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My Favorite Year, My Favourite Actor, My Favourite Movie

Peter O'Toole figures in all of the above.

My Favorite Year is a classic New York movie, one of many I saw growing up that made me fall in love with the city. It's set in 1954, and although I can't go back in time, when you look around, you can still see old New York all over the place. The movie is about a young writer on a variety show, and the week he has to babysit a drunken movie star, played to perfection by My Favourite Actor, Peter O'Toole.

The man was simply the best.  He never won an Oscar for his work, despite EIGHT nominations. The year he was nominated for The Lion in Winter, he lost to Cliff Robertson in Charly.  Yes, the man who played The Big Kahuna in the first Gidget movie died with an Oscar, but Peter O'Toole didn't (I'm not counting the honourary one he was finally bestowed in 2003).  If that's not proof that awards for art are largely bogus, I don't know what is.

Cliff Robertson may have been a fine actor and an upstanding individual, I don't know, but seriously, I have as many Oscars as Peter O'Toole and that seems wrong, doesn't it?

As Alan Swann, an Errol Flynn sort of movie star.

He was an actor and a raconteur, often with David Letterman. Below, he will utter the immortal line"I don't fancy being adhered to a camel."

Stick around for Part 2, and the Pork Chop Story:


He told some wild tales.  I'm not sure they were true, but who cares.  He was a hard-living sort of fella, and though I haven't read his autobiographies, I mean to do.  I put off reading them, because I didn't want the anticipation of knowing they're still out there to end, if that makes any sense. Now they're not readily available, but I'll try Bookbook on Bleecker, or the Strand this weekend, and see if I get lucky.

Peter O'Toole had the world's best voice.  No man yelled better than he, when he was at his finest.  I can't imagine the thrill of hearing him command a stage! That's actually the thing that most attracts me to an actor- a great voice.  It's a rarity.  I can think of a few who do now, some not all that famous, though they should be. A great voice will outlast a great face, though Peter O'Toole had both, in his youth.  Hence Noël Coward famously saying "If you'd been any prettier, the film would have been called "Florence of Arabia."

As Henry II, in The Lion in Winter.
The Lion in Winter is, I think, my favourite movie of all time.  I have loved it since I was a kid.  It's historical (sort of), full of wit and sarcasm, and amazing actors gnawing on the scenery. I have forced several groups of friends to watch it, but so far, I haven't found anyone who loves it as much as I do. Honestly, I haven't found anyone who can even stand it, unless they're just pretending to hate it to make me mad, which is a possibility.

I first watched it for Katharine Hepburn, as all young suburban Preppy girls are in love with the Hepburns Kate and Audrey, but ended up in love with O'Toole and Anthony Hopkins.  I also developed a lifelong fascination with Katharine Hepburn's character, Eleanor of Aquitaine.  I've read several books about her, including this one, by Alison Weir.  It's engrossing and really sheds light on life in the middle ages, especially for the ladies.  You think sexism's bad now, be glad you weren't medieval!

Do yourself a favour, and seek out My Favorite Year, The Lion in Winter, or anything else Peter O'Toole made.  You'll thank me, and you might even learn something!
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