While most of his contemporaries such as Peter Finch, Oliver Reed, Richard Harris and Richard Burton all died at relatively young ages due to "hard living" in their youth, it just makes O'Toole's life all the more remarkable.
But above all this, Peter O' Toole was a talented actor. Although everyone points to LAWRENCE OF ARABIA as the best movie he ever made, I have to disagree. I think THE RULING CLASS is quite possibly the best work he has ever done. His performance as Jack Gurney, the 14th Earl who in the first half of the movie belives himself to be Jesus Christ and later when "cured" belives himself to be Jack the Ripper.
What makes the performance so remarkable (this word will pop up a lot in this blog post) is the way he flipped the switch from funny to frightening. The way despite a very he made such a satirical and unbelieveable character so believeable.
My second favorite is THE LION IN WINTER. The scenes and dialogue between O'Toole's Henry II and the great Katherine Hepburns Eleanor of Aquitaine were so wonderfully acted that you forget there was a 25 year age difference between the two actors.
Looking at many of the actors in my age group and younger, I'm not sure if any of them stack up to the caliber of talent Peter O'Toole possessed in his career. And I'm less sure if any of them will age with the roles they choose as well as O'Toole did later in his career.
Even after youth had long faded, O'Toole acting chops did not fade with them. Parts in movies like VENUS and the television mini-series CASANOVA saw him a very interesting role. One as an older actor and one as an older playboy. Both seemed to mirror O'Toole's life a little bit.
Although, O'Toole didn't meet his end nearly as violently as he did in the movie VENUS.
However, I'm not sure if there are many (if any) of the actors out there who are my age and younger who will age with their roles nearly as well as Peter O'Toole did.
However, we live in a time where marketability comes first and talent comes last. Famous at 15 and a has-been at 25.
I suppose for some it's difficult to say "I can't believe he's gone" at age 81. And the fact that he lived as long as he did with the life he lived, just the fact that he lived to be 81 us all the more amazing.
A great number of the actors out there choose to live the lifestyle Peter O'Toole did but have little to nothing to offer as far as their talents are concerned.
Peter O'Toole was so much more than "just another pretty face". He put his money where his mouth is and had a career most people would give their eye-teeth to have.
To quote his line from THE LION IN WINTER: "My life, when it is written, will read better than it lived".
Farewell, Peter O'Toole.
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