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Farewell, Sweet Prince! Peter O’Toole Passes Away …

15 Dec

Like Flynn, he was one of the wild characters in the world we loved so much! You will be greatly missed …

 

 

Peter O'Toole in My Favorite Year

Peter O’Toole as Alan Swann in My Favorite Year

 

— David DeWitt

 
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Tim
11 years ago
Reply to  David DeWitt

Wow! What a life, David!! And what a “Swann Song” he did for Errol! … I’ll never forget seeing that movie – because of the very humorous Flynn-inspired script, of course, but also because of the incredibly majestic inclusion on of Nat King Cole’s Stardust, and because it was set in Brooklyn, 1954, the town and year of my birth. No one can perfectly play Errol, but O’Toole really was exceptional.

Bravo, Peter. I hope you’re enjoying the spirits in heaven with Errol.

[img]http://img2-2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/020708/124327__year_l.jpg[/img]

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zacal
11 years ago
Reply to  Tim

Outside of “Lawrence of Arabia”, “My Favorite Year” is my favorite O’Toole performance. What a tremendous comedy.(My only wish was that it had been Tom Hanks opposite O’Toole in the role of Benjy) I read years ago that, like “Lawrence of Arabia”, the role of Alan Swann was originally offered to Albert Finney. (There are other accounts that say O’Toole was offered the role first.) The film is always enjoyable but when O’Toole is onscreen it goes to a higher level. He was so wonderful in the swashbuckling scenes. Errol would have been proud.

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ILIKEFLYNN
11 years ago

The life of Peter O’Toole is to be celebrated. I can remember seeing him in one of his earliest roles, as a Canadian mountie opposite, Anthony Quinn’s eskimo in “The Savage Innocents”, (where he is dubbed!) But for those of us here at the EFBlog, he will always be our “Alan Swann from the Movies”! A toast to Mr. O’Toole, “Bung Ho, old sport”!–A. R.

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HHDavis
11 years ago

Indeed, RIP Peter O’Toole. He was a great talent. Perhaps this will get _My Favorite Year_ rereleased on DVD.

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Robzak
11 years ago
Reply to  HHDavis

It is still available on DVD.

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Hugh Davis
11 years ago
Reply to  Robzak

I thought it was out of print and fairly expensive to track down. I have seen that Amazon has it for streaming, but to buy isn’t it pricey?

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Michael Joseph Pieper
11 years ago

One movie I have never been able to see of his hoping to compare his performance to Errol, is The Fighting Prince of Donegal. A Disney film. Anyone here ever seen it?

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Robzak
11 years ago
Reply to  Michael Joseph Pieper

I’ve seen it and O’Toole is not in the film. The Peter in that film was McEnery.

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Rachel
11 years ago

Yes, RIP Peter O’Toole. He was one of the great actors! I have never had a chance to see him in “My Favorite Year”, but I have the film on DVD so I plan on watching it soon. :-)

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timerider
11 years ago

: “Look, I know you’ll think this is crazy, but, er, when the light hits me from a certain direction, I’m… handsome”……
He had some great one liners, especially when sipping his Irish tea! Somehow he always had that look of a mischievous schoolboy!

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daringthorpe
11 years ago

He was a wild one, but a very gracious man. Thirty years ago myself and my husband stood in a lift with him. We had just got married the day before and people were gathering for autographs and to speak to him, he was very polite and quite modest but very very nice. Just one more thing very early on in hi career he tried to join the Abbey theatre they said NO ’cause he’d no Irish R.I.P. Mr O Toole

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Tim
11 years ago
Reply to  daringthorpe

Very cool, daringthorpe! That would have been circa his performance in My Favorite Year, right? O’Toole not Irish enough for the Abbey? …. Under that theory they’d have to bar St. Patrick, too!

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Hugh Davis
11 years ago

Very last minute, but I just saw that TCM is showing some things in tribute to Peter O’Toole tonight, with _My Favorite Year_ airing at 3:45 AM, Monday (30 December) morning. On the TCM website, the info is listed for Sunday, 29 September. Happy viewing!

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Tim
11 years ago
Reply to  Hugh Davis

Thanks, Hugh!

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MzSuzie49
11 years ago
Reply to  Tim

What a sad passing of a great actor. I was captured by the intensity of those blue eyes and how he stole the show completely in the presence of Omar Sharif while I watched “Lawrence of Arabia” on TCM last night . The cinematography was so captivating. I also reminisce Peter, in his typical comedic style which was so much a part of him, in his parody of ELF. He was a “mighty one” to live to see 81 years. He is immortalized in film as is our beloved Errol . R.I.P Peter 

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