Becket (1964)
Peter Glenville's 1964 Anouilh play adaptation. Their friendship-to-rivalry through theatrical dialogue.
Actor: Peter OToole
Peter O’Toole was nominated for Best Actor eight times and never won, which is a record, and he initially declined the honorary award in 2003 on the grounds that he was still in the game.
Lawrence of Arabia is the debut and the problem. At twenty-nine he gave a performance of such scale that everything afterward was measured against it, and the film itself is enormous enough to swallow a career.
Becket, The Lion in Winter and The Ruling Class show the range, and My Favorite Year is the late comic performance that people who love him name first.
He was a serious drinker for decades in a generation of them, and his memoirs are among the better-written actor’s books.
