Mesmerizing in Lawrence of Arabia and Lord Jim.
He once remarked on Johnny Carson’s show about the British Press: “When I win an award, I am British Actor Peter O’Toole, but when I am arrested I am Irish Actor Peter O’Toole!”.
Go gently into that good night. . . .
Bob
Joan Fontaine, too.
Rebecca is one of my favorite movies ever, and she’s amazing in it.
Lawrence of Arabia never did anything for me, but I did love Lord Jim. Also High Spirits and Goodbye Mr. Chips. Wasn’t O’Toole buddies with Richard Burton and Richard Harris? Based on some stories, I get the impression that he had a lot more fun in his life than Joan Fontaine did.
My fave was Noel coward’s comment: "If he was any prettier, they’d have to call it Florence of Arabia.
Yes, Noel Coward’s remark addressed how O’Toole portrayed ‘Ned’ Lawrence. . .but not why. 'Course, I’m not sure anyone wants to get into the steaming cauldron of speculation swirling around Mr. Lawrence’s sexuality. . .unlike the fairly convincing evidence for Coward’s persuasion.
Bob
Why would we get into either’s? How boring.
Yup. Yup. Yup. And if you never have any sense of history then everything you know of your life will only ever be what you know of your life.
Groundhog day. How boring.
T.E. Lawrence was a charismatic, enigmatic man surrounded by controversy throughout his life up until death. The romantic figure he cut while participating in events that to this day deeply involve our daily lives presents enormous difficulties to anyone giving us an artistic portrayal. One aspect of his character was a profound ambiguity of his sexuality. . .which at the end of day may have been asexuality (calling to mind Anatole France’s observation that of all the sexual aberrations, perhaps chastity is the strangest. . .)
Lawrence, at the end of WWI found himself at odds with the foreign policy aims of his own government.
Noel Coward was a deeply closeted Gay Man, who lived through the period of history that saw the prosecution of Oscar Wilde for homosexuality. Coward was deeply involved with MI5 and the same foreign policy initiatives Lawrence found himself in opposition to with regard to Arab Independence. For him to attempt to trivialize O’Toole’s portrayal of some of the more difficult portions of Lawrence’s personality is confounding. Coward, himself, was responsible for implementing foreign policy decisions that ultimately have led to the U.K.'s
involvement in at least six military adventures in Persian Gulf, two of which to my sorrow involved American troops as well.
How boring to look into some of the personalities that have profoundly shaped the world we live in. How boring when we pull up to a gas pump and pay an outrageous commercial tax to international conglomerates.
Art, and I consider acting an art, gives us the tremendous gift of ourselves.. And hopefully, through that knowledge seek to change ourselves and our world.
How boring. Perhaps Henry Ford was right. Groundhog Day.
Bob
I believe you missed my point, but thanks for the history bonus.
Mistaken or not, what I saw was the emergence of a possibly homophobic pissing contest. Not good Pub fare.