Peter O’Toole - One of us

In an unusual reversal of the habitual sequestration of national treasures by our nearest neighbour, we were always more than happy to pretend that Yorkshireman Peter O’Toole was an Irishman, born in Connemara.

He never discouraged this happy fiction but it would not be hard to want to be associated with a very fine actor who, in his prime, was physically and spiritually beautiful. Anyone who doubts that assertion need do no more than consider Peter Seamus Lorcan O’Toole’s performance in David Lean’s 1962 masterpiece Lawrence of Arabia. This was O’Toole’s first leading role and he brought to it an intensity that has not often been matched. Indeed the subject matter of that great film is as fraught today as it was during its World War I setting — the calamitous relationships of the Middle East and the doomed efforts of western powers to mediate or influence the region’s politics.

O’Toole held an unenviable record. No other actor received so many Academy Award nominations — eight — without taking the prize but he always gave the impression that he was more than compensated with the honour bestowed on him in this part of the world — honorary Irishman. There have been many others but few were as colourful or as welcome.