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Peter O'Toole : A Tribute


The very first time I watched​ Peter O'Toole in a movie was 'The Last Emperor' where he plays a tutor to the incumbent emperor of mainland China. I loved the 'mystic' of that film. To this day, I keep rolling it's climax over in my head. But O'Toole contributed a lot to that movie's effectiveness. I then had to look him over on Internet and it told me that he was an 8 time nominee for Best Actor Oscars without a win and it was a record. Moreover, he had lived his life to the fullest and been dubbed as very mercurial. I then started with his filmography and Like everyone else, went through the ordeal of watching 'Lawrence of Arabia' first. It's to O'Toole's credit that he featured in one of the greatest films ever made under the fantastic direction of the master David Lean.

Everyone knows what followed next. A Topsy turvy journey that at the end, endeared him to everyone in film fraternity all over the world. After the Lawrence, I got a chance to see him in 'Troy' and 'Caligula'. I tried hard to watch his greatest films but something or the another, made me give up on him. Venus is still remaining and so is Becket, The Stunt Man and The Ruling Class. They are elusive to me. But recently I tried again. I got a chance to see him in 'The Lion in Winter' and boy, wasn't he bombastic and so over the top in that film? He was terrifying to me in the film and it's a given that only Katherine Hepburn could have matched that level of a co-star's energetic level. Many said that his Henry in this film lagged behind his Henry in Becket. I keep thinking if that was 'lagging behind', how awe-inspiring would 'Becket' be?

Many on this group unequivocally lauded his performance in 'My Favorite Year'. I had heard so much of his performance in that film that it was one film I so badly wanted to see. And his 'Alan Swann' didn't disappoint me. He was having a ball out there (probably spoofing himself and many others). He confirmed that 'He was a movie star and not an actor'. But God, didn't we know he was sort-of-both and then one-of-his-own-kind?

A three fingers royal salute to the charismatic and most Maverick of all movie legends: Peter O'Toole...

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