Albert Finney | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos | AllMovie twitter Biography by Mike Cummings Throughout his acting career, Albert Finney has impressed critics with his protean ability to step into a role and wear a character's persona no matter the age, nationality, or métier. In stage, film, and television productions over more than 40 years, Finney has portrayed a Polish pope, a Belgian detective, an Irish gangster, a British miser, a gruff American lawyer, a Scottish King, a German religious reformer, and an Roman warrior -- all with convincing authenticity. Finney was born on May 9, 1936, in the working-class town of Salford, Lancashire, England. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1955, he performed Shakespeare and quickly earned a coveted spot as understudy for the great Laurence Olivier in Shakespeare productions at Stratford-upon-Avon. On one occasion, he stepped into Olivier's shoes to play the lead role in Coriolanus, a play about the downfall of a proud Roman soldier, and won recognition that led to film roles.

Finney's upbringing in Lancashire, a region of mills and smokestacks, exposed him to the kind of social injustice and economic hardship that helped prepare him for his role as a nonconformist factory worker in the 1960 film Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, a milestone in the development of British realist cinema. Critics -- who hardly noticed him in the bit-part role he played in his first film, The Entertainer -- universally praised his vibrant performance in Saturday Night. This success earned him the lead role in director Tony Richardson's 1963 film Tom Jones, adapted by screenwriter John Osborne from the Henry Fielding novel of the same name. As the wenching country boy Jones, Finney was a bawdy, rollicking, uproarious success, helping the film win four Academy awards. Rather than abandon live stage drama, Finney continued to pursue it with the National Theatre Company at the Old Vic in London, performing in Shakespeare productions and plays by other authors. He won Tony nominations for Luther and A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, as well as a best actor Oliver for Orphans.

When he made his next film in 1967, he starred opposite Audrey Hepburn in Stanley Donen's Two for the Road, a comedy-drama about marital mayhem, and again won high critical praise. If there was a pattern to the types of roles he selected, it was that there was no pattern. For example, after playing a 20th century art enthusiast in 1969's Picasso Summer, he took on the role of a 19th century Dickens character in Scrooge (1970), then played a bickering husband in Alpha Beta (1973), Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express (1974), a Napoleon-era Frenchman in The Duellists (1978), a werewolf hunter in Wolfen (1981), and a plastic surgeon/murder suspect in the ludicrous Looker (1981). After winning an Academy award nomination for his performance in 1982's Shoot the Moon, Finney delivered another outstanding performance in Peter Yates' 1983 film The Dresser, which earned five Oscar nominations, including a nomination for Finney as best actor.

In the film, Finney plays a boozing Shakespearean actor whose life strangely parallels the tragic life of one of the characters he portrays, King Lear. In 1984, Finney won still another Oscar nomination, as well as a Golden Globe nomination, for his role as a self-defeating alcoholic in director John Huston's Under the Volcano. In the same year, critics praised him highly for his dynamic portrayal of Pope John Paul II in an American TV production. Finney continued to take on diverse and challenging roles in the late 1980s and during the 1990s, primarily in small, independent productions. Among the films that earned him more accolades were the Coen brothers' gangster epic Miller's Crossing (1990) -- for which Finney replaced actor Trey Wilson after his untimely death -- as well as A Man of No Importance (1994), The Browning Version (1995), and Simpatico (1999). Also in 1999, he won the BAFTA TV award for best actor for his role in A Rather English Marriage.

2000's Erin Brockovich exposed Finney to the widest audience he'd seen in years: playing the hangdog attorney Ed Masry, Finney proved to be the perfect comic foil to Julia Roberts ' brassy heroine, and in the process secured himself Golden Globe and Academy award nominations for best supporting actor. Though a Golden Globe Award eluded him that year, he returned in two years and won for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in the made-for-television film The Gathering Storm. 2003 saw Finney in his biggest role since Erin Brockovich. In Tim Burton's Big Fish, he played Edward Bloom in present-day scenes, while Ewan McGregor assumed the role of the eccentric storyteller in flashbacks. The actor once again proved to be a favorite of the Hollywood Foreign Press when he received yet another Golden Globe nomination for his work. 2006 found the now veteran actor appearing in the Ridley Scott dramedy A Good Year, in which he played the uncle to a younger version of Russell Crowe through flashbacks. He also signed on to appear in Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, a thriller staring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Marisa Tomei.

In 2007 he was cast as the mastermind behind the program that created Jason Bourne in The Bourne Ultimatum, a roll he reprised five years later in The Bourne Legacy. Over the years, Finney saw the end of two major performances in his personal life: his first marriage to Jane Wenham (1957-61) and his second marriage to Anouk Aimée (1970-1978). He has one son, Simon, from his first marriage. Movie Highlights Factsheet Both his father and his grandfather were successful bookies. Twice failed his finals at Salford Grammar School, prompting the headmaster to suggest he apply to RADA. Attended RADA with Alan Bates, Peter O'Toole and Brian Bedford. Chosen to play the title role in Lawrence of Arabia but turned it down because it would mean signing a long-term contract; recommended O'Toole for the role, and went on to star in Tom Jones instead. Sang in two of his films: Scrooge (1970) and Annie (1982).

Peter O'Toole - Microsoft Store Peter O'Toole Actor 02/08/1932 (84 years old) Connemara, County Galway, Ireland This lauded Irish thespian studied at RADA alongside the likes of Albert Finney and his lifelong friend (and frequent drinking partner) Richard Harris before debuting on the London stage. But movies were where blue-eyed stunner O'Toole became a star. With only a few TV and film parts on his résumé, O'Toole won the title role in the 1962 epic Lawrence of Arabia, though he was not the first choice; myriad actors had turned down the part, including Finney. Yet as writer/adventurer/warrior T.E. Lawrence, O'Toole was magnetic and magnificent, earning his first Academy Award nomination for best actor. For the rest of the decade, he remained a mega movie star, appearing in projects both prestigious (as King Henry II in both Becket and The Lion in Winter, garnering him two more Oscar nods) and popular (the caper How to Steal a Million, the comedy What's New, Pussycat?).

He even tackled a musical, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, earning yet another Oscar nomination. But in the '70s, despite a nod for his turn as an insane nobleman in the satire The Ruling Class, O'Toole's hard off-screen life began to catch up with him. Although married to actress Siân Phillips with two children, he was a notorious ladies' man and heavy drinker. His career and health began to suffer, and doctors eventually had to remove parts of his stomach and intestines. O'Toole nearly died, but went on to make a full recovery. In the '80s, after some low-profile projects and a divorce, he made a comeback with a pair of Oscar-nominated turns: a manipulative director in the thriller Stunt Man and a washed-up, alcoholic movie star in the comedy My Favorite Year. While O'Toole continued to work steadily, he often signed on to projects of dubious quality (Supergirl, Club Paradise, King Ralph) seemingly just for the paycheck. In 2003, having been nominated for---but never winning---seven acting Oscars (a record he shared with buddy Richard Burton), he finally took home an honorary statuette.

However, O'Toole was initially hesitant to accept it, and wrote a note to the Academy stating that despite his advanced age, he was "still in the game and might win the lovely bugger outright." In 2006, he proved that wasn't an empty boast when he was nominated for an eighth Oscar for his work as an elderly actor involved with a teen in Venus. A couple years later, O'Toole accepted a rare recurring TV role, playing Pope Paul III on the second season of Showtime period drama The Tudors; but he continued to remain active on the big screen, which had always been where his talents truly shone---Oscar or no Oscar. Glenn Close, Peter O’Toole among Oscars’ biggest losers | New York Post Glenn Close, Peter O’Toole among Oscars’ biggest losers Modal Trigger Glenn Close and Peter O'Toole are among those who never nabbed the gold statue. FilmMagic; Bauer-Griffin If you’re the kind of actor Hollywood likes to nominate for Oscars, it’s better to win one by your fifth nomination. After that, the odds of you actually taking home the gold begin to diminish.

Megastar Paul Newman had to wait for his seventh nod to win for “The Color of Money,” not even his best film, to get his — when he could have easily won for “The Verdict” or “Cool Hand Luke,” among other films. And Hollywood finally recognized New York theater legend Geraldine Page on her eighth and final try, for Best Actress in “The Trip to Bountiful.” This year, Amy Adams and Leonardo DiCaprio received their fifth nominations and both lost , to Cate Blanchett and Matthew McConaughey, respectively. Adams and DiCaprio are much-admired performers, but it’s beginning to look like they’ll never take home Oscar. Should that happen, they’ll be in sterling company: Richard Burton Richard Burton not only made headlines with Elizabeth Taylor, but movies, too (“Cleopatra,” right).Getty Images (2) He was the kind of actor who many people assumed had an Oscar. But, no. Burton made headlines with Elizabeth Taylor, but not with Oscar. Seven nominations, no win.

Thelma Ritter Ritter appeared in a number of films, including “Rear Window” with Grace Kelly (center) and James Stewart (right).Everett Collection (2) One of Hollywood’s greatest character actresses, Ritter could steal a scene from anybody — even Bette Davis — which brought her six Oscar nominations in a celebrated career. Sadly, she never won. Peter O’Toole Screen legend Peter O’Toole earned his first Oscar nod for “Lawrence of Arabia” (right).Bauer-Griffin; ZumaPress Poor Peter. The sublime Irish actor made his name in “Lawrence of Arabia” in 1962 and nabbed the first of eight Oscar nominations. He was brilliant in dramas (“The Lion in Winter”), but truly excelled at comedies such as “My Favorite Year” and “The Ruling Class.” Despite universal admiration, O’Toole died last year without winning a Best Actor Oscar. He was given an honorary award in 2007.

Glenn Close Glenn Close was most recently nominated for “Albert Nobbs” (right).WireImage; Patrick Redmond Close, 65, has won several Emmys, Tonys and a couple of Golden Globes, but Oscar will not ask her to dance. She has been nominated six times in lead and supporting categories, most recently for a crossdressing role in “Albert Nobbs.” Albert Finney Albert Finney starred in the 1970 flick “Scrooge,” as the title character.20th Century Fox; Everett Collection Like Burton, Finney turned in many fine performances, but after five nominations, he still hasn’t won. Deborah Kerr Deborah Kerr starred in a variety of films, including “From Here to Eternity” (left) and “Black Narcissus” (right). She was a big star in the 1940s and ’50s, making such iconic films as “From Here to Eternity” and “The King and I.” Yet Oscar, who smiled at her six times, always played hard-to-get, and Kerr went to her grave with only an honorary Oscar, in 1994.

Share this: Remembering Peter O'Toole: Five roles we won't soon forget - latimes Remembering Peter O'Toole: Five roles we won't soon forget December 15, 2013 |By Jessica Gelt Actor Peter O'Toole in an undated photo. The actor died Saturday in… (Associated Press ) Peter O'Toole, the legendary star of stage and screen who shot to stardom with his performance as T.E. Lawrence in David Lean's epic film "Lawrence of Arabia," died Saturday at age 81. The charismatic actor had a career that spanned more than half a century and included eight Academy Award nominations and an honorary Oscar in 2003. So many of his performances moved viewers to laughter and tears. Here are just five that we won't soon forget. "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962). This epic ranks No. 7 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest films of all time. O'Toole received his first Oscar nomination for his portrayal of the real-life British army officer T.E. Lawrence, who was revered for his service during World War I.

O'Toole was not director Lean's first pick to play the role. O'Toole got the role after Albert Finney and Marlon Brando turned it down. PHOTOS: Celebrities react to death of Peter O'Toole "The Lion in Winter" (1968). Katharine Hepburn won an Academy Award for her work opposite O'Toole in this historical drama adapted from a Broadway play by James Goldman. O'Toole, who was nominated but lost to Cliff Robertson in "Charly," plays King Henry II in 1183; Hepburn is his estranged wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine. Henry has three sons, all of whom want to inherit the throne, but he won't commit to a choice, which causes his offspring (and wife) to conspire against him. Anthony Hopkins makes his big-screen debut in this film as Richard the Lionheart. <script type=\"text/javascript\" src=\""></script>");document.close();})();' frameborder="0" scrolling="no" width="649" height="160"> "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" (1969).

Based on James Hilton's 1934 novella of the same name, "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" stars O'Toole as the shy, uptight Latin teacher, Arthur Chipping, who falls in love with a free-spirited, fun-loving showgirl named Katherine Bridges (Petula Clark). Despite their differences the pair get married and are devoted to each other in the face of obstacles presented by their unlikely union. "The Ruling Class" (1972). O'Toole displayed the breadth of his talent when he played Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred Gurney (Jack Gurney) in this biting satire based on a Peter Barnes stage play. When Jack's father, Ralph Gurney, dies accidentally of asphyxiation, Jack becomes the 14th Earl of Gurney. This would be well and good except that Gurney is a paranoid schizophrenic who thinks he is Jesus Christ. He dances and sings at inappropriate times and sleeps upright on a cross. O'Toole's hysterical, sometimes disturbing performance earned him another Oscar nomination and has since become a cult classic. "My Favorite Year" (1982).

This comedy finds O'Toole playing a riotous former matinee idol, Alan Swann. As the era of television dawns, Swann is mostly washed up. He's also a fall-down drunk. Mark Linn-Baker plays Benjy Stone, a young comedy writer for a television variety show. Stone idolizes Swann, and when Swann's alcoholism threatens his chance at appearing on the show, Stone promises to keep him sober in the week leading to his guest spot. Today the film holds the rare distinction of having a 100% "fresh rating" on Rotten Tomatoes. ALSO: Peter O'Toole. Biography, news, photos and videos Horoscope : Leo Born in Connemara, Galway, on August 2, 1932, Peter departed Irish shores when his family relocated to Leeds. As a teenager he set his heart on becoming a journalist, and dropped out of school at the age of 14 to join the Yorkshire Evening Post as a copy boy. It wasn't long before the desire to perform struck, however.

Following a stint as a radio man in the Royal Navy, the youngster won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where his peers included Albert Finney, Richard Harris and Alan Bates. After Peter joined the Bristol Old Vic in 1955 at the age of 23 his reputation grew, with critic Kenneth Tynan commenting on his role in The Long, The Short And The Tall: "In the case of Mr O'Toole I sense a technical authority that may, given discipline and purpose, presage greatness." It wasn't long before the prediction came to fruition when, in 1962, Peter landed a part that would change his life forever. His performance in David Lean's desert tribesmen epic Laurence Of Arabia earned him a best actor Bafta and an Oscar nomination while making him a global star. The Academy Award that year went to Sydney Poitier, though, and despite Peter's numerous nominations the coveted gong was a long time in coming. It was to be 2003 before he took an Honorary statuette home with him, and then he initially turned down the offer, saying: "I'm still in the game and might win the lovely bugger outright.

Would is be possible to defer the honour until I'm 80?". Eventually persuaded to change his mind, he declared, "Always a bridesmaid, never a bride, my foot!", as he accepted the honour, adding: "I have my very own Oscar now, to be with me 'til death do us part." Going hand in hand with his career was his reputation as a hell raiser. "I can't stand light. I hate weather. My idea of heaven is moving from one smoke-filled room to another," he once joked. The boozing which accompanied such a lifestyle was to nearly cost the actor his life, however, and in 1975 after undergoing extensive surgery for pancreatitis he stopped drinking. His personal life also suffered, and his marriage to Welsh actress Sian Phillips, with whom he has two children Pat and Kate, ended in the Seventies. "I was a willing accomplice," says Sian of the years she spent putting up with her husband's misadventures. "I did a lot of things I would never have done on my own.

I owe him a lot." For his part, the actor was equally understanding: "Thank God for the tolerance shown to me by ladies with whom I've had long stretches, because I'm quite hopeless with women." In 1982 came his seventh Oscar nomination for his portrayal of a star who disappears into the bottle in My Favourite Year. At the end of that decade, and again in 1999, he won further plaudits for his theatre performances playing the notoriously pickled title character in Jeffrey Barnard Is Unwell. But in spite of triumphs such as these and his turn as an English tutor in Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor, Peter's career came to be characterised by minor roles in prestigious productions and larger parts in smaller flicks. While years of hard living have taken their toll on his health and former good looks "If you'd been any prettier, it would have been Florence of Arabia," legendary playwright Noel Coward once told him the actor seems to have survived almost in spite of himself. Now he teams up with a new generation of cine hunks, sharing the screen for 2004's Troy with Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom .

Accepting his honorary gong at the 2003 Oscars he told the audience how his craft continues to inspire him: "The magic of the movies enraptured me when I was a child. As I totter into antiquity, movie magic enraptures me still." Indeed he is as committed to movie-making as ever. While making the 2006 British black comedy Venus the 74-year-old actor fell and broke his hip. After a hip replacement he was back on set within a month, determined to get the job done. It was worth the effort - the role won him his eighth Oscar nomination. His daughter Kate, who describes him as "the same as ever, still naughty" is convinced it won't be the last time he's nominated either. "Actors don't retire, they die with their boots on, and Peter has got a lot of projects in the pipeline," she promises. © 2000-2017, HELLO!

Peter O'Toole - Biography - IMDb Peter O'Toole Biography Showing all 99 items Jump to: Overview (4) | Mini Bio (2) | Spouse (1) | Trade Mark (7) | Trivia (56) | Personal Quotes (29) Overview (4) 6' 2" (1.88 m) Mini Bio (2) A leading man of prodigious talents, Peter O'Toole was raised in Leeds, England, the son of Constance Jane Eliot (Ferguson), a Scottish nurse, and Patrick Joseph O'Toole, an Irish bookie. As a boy, he decided to become a journalist, beginning as a newspaper copy boy. Although he succeeded in becoming a reporter, he discovered the theater and made his stage debut at 17. He served as a radioman in the Royal Navy for two years, then attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, where his classmates included Albert Finney , Alan Bates and Richard Harris . He spent several years on-stage at the Bristol Old Vic, then made an inconspicuous film debut in 1960.

In 1962, O'Toole was chosen by David Lean to play T.E. Lawrence in Lean's masterpiece, Lawrence of Arabia (1962). The part made O'Toole an international superstar. He continued successfully in artistically rich films as well as less artistic but commercially rewarding projects. He received Academy Award nominations (but no Oscar) for seven different films. However, medical problems (originally thought to have been brought on by his drinking but which turned out to be stomach cancer) threatened to destroy his career and life in the 1970s. He survived by giving up alcohol and, after serious medical treatment, returned to films with triumphant performances in The Stunt Man (1980) and My Favorite Year (1982). His youthful beauty lost to time and drink, O'Toole has found meaningful roles increasingly difficult to come by, though he remains one of the greatest actors of his generation. He has two daughters, Pat and Kate O'Toole , from his marriage to actress Siân Phillips . He also has a son, Lorcan O'Toole , by model Karen Brown. He partnered with Jules Buck in "Keep Productions".

He attended a Catholic school where the nuns beat him to correct his left-handedness. O'Toole & Karen Brown's son's name is Lorcan O'Toole . From 1952 to 1954 he attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art as a scholarship student. The title character in the comic strip "Alan Ford", widely popular in Italy, is styled after the physical features of Peter O'Toole Coaching cricket professionally in London. [1997] Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#47). [1995] His daughter Kate O'Toole is a well-respected actress in her own right. Is a supporter of Sunderland football club of the English Premiership. Father was Irish, mother was Scottish. He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 2000 for Outstanding Achievement Award for his theatrical career. Was friends with fellow Irish actor Richard Harris . After Harris died, his family hoped that O'Toole would replace him as Professor Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), but the role went to Michael Gambon instead.

He is only one of six performers to be nominated for an Oscar twice for playing the same role in two separate films. He was nominated as Henry II in Becket (1964) and The Lion in Winter (1968). The other five are Bing Crosby as Father O'Malley in Going My Way (1944) and The Bells of St. Mary's (1945), Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather: Part II (1974), Paul Newman as Fast Eddie Felson in The Hustler (1961) and The Color of Money (1986), Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth I in Elizabeth (1998) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), and Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa in Rocky (1976) and Creed (2015). Furthermore, O'Toole is the only one of these six who was nominated for playing the same character (at two different stages in his life) in films that were not a prequel or sequel to the other. Became an Associate Member of RADA.

Both he and his fellow Irish actor (and close friend), the late Richard Harris appeared in versions of 'Gulliver's Travels': Harris played the 1977 film version Gulliver's Travels (1977) and O'Toole played the Emperor of Lilliput in the 1996 TV-film version Gulliver's Travels (1996), where Ted Danson played Gulliver.

Has portrayed three kings, one of them twice (King Henry II in Becket (1964) also in The Lion in Winter (1968)), one of them fictional (Sir/King Cedric Willingham in King Ralph (1991)) and King Priam in Troy (2004), two emperors, one of them real (Emperor Tiberius Caesar in Caligula (1979)) and one of them fictional (Emperor of Lilliput in Gulliver's Travels (1996)), a fictional prince (Prince Meleagre in The Rainbow Thief (1990)), a real president (President Paul von Hindenburg in Hitler: The Rise of Evil (2003)), a real Pope (Pope Paul III in The Tudors (2007)) and several lords. In 1976 he underwent surgery to remove parts of his stomach and intestine, at the time attributed to his heavy drinking, but later disclosed to be stomach cancer. In the following year he almost died from a blood disorder. These two serious illnesses greatly affected his ability to work at that time.

When he was named the recipient of a Special Oscar for lifetime achievement in 2003, he originally intended to turn it down feeling that the lifetime award signaled the end of his career. He wrote the Academy a letter stating that he was "still in the game" and would like more time to "win the lovely bugger outright." It was only after the Academy informed him that they were bestowing the award on him whether he came to collect it or not that he relented. His performance as "T.E. Lawrence" in Lawrence of Arabia (1962) is the #1 ranked performance of all time in Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006). The 1976 film adaptation of the book "The Man Who Fell To Earth", directed by Nicolas Roeg , was originally meant to be a vehicle for O'Toole. His performance as "Alan Swann" in My Favorite Year (1982) is ranked #56 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time. Nominated 8 times for best actor but has never won an Academy Award. He has more nominations without winning than any other actor.

Cites Rose Byrne and Jodie Whittaker as the best young actresses he has ever worked with. Was a close friend of late actress Katharine Hepburn . Although some believe his daughter, Kate O'Toole is named after Hepburn, according to Sian Phillips' autobiography they named their daughter after Kate, the title character in Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew". They were inspired by the line in the play "Kate, sweet Kate, the prettiest Kate in Christendom". Was originally approached by director Billy Wilder to play "Sherlock Holmes" in The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970), opposite Peter Sellers as "Dr. Watson". Wilder later decided to go with lesser known stars instead. While at RADA in the early 1950s he was active in protesting British involvement in the Korean War. Later in the 1960s he was an active opponent of the Vietnam War. A close friend of April Ashley . Has named Eric Porter as the actor who has influenced him most.

He was almost cast as Professor Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady (1964) due to concerns that Rex Harrison was too old for the part, but his salary demands were more than producer Jack L. Warner was willing to pay. Broke his hip while filming Venus (2006), but returned to work after only three weeks. It is interesting to note that the DVD of Rogue Male (1976) has a two page biography of Peter O'Toole that at the end reads as follows: Peter O'Toole died in 2003 after a long illness. Whoever entered that erroneous fact must have been very surprised to see Peter show up at the Academy Awards for his nomination in Venus (2006). Resides in Galway, Ireland and London, England. Was the original choice to play King Henry VIII in A Man for All Seasons (1966) but Robert Shaw , who went on to receive a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his performance, was cast instead. His actual date of birth went unrecorded, and O'Toole has said himself that he may have been born in June 1932.

Allegedly declined a knighthood for political reasons in 1987. Has said that he learned more about acting by working with José Ferrer in Lawrence of Arabia (1962) than in any acting class. Ferrer himself considers that role to be his best. Ironically, Ferrer nearly declined the role he played because it was so small -- roughly five minutes out of a four hour movie. Won his career-making part in Lawrence of Arabia (1962) after it was turned down by superstar Marlon Brando and a then-unknown Albert Finney . Both director David Lean and producer Sam Spiegel (who produced On the Waterfront (1954), the movie for which Brando and Spiegel won their first Oscars) wanted Brando, but he turned the role down (allegedly saying he didn't want to spend two years of his life riding on a camel). Finney was put through extensive screen-tests costing 100,000 pounds, but refused to sign a seven year contract demanded by Spiegel. O'Toole signed the seven-year contract and got the part. Is a lifelong cricket and rugby fanatic.

According to his daughter Kate O'Toole , the actor wears green socks every day due to personal superstitions. He played the first Roman Emperor Augustus in Imperium: Augustus (2003), whereas his ex-wife, Siân Phillips , played Augustus' wife, Livia, in I, Claudius (1976). Was scheduled to star with Toshirô Mifune in "Will Adams", to be directed by John Huston , with screenplay by Dalton Trumbo and produced by Eugene Frenke and Jules Buck . "A daring adventurer challenges the traditions of a mighty empire". (July 10, 2012) Announced his retirement from acting. Chosen by GQ magazine as one of the 50 most stylish men of the past 50 years. Remained friends with ex-wife Siân Phillips after their divorce. He worked with Peter Sellers , Woody Allen , Ursula Andress and Burt Bacharach on both What's New Pussycat (1965) and Casino Royale (1967).

In his later films (from the 1980s onwards) he is frequently seen wearing an Irish Claddagh ring on the third finger of his right hand. After his death his ashes were brought back to Ireland, where they are held in safe keeping by President Michael D Higgins in his official residence, Áras an Uachtaráin, until he can be laid to rest in the west of Ireland. He appeared in two Best Picture Academy Award winners: Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and The Last Emperor (1987). He was offered the role of Grigori Rasputin in Nicholas and Alexandra (1971) but he turned it down. Tom Baker was eventually cast.

The Albert Finney Picture Pages Hercule Poirot Background: Five-time Academy Award-nominated English actor Albert Finney, who rose to film star fame with his definitive portrayal of the working class rebel in ''Saturday Night and Sunday Morning'' (1960), has been nominated for the coveted award for his performances in the films ''Tom Jones'' (1963), ''Murder on the Orient Express'' (1974; as Detective Hercule Poirot), ''The Dresser'' (1983), ''Under the Volcano'' (1984; all four for Best Actor category), and ''Erin Brockovich'' (2000; for Best Supporting Actor). His later film work included "Delivering Milo" (2001), "The Gathering Storm" (2002; TV), "Big Fish" (2003), "Corpse Bride" (2005; voice), "A Good Year" (2006), "Amazing Grace" (2006), "The Bourne Ultimatum" (2007) and "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" (2007).

A graduate and an associate member of RADA, Finney's stage work also received critical acclaim. He was twice nominated for Broadway's Tony Award as Best Actor (Dramatic): in 1964 for playing the title character of Martin Luther in John Osborne's "Luther," and in 1968 for Peter Nichols' "A Day in the Death of Joe Egg." "I'm not the romantic type. I'm a bit like the late, great Peter Sellers, only happy in character roles." Albert Finney On a more personal note, the 5' 9" stage and screen star was romantically involved with screen legend Audrey Hepburn during the filming of their film "Two for the Road" (1967) and had a relationship with Zoe Caldwell (1959-1960) and Pene Delmage (together since 1990). He was married to British actress Jane Wenham, French actress Anouk Aimee, and Katherine Attson.

Albie Childhood and Family: In the working class town of Salford, Greater Manchester, England, Albert Finney, nicknamed ''Albie,'' was born on May 9, 1936, to Alice (Hobson) and Albert Finney, Sr., a bookmaker. Although he was born working class, he had a relatively privileged upbringing as his father was a successful bookie. Finney attended Salford Grammar School in Salford, England, and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London, England, where his classmates included Alan Bates and Peter O'Toole. He graduated in 1955 and became an Associate Member of RADA. He is also a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) in Stratford-Upon-Avon, England, where he performed for three seasons in the early eighties. Finney was married to British actress Jane Wenham (born November 26, 1927) from 1957 to 1961 and they have one son, Simon, who works in the film business as a technician.

From August 7, 1970, to 1978, Finney was married to Academy Award-nominated, Golden Globe-winning French film actress Anouk Aimee (born April 27, 1932), daughter of the actress Geneviève Sorya. He also had one son in 1990 with Katherine Attson, whom he was married to from 1989 to 1991. His son, Declan Finney, currently studies at Colchester Sixth Form College and lives with his mother. Finney allegedly declined a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) honor in 1980 and a Knighthood in 2000. "Call me Sir if you like! Maybe people in America think being a Sir is a big deal. But I think we should all be Misters together. I think the Sir thing slightly perpetuates one of our diseases in England, which is snobbery. And it also helps keep us 'quaint,’ which I'm not a great fan of. You don't get much with the title anymore.

That was all carved up by the robber barons in the Middle Ages." Albert Finney Saturday Night and Sunday Morning Career: Having headlined 15 school plays between the age of 12 and 17, Albert Finney honed in on his talent at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), in London, England, alongside Alan Bates and Peter O'Toole. He graduated in 1955 and began his stage career with the stock company of the Birmingham Repertory Company, playing Brutus in the company's production of "Julius Caesar," followed by title roles in "Hamlet," "Henry V" and "Macbeth." Finney made his London debut at the Old Vic in the Birmingham Repertory Company production of George Bernard Shaw's "Caesar and Cleopatra" in 1956, and received positive reviews for his performance opposite Charles Laughton in a West End production of "The Party'' in 1958.

The following year, he signed up with the well-known Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-on-Avon for their 100th anniversary season, performing Edgar in "King Lear", Cassio in "Othello" (directed by Tony Richardson with Paul Robeson in the lead), Lysander in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (he teamed up again with Charles Laughton) and the First Citizen in "Coriolanus," for which he also understudied Laurence Olivier in the title role. In 1960, Finney made his film acting debut with a small role as Laurence Olivier's son in Tony Richardson's Oscar-nominated adaptation of John Osborne's play of the same name, "The Entertainer." Not long after his debut, he snagged his first leading film role in that same year's film, "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning," which was produced by Tony Richardson. In Karel Reisz's classic, Finney portrayed the lead character of Arthur Seaton, a reckless young factory worker who lives for his weekends.

He was universally praised for his vibrant performance and won a Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles award at BAFTA and Best Actor awards at the Mar del Plata Film Festival and with the National Board of Review. "I was the first man to be seen sleeping with another man's wife in an English film." Albert Finney (on his character in the film ''Saturday Night and Sunday Morning,” 1960) Also in 1960, Finney received excellent reviews for his stage turn in Lindsay Anderson's production of "The Lily-White Boys," despite the show's brief run. Additionally, he delivered a triumphant performance on the London stage as the title character of "Billy Liar." Tom Courtenay would later replace him in John Schlesinger's 1963 film version. After reuniting with Richardson in "Luther" in Paris, the Netherlands and London, Finney, a virtual unknown at the time, became the director's first choice to play the title role in David Lean's award-winning biopic ''Lawrence of Arabia" (1962).

However, Finney, who wasn't sure the film would be a success, turned down the role and was replaced by Peter O'Toole. He then made his stage directing debut with Harold Pinter's "The Birthday Party" at the Citizens Theater, in Glasgow, Scotland. 1963 proved to be Finney's year when he garnered critical acclaim both for his stage and film work. His Broadway debut, in which he reprised the role of "Luther" in the Richardson-directed play, earned him a Tony nomination. He also received his first Best Actor Oscar nomination for his portrayal of the titular hero, "Tom Jones," the adopted son of a British country squire who grows up to become a bawdy womanizer, in a comedy film with the same name, which was also directed by Richardson and was adapted from Henry Fielding's classic 1749 novel ''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling.'' Adding to his Oscar nomination, Finney also won a Most Promising Newcomer – Male award at the Golden Globes and Best Actor awards at the New York Film Critics Circle and Venice Film Festival.

The following year, Finney produced and starred in Reisz's 1964 remake of Richard Thorpe's 1937 film that was adapted from Emlyn Williams' psychological thriller play, "Night Must Fall," playing Danny, a working-class psychopath who works for an elderly wealthy widow (played by Mona Washbourne) and plays "games" with her while sleeping with her daughter (played by Susan Hampshire) and maid (played by Sheila Hancock). After forming the production company Memorial Enterprises Ltd. alongside actor Michael Medwin in 1965, Finney made his directional debut with the drama/comedy film "Charlie Bubbles" (1967), in which he also starred as the title character of a successful, married writer who grows bored with his life and begins an affair with his younger secretary (played by a very young Liza Minnelli, in her first film role). Also that year, he co-starred with Audrey Hepburn as a bickering married couple in Stanley Donen's Oscar-nominated romantic drama/comedy film "Two for the Road." 1968 saw Finney's Memorial Enterprises produce Lindsay Anderson's "if...", a cult film that brought stardom to Malcolm McDowell.

That same year, Finney also returned to Broadway and received his second Tony nomination for his performance in "A Day in the Life of Joe Egg." Entering the new decade, Finney portrayed the title character in Ronald Neame's musical film, "Scrooge," an adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic 1843 story, "A Christmas Carol." For his performance, Finney won a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Actor – Musical/Comedy. Two years later, Finney served as an associate artistic director of the Royal Court Theatre and directed several plays. Meanwhile, his production company, Memorial Enterprises, also helped produce Anderson's 1973 surreal British film, "O Lucky Man!," which stars Malcolm McDowell. In 1974, Finney garnered a second Best Actor Oscar nomination for his turn as the brilliant Belgian detective Hercule Poirot in Sidney Lumet's all-star adaptation of the 1934 novel of the same name by Agatha Christie, "Murder on the Orient Express." The role also nominated him for a BAFTA award and won a Best Actor at the Evening Standard British Film.

Afterward, Finney joined the National Theatre, in London, and focused more on stage work. From 1974 to 1981, he appeared in film only once, in a small role in Ridley Scott's directional debut "The Duellists" (1977; starring Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel). He also recorded "Albert Finney's Album" (Motown Records) in 1977. In 1981, Finney teamed up with Diane Keaton in Alan Parker's look at a disintegrating marriage, "Shoot the Moon." The following year, he reportedly pocketed $1 million to portray Daddy Olivier Warbucks in John Huston's film version of the popular 1977 stage musical, "Annie." Finney co-starred with fellow RADA alumni Tom Courtenay in Peter Yates' film version of Ronald Harwood's successful West End and Broadway play, "The Dresser" (1983), and both actors earned Oscar nominations for Best Actor.

Finney, who portrayed Sir, the aging manager and lead actor of the troupe who begins to come undone from the pressure of touring in bombed-out England, also received nominations at the BAFTA and Golden Globes, as well as won a Best Actor award at the Berlin International Film Festival. Afterward, Finney formed a theater company with actors Richard Johnson and Diana Rigg and acted in the title role of the CBS TV-movie "Pope John Paul II" (1984). He received a fourth time Oscar nomination for a Best Actor for his role in John Huston's "Under the Volcano" (1984), which was based on the 1947 semi-autobiographical novel by English writer Malcolm Lowry. He also reprised his stage role of Harold in Alan J Pakula's independent film adaptation of the popular 1985 psychological thriller play by Lyle Kessler, "Orphans" (1987).

Finney previously was awarded a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Actor in a New Play and a London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actor for his performance in "Orphans." The early 1990s saw Finney played Leo in the Coen brothers' period gangster drama film "Miller's Crossing" (1990; with Gabriel Byrne, Marcia Gay Harden and John Turturro) and deliver a rich, rewarding performance as Maurice Allington in the A&E thriller TV movie "The Green Man" (1991), based on a novel by the noted British author Kingsley Amis. He also showed off an Irish brogue as the local police sergeant of a small Irish village for Gillies MacKinnon's romantic drama "The Playboys" (1992; with Aidan Quinn and Robin Wright Penn) and gave a great performance as an eccentric Southern father in Bruce Beresford's film version of Josephine Humphreys' novel, "Rich in Love" (1993; with Jill Clayburgh, Kathryn Erbe, Kyle MacLachlan, and Piper Laurie).

Additionally, he offered a masterful performance as Andrew Crocker-Harris in Mike Figgis' remake of the 1951 film based on the 1948 Terence Rattigan's play, "The Browning Version" (1994), which won him a Best Actor award from the Boston Society of Film Critics. In the mid 1990s, Finney reunited with Yates for his take on Shane Connaughton's novel, "The Run of the Country" and co-starred in the London stage production of Yasmina Reza's comedic play, "Art." He also portrayed obsessive, self-destructive Daniel Feeld in two Dennis Potter-scripted BBC specials, "Karaoke" and "Cold Lazarus" (aired in the United States on Bravo) and played the drunken Dr. Monygham in the lavish six-hour "Masterpiece Theatre" miniseries presentation of "Joseph Conrad's Nostromo'" (PBS).

Additionally, he portrayed the brilliant, over-protective doctor father of Jennifer Jason Leigh's character in Agnieska Holland's film version of Henry James' romantic/drama novel, "Washington Square." Finney subsequently spent the rest of the 1990s co-starring with Bruce Willis and Nick Nolte in a film adaptation of Kurt Vonnnegut's 1973 novel, "Breakfast of Champions," portraying Kilgore Trout, an "overly creative" science fiction writer, and playing a featured role in Matthew Warchus' screen version of Sam Shepard's 1993 play, "Simpatico," with Nick Nolte, Jeff Bridges, Sharon Stone and Catherine Keener. He also reunited with Tom Courtenay for the "Masterpiece Theatre" drama "A Rather English Marriage" (PBS), an adaptation of a novel by Angela Lambert in which he starred as Reggie and was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Actor.

Entering the new millennium, Finney made a cameo appearance in Steven Soderbergh's award-winning crime/drama film "Traffic," which won him a Screen Actors Guild award for Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture, and portrayed the title character's boss in Soderbergh's "Erin Brockovich" (starring Julia Roberts in the title role), which earned him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. In addition to his Oscar nomination, Finney was also nominated for a BAFTA and a Golden Globe; as well as won a Screen Actors Guild, a Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association, and a London Critics Circle Film award. Meanwhile, he also starred as Elmore Dahl, a lapsed guardian angel sent to convince a soul that life on Earth is worth living, opposite Bridget Fonda and Anton Yelchin, in the David Hubbard's comedy movie "Delivering Milo," which was screened at Cannes.

He then appeared in the music video "Since I Left You" by Melbourne-based electronic music group ''The Avalanches.'' The next year, Finney was cast as Ernest Hemingway in Sergio Dow's film version of Manuel Zapata Olivella's novel, "Hemingway, The Hunter Of Death" (2001). He then portrayed Winston Churchill in the historical TV movie "The Gathering Storm" (2002) and portrayed an older Edward Bloom in Tim Burton's fantasy drama "Big Fish.” He also provided the voice of Finnis Everglot in Tim Burton's Oscar-nominated stop-motion animation film "Corpse Bride" (2005) and co-starred with Russell Crowe in director Ridley Scott's romantic comedy film based on author Peter Mayle's international bestseller of the same name, "A Good Year" (2006). Additionally, he was cast alongside Ioan Gruffudd and Rufus Sewell in Michael Apted's biographical drama "Amazing Grace," as John Newton, the author of the hymn ''Amazing Grace.'' Recently, in 2007, he portrayed Dr.

Albert Hirsch in "The Bourne Ultimatum," a sequel to "The Bourne Supremacy" and the third film of the "Bourne Trilogy" based on the Robert Ludlum novel of the same name. The movie stars Matt Damon.

He also co-starred with Oscar-winning actors Philip Seymour Hoffman and Marisa Tomei in Sidney Lumet's crime/drama/thriller film "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead." Awards: Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television, "The Gathering Storm," 2003 BAFTA: Best Actor, "The Gathering Storm" (TV), 2003 Broadcasting Press Guild: Best Actor, "The Gathering Storm" (TV), 2003 Emmy: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie, "The Gathering Storm," 2002 Screen Actors Guild: Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role, "Erin Brockovich," 2001 Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association: Best Supporting Actor, "Erin Brockovich," 2001 London Critics Circle Film: British Supporting Actor of the Year, "Erin Brockovich," 2001 Screen Actors Guild: Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture, "Traffic," 2001 Boston Society of Film Critics: Best Actor, "The Browning Version," 1994 Joseph Plateau: Best

 Actor, 1985 London Critics Circle Film: Actor of the Year, "Under the Volcano," 1985 Los Angeles Film Critics Association: Best Actor, "Under the Volcano," 1984 Berlin International Film Festival: Best Actor, "The Dresser," 1984 Evening Standard British Film: Best Actor, "Murder on the Orient Express," 1976 Golden Globe: Best Motion Picture Actor - Musical/Comedy, "Scrooge," 1971 Golden Globe: Most Promising Newcomer - Male, "Tom Jones," 1964 New York Film Critics Circle: Best Actor, "Tom Jones," 1963 Venice Film Festival: Best Actor, "Tom Jones," 1963 BAFTA: Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles, "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning," 1961 Mar del Plata Film Festival: Best Actor, "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning," 1961 National Board of Review: Best Actor, "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning," 1961 Peter O’Toole - The Boston Globe Advertisement O’Toole died Saturday at 81, and it

 is possible to say that his career was legendary while never fully living up to its immense potential.

He was possibly the most charismatic, handsome, and gifted of his acting peers, remarkable when you consider that his 1954 graduating class at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art included Richard Harris, Albert Finney, and Alan Bates. Nicola Dove / Miramax Peter O’Toole with Jodie Whittaker in 2006’s “Venus.” For a while, O’Toole had it all, but after a decade-long run from 1958 to 1968 that included two stage Hamlets, two filmed Henry IIs, and a career-defining title role in David Lean’s 1962 “Lawrence of Arabia,” the momentum slipped away. It may have been all the carousing, which achieved iconic proportions until the actor gave up drinking (more or less) in 1975. Or it may have been a curious indecision about celebrity itself. Finney used it, got bored, and became a character actor. But O’Toole made hesitancy his métier. His T. E.

Lawrence is the hero terrified of what heroism may bring — a larger-than-life adventurer when seen from a distance, a tremulous blue-eyed existentialist when encountered up close. The tension, majesty, and sorrow of the performance came from some mysterious place between the two. Get The Weekender in your inbox: The Globe's top picks for what to see and do each weekend, in Boston and beyond. Sign Up Thank you for signing up! Sign up for more newsletters here He was nominated eight times for an Oscar and — here’s the shame of it — he never won. (In this he finally beat his rival and drinking companion Richard Burton, who lost only seven times.) The first four nominations were for Lawrence, a young Henry II in “Becket” (1964), a rip-roaring older version of the same king in “The Lion in Winter” (1968), and the gentle schoolmaster in “Goodbye Mr. Chips” (1969). In terms of star power, it was quite a run. In terms of inspired moonbeam performances, O’Toole was just warming up.

His next nomination came for 1972’s “The Ruling Class” — one of the most exquisitely demented British films ever made — in which he plays an English aristocrat who believes he’s Jesus Christ. In 1980’s “The Stunt Man,” O’Toole’s all-knowing film director, Eli Cross, may in fact be the devil. “My Favorite Year” (1982) was a lovely comedy of nostalgia that allowed O’Toole and audience to connect the dots between the actor’s own legend and his derring-do forebears, John Barrymore and Errol Flynn. And still he didn’t win. This apparently mattered to him more and more as time went on, if not as much as the better acting assignments or the money the worse assignments made possible.

Even as his gaunt beauty turned ravaged with the years, O’Toole chose not to be choosy; I could fill the rest of this space with films like “Brotherly Love” (1970), “Supergirl” (1984), “High Spirits” (1988), and “King Ralph” (1991), all projects in which he briefly and happily classed up the joint before departing with a check. Mike Blake/REUTERS Peter O'Toole P Peter O'Toole Peter Seamus O'Toole (born 2 August 1932) is an actor of stage and screen who achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia. He went on to become a highly-honored film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, and holds the record for most competitive Academy Award acting nominations without a win. He has won four Golden Globes, a BAFTA, an Emmy, and was the recipient of an Honorary Academy Award in 2003 for his body of work.

Early life Peter Seamus O'Toole was born in 1932, with some sources giving his birthplace as Connemara, County Galway, Ireland, and others as Leeds, in West Yorkshire , England, where he also grew up. O'Toole himself is not certain of his birthplace or date, noting in his autobiography that while he accepts 2 August as his birthdate, he has conflicting birth certificates in both countries, with the Irish one giving a June 1932 birthdate. O'Toole is the son of Constance Jane (née Ferguson), a Scottish -born nurse , and Patrick Joseph O'Toole, an Irish metal plater, football player and racetrack bookmaker . When O'Toole was one year old, the O’Tooles began a five-year tour of major racetrack towns in northern England. O'Toole was evacuated from Leeds early in World War II and went to a Catholic School for seven or eight years, where he was "implored" to become right-handed.

“I used to be scared stiff of the nuns: their whole denial of womanhood—the black dresses and the shaving of the hair—was so horrible, so terrifying,” he later commented. “Of course, that's all been stopped. They're sipping gin and tonic in the Dublin pubs now, and a couple of them flashed their pretty ankles at me just the other day.” Upon leaving school O'Toole obtained employment as a trainee journalist and photographer on the Yorkshire Evening Post, until he was called up for National Service as a signaller in the Royal Navy. As reported in a radio interview in 2006 on NPR, he was asked by an officer whether he had something he'd always wanted to do. His reply was that he'd always wanted to try being either a poet or an actor. O'Toole attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) (1952–1954) on a scholarship after being rejected by the Abbey Theatre's Drama School in Dublin by the then director Ernest Blythe, because he couldn't speak Irish. At RADA, he was in the same class as Albert Finney, Alan Bates and Brian Bedford.

O'Toole described this as "the most remarkable class the academy ever had, though we weren't reckoned for much at the time. We were all considered dotty". Career O'Toole began working in the theatre, gaining recognition as a Shakespearean actor at the Bristol Old Vic and with the English Stage Company, before making his television debut in 1954 and a very minor film debut in 1959. O'Toole's major break came when he was chosen to play T. E. Lawrence in David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia (1962), after Marlon Brando proved unavailable and Albert Finney turned down the role. His performance was ranked number one in Premiere magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Performances of All Time. The role introduced him to U.S. audiences and earned him the first of his eight nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor. O'Toole is also one of a handful of actors to be Oscar-nominated for playing the same role in two different films; he played King Henry II in both 1964's Becket and 1968's The Lion in Winter.

O'Toole played Hamlet under Laurence Olivier 's direction in the premiere production of the Royal National Theatre in 1963. He has also appeared in Sean O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock at Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, fulfilling a lifetime ambition when taking to the stage of the Irish capital's Abbey Theatre in 1970 to play in Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett , alongside the stage actor Donal McCann. In 1980, he received wide critical acclaim for playing the director in the behind-the-scenes movie The Stunt Man. His 1980 performance as Macbeth is often considered one of the greatest disasters in theatre history, but he has redeemed his theatrical reputation with his performances as John Tanner in Man and Superman and Henry Higgins in Pygmalion, and won a Laurence Olivier Award for his performance in Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell (1989).

Another fine performance from O'Toole, which gained him a nomination for Best Actor, was 1982's My Favorite Year, a light romantic comedy about the behind-the-scenes at a 1950s TV variety-comedy show, much like Your Show of Shows, in which O'Toole masterfully plays an aging swashbucking film star strongly reminiscent (intentionally) of Errol Flynn. In 1972 he played both Miguel de Cervantes and his fictional creation Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha, the motion picture adaptation of the 1965 smash hit Broadway musical, opposite Sophia Loren . Widely criticized for using mostly non-singing actors and shunned by the public at the time, the film has gone on to become more of a success on videocassette and DVD, though there are those who still find fault with it. O'Toole's singing was dubbed by tenor Simon Gilbert, but the other actors sang their own parts. O'Toole and co-star James Coco, who played both Cervantes's manservant and Sancho Panza, both received Golden Globe nominations for their performances.

He also starred as Audrey Hepburn's lover in How To Steal A Million in 1966. ---- O'Toole won an Emmy Award for his role in the 1999 mini-series Joan of Arc. In 2004, O'Toole played King Priam in the summer blockbuster Troy. In 2005, he appeared on television as the older version of legendary 18th century Italian adventurer Giacomo Casanova in the BBC drama serial Casanova. O'Toole's role was mainly to frame the drama, telling the story of his life to serving maid Edith (Rose Byrne). The younger Casanova seen for most of the action was played by David Tennant, who had to wear contact lenses to match his brown eyes to O'Toole's blue. He was once again nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award for his portrayal of Maurice in the 2006 film Venus, directed by Roger Michell, his eighth such nomination. Most recently, O'Toole co-starred in the Pixar animated film, Ratatouille, an animated film about a rat with dreams of becoming the greatest chef in Paris.

O'Toole starred in the second season of Showtime 's hit drama series The Tudors, portraying Pope Paul III, who excommunicates King Henry VIII from the church; an act that leads to a showdown between the two men in seven of the ten episodes. Personal life In a BBC Radio interview in January 2007, O'Toole said that he had studied women for a very long time, had given it his best try, but knew "nothing". In 1959, he married Welsh actress, Siân Phillips, with whom he had two daughters, Kate O'Toole (b. 1961), an award-winning actress, and Patricia. Peter and Sîan were divorced in 1979. Phillips later revealed in two autobiographies that O'Toole had subjected her to mental cruelty — largely fuelled by drinking — and was subject to bouts of extreme jealousy when she finally left him for a younger lover. O'Toole and his girlfriend, model Karen Brown, had a son, Lorcan Patrick O'Toole (born 14 March 1983: O'Toole was fifty years old).

Lorcan, now an actor, was a pupil at Harrow School, boarding at West Acre from 1996. Severe illness almost ended his life in the late 1970s. Owing to his heavy drinking, he underwent surgery in 1976 to have his pancreas and a large portion of his stomach removed, which resulted in insulin-dependent diabetes . In 1978 he nearly died from a blood disorder. O'Toole eventually recovered and returned to work, although he found it harder to get parts in films, resulting in more work for television and occasional stage roles. However, he gave a star turn in 1987's much-garlanded The Last Emperor. He has resided in Clifden, County Galway, Ireland since 1963 and at the height of his career maintained homes in Dublin, London and Paris (at the Ritz which was the hotel he was supposedly staying in the movie How To Steal A Million), but now only keeps his home in London. While studying at RADA in the early 1950s he was active in protesting against British involvement in the Korean War.

Later in the 1960s he was an active opponent of the Vietnam War. He is perhaps the only one of his "London" acting contemporaries not to be knighted. However, according to London's Daily Mail, he was offered a knighthood or honorary knighthood in 1987, but turned it down for personal and political reasons. In an interview to the Americian National Public Radio in December 2006, O'Toole revealed that he knows all 154 Shakespeare sonnets. A self-described romantic, O'Toole regards the sonnets as among the finest collection of English poems. He reads them daily. In the movie Venus, he recites Sonnet 18, "Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day". O'Toole has written two books. Loitering With Intent: The Child chronicles his childhood in the years leading up to World War II and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 1992. His second, Loitering With Intent: The Apprentice, is about his years spent training with a cadre of friends at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

The books have been praised by critics such as Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times, who wrote: "A cascade of language, a rumbling tumbling riot of words, a pub soliloquy to an invisible but imaginable audience, and the more captivating for it. O'Toole as raconteur is grand company." O'Toole spent parts of 2007 writing his third instalment. This book will have (as he described it) "the meat", meaning highlights from his stage and filmmaking career. O'Toole is a noted fan of rugby and used to attend Five Nations matches with friends and fellow rugby fans Richard Harris and Richard Burton . (Between O'Toole, Harris and Burton they have a combined 17 Oscar nominations.) He is also a lifelong player, coach and enthusiast of cricket . O'Toole is licensed to teach and coach cricket to children as young as ten. O'Toole has been interviewed at least three times by Charlie Rose on The Charlie Rose Show. In the 17 January 2007 interview, O'Toole said that Eric Porter was the actor who had most influenced him.

He also said that the difference between actors of yesterday and today are that actors of his generation were trained for "theatre, theatre, theatre." He also believes that the challenge for the actor is "to use his imagination to link to his emotion" and that "good parts make good actors." However, in other venues (including the DVD commentary for Becket ), O'Toole has also credited Donald Wolfit as being his most important mentor. In an appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on 11 January 2007, O'Toole said that the actor he most enjoyed working with was his close friend, actress Katharine Hepburn with whom he played Henry II to her Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter. O'Toole remains close friends with his Lawrence of Arabia co-star Omar Sharif and his RADA classmate Albert Finney. Academy Award nominations O'Toole has been nominated eight times for the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, making him the most-nominated actor never to win the award. In 2003, the Academy honoured him with an Academy Honorary Award for his entire body of work and his lifelong contribution to film.

O'Toole initially balked about accepting, and wrote the Academy a letter saying he was "still in the game" and would like more time to "win the lovely bugger outright." The Academy informed him that they would bestow the award whether he wanted it or not. Further, as he related on The Charlie Rose Show in January 2007, his children admonished him, saying that it was the highest honour one could receive in the filmmaking industry. O'Toole agreed to appear at the ceremony and receive his Honorary Oscar. It was presented to him by Meryl Streep , who has the most Oscar nominations of any actor (15). Stage appearances 1955–1958 Bristol Old Vic King Lear (1956) (Cornwall) The Recruiting Officer (1956) (Bullock Major Barbara (1956) (Peter Shirley)

Question: Albert Finney turned down which role that won Peter O Toole an Oscar?
Answer: Laurence of Arabia