Peter O'Toole

O'Toole trained at RADA and built his name as a Shakespearean actor at the Bristol Old Vic, earning his West End debut in 1959 and playing Hamlet in the National Theatre's first production in 1963. His film break came with Lawrence of Arabia in 1962, which brought the first of those eight Best Actor nominations — followed by two for playing Henry II in Becket and The Lion in Winter, then nods for Goodbye, Mr. Chips, The Ruling Class, The Stunt Man, My Favorite Year, and Venus. Off-stage he cultivated a reputation as a hellraiser, the kind of actor whose life moved at the same pitch as his perf…