Peter O'Toole is certainly aged, but I could still see his eyes full of zeal and vigor as they were back then fifty years ago in his most well known film of "Lorence of Arabia." And as the reporter described below, words from the mouth of this long-time Shakespearean simply melt.
The legend on awards, aging—and good Scotch.
Newsweek International
Feb. 5, 2007 issue - It's a bit of a shock when Peter O'Toole enters a room. He's unsteady on his feet—he's 74—and his piercing blue eyes are rheumy with age. You get the feeling that a strong wind might knock him down. But his shirt collar is at a jaunty angle, he's sporting a lovely ascot and when he opens his mouth to talk, you melt. The voice is still strong and sonorous. The edifice may be crumbling a bit but it's still standing. O'Toole is back in an all-too-familiar role: best-actor nominee. In "Venus," he breaks your heart as a once handsome thespian who develops a complicated relationship with a young woman. It's O'Toole's eighth Oscar nomination—he hasn't won one yet—and if he doesn't win, well, let's hope he never gives up trying. He spoke to NEWSWEEK's Nicki Gostin. Excerpts:
NEWSWEEK: "Venus" is not the typical movie about a relationship with an older person.Peter O'Toole: It's a story of a dirty old man and a slut of a young woman, and then it's an examination of these two casual platitudes, for neither is the full truth. Neither is the case. It has surprises and, I hope, great humor.
Did it make you think of your own mortality? No, not at all. It's a separate compartment. It's like asking a plumber when he finds a leak whether it reminds him that he may have prostate cancer.
In the movie Vanessa Redgrave looks at old pictures of you and says, "He was gorgeous." You were gorgeous. And now you get this prune. When one is young and vain and all the usual things that young men and women are, one never thinks one is anything in particular.
Do you still drink? Not in the same quantities, but I had a lovely Scotch last night. I just don't ... They were good days and I don't regret a drop. I remember Richard Burton and me, when we were doing "Becket," for 16 weeks we didn't have a drink. But the night we finished, oh Christ.
Could you drink Burton under the table? Neither of us could drink either of us under a table.
So it was a draw? [Laughs] Yes, yes.
What's the most you ever drank in one evening? Oh Christ, how can I remember that? In a book, I wrote, "Do you ever go into your local bar in Paris and wake up in Corsica?" So you can imagine.
Waking up on an island! Well, some people would wake up in a ditch or wake up in bed feeling awful. When I was a boy, people drank. That's what you did. We all drank far too much.
Are you married? Certainly not!
Are you seeing anyone? Certainly not!
So you don't miss the company? Certainly not!
Really? [Laughs] When you find me being so emphatic, it means I'm telling you nothing. I was born a bachelor.
But you were married. I was indeed, but I was born a bachelor. I love the company of women. I always have, and I hope I have some more of their company, but I don't particularly want to shack up with anybody. It's a very difficult institution, marriage. It's not for me.
Everyone complains as they get older that there are fewer and fewer parts. Of course there are less parts for old men and women, but you know someone always wants a wheezy, old granddad who will fall off his rocking chair.
Do you have any good friends left? They're all gone. Oh yes, I've got one left. I buried four last year. And what that is, of course, is a bloody inconvenience.
What, going to all the funerals? No. I like writing, and say I finish a chapter and I think, That's not bad, I'll go and ring Ron. And then I'll remember that Ron is dead. I wish they had more consideration than to die on me.
Does your doctor tell you to exercise? A couple of years back I was feeling a bit under the weather so I went to see a physio and he said I should do something, so I went to the cricket school in Lord's and spent six weeks there. I confess that I felt very good indeed. Came Christmas, I woke up and thought, I'm awake and I don't have to work, how lovely! I jumped out of bed, tripped on a pair of shoes and busted my hip. How's that for being fit?
Do you still read Shakespeare? I've got my sonnets by the side of the bed. But I think Shakespeare's plays are vastly overrated.
Really? I do, and above all vastly overdone. Royal F—-ing Shakespeare Company. There are maybe 10 or 11 plays which are masterpieces, which are sublime, but to do the whole 37 of the wretched, bloody things?
What do you think your odds are of getting the Oscar? Five to one, four to one, whatever it is.
I think you'll win. I've heard that for 50 years.
When you got the honorary Oscar you said you'd love to win the lovely bugger outright.Of course I would! I don't want to be an honorary anything. Give me a job and let me do it to my utmost, and if people feel like rewarding me with money or a medal, cool. But I don't want a gold watch at the end of retirement
© 2007 Newsweek, Inc.
