 Jun 2014 16:15:45 +0000
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