Peter O'Toole in his most recognizable role: Zaltar from Supergirl
We lost Peter O'Toole on Saturday. I'm not going to pretend that I am extremely familiar with Mr. O'Toole's work. Lawrence of Arabia and The Stunt Man are two films that have been on my watch list for almost 15 years. (And, yes, sadly I call myself a film buff.) O'Toole got the role of T.E. Lawrence after Brando was unavailable and Albert Finney turned it down. So, this third-choice actor turned in a performance that Premiere magazine ranked number one on a list of the 100 greatest performances of all time.
You would think if a man turned in the greatest performance of all time, he would win the Best Actor in a Leading Role Oscar for 1962. Unfortunately for O'Toole, 1962 was also the year Gregory Peck turned in another seminal role of cinema as Atticus Finch. O'Toole went on to be nominated seven more times and sadly holds the record for most nominations without a win.
As of now, my primary memories of Peter O'Toole come from The Last Emperor, which he actually caused me to enjoy, and Ratatouille (as Todd and Allen know, sometimes referred to as Rattatooty). I'll be attempting to add more of Peter O'Toole's work to my list of viewed films in the near future.