O'Toole's Oscar Nomination

O'Toole holding his honorary Oscar in 2003

I told myself I wasn't going to post about the Oscar nominations that came out today, but I just couldn't help myself. Hands-down, the thing I am most excited about is Peter O'Toole is up for Best Actor in a Leading Role. He's nominated for his role in VENUS which I've yet to see. It's only playing in two places in L.A. as of this writing. Yet, he's my favorite actor and I'd love to see him win.

This is O'Toole's eigth Academy Award nomination. He's never won. Right now he's tied with Richard Burton for the most nominations with no wins. If he loses this time he'll sadly hold the record for the most nominated actor with no wins. In case you're not too familiar with O'Toole, here's what he was nominated for in the past:

LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962)
BECKET (1964)
THE LION IN WINTER (1968)
GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS (1969)
THE RULING CLASS (1972)
THE STUNT MAN (1980)
MY FAVORITE YEAR (1982)

Here's what happened: in 1962 he lost to Gregory Peck for TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD; 1964 lost to Rex Harrison for MY FAIR LADY; 1968 lost to Cliff Robertson for CHARLY; 1969 lost to John Wayne for TRUE GRIT; 1972 lost to Marlon Brando for THE GODFATHER; 1980 lost to Robert DeNiro for RAGING BULL; 1982 lost to Ben Kingsley for Gandhi. (Just for the record here I want to say that O'Toole really should have been nominated for his performance in LORD JIM in 1965, of all his non-nominated roles that one stands out as something for which he should have been nominated.)

What's cool is O'Toole was given an honorary award in 2003 for lifetime acheivement. At that time he said he didn't really want it because he was still in the game and thought he could win one of the litter buggers outright. Few people thought he'd ever be up as leading actor again.

It's impossible to express just how much joy I've gotten out of this guy's performances over the years. I'm pulling for him.