"I have a host of memories which I see very clearly," actor Peter O'Toole told Fresh Air's Terry Gross in 1993. "And though I'm very aware of the tricks of memory, I'm also aware of the concrete nature of these brilliantly lit pictures in my mind. They're ineradicable."
Throughout his career, launched by Lawrence of Arabia, O'Toole was nominated for eight Oscars. (Dennis Oulds/Getty Images)
He was on The Tonight Show in the Carson era talking about that movie. I guess like many movies, some of his acting was extemporaneous. He was a little braggadocio about it, in keeping with his rep for being arrogant. But it was a great flick.
Peter O'Toole's face did not look like a real person's face in some of the scenes of that movie, as I remember. More like someone wearing a mask with perfect features (like in the above picture). A mysterious look. Made the film all the more interesting to me.
I never really thought about it, but you're right. I wonder if when they layered on makeup to give him a ruddy look, it negated the normal nuances and shadows that we don't even really notice. As you said...it was a high-quality mask. And it may have been intentional, to set him apart from the others on yet another level.
Not a ruddy look. A pale look, almost like a corpse. With those blue eyes, it was striking. Reminds me of the look of Richard Chamberlain in Dr. Kildare. But that was black and white. I think that photo above is from a wax museum. I was referring to the unreal look. The perfection. Can't explain it very well.
I remember him posing with that far away look. I always thought it was just his acting ability. It wasn't ordinary, that's for sure, and I doubt too many others could do it.
You are right, John. It was a long time ago. My memory is probably bad. This is supposed to be T.E. Lawrence in 1918. Colorized. I didn't double check.
The line for imperfect memories forms right behind me. Of course, his European appearance was even more striking in juxtaposition to those by whom he was surrounded, in the movie and in real life. I wondered if O'Toole's makeup wasn't meant in some way to symbolize his straddling the two worlds, fully belonging to neither. Perhaps it was representative of a transitioning. (Makes one think of "Dances With Wolves," huh?) It's a great movie I'll always watch if it's on.
I'd like to watch it again too. I didn't understand the politics the first time. A little like Dr. Zhivago (also directed by David Lean). I was never sure who were the good guys and who were the bad guys. Maybe that was the point. LOL (Not sure what Bruce Dern's head is doing out in the desert. )