Peter O'Toole: Hellraiser, Sexual Outlaw, Irish Rebel

by Darwin Porter, Danforth Prince

“God put me on this earth to raise hell!” Thus spoke the charismatic Irish actor, Peter O’Toole, who shot to international stardom in 1962 for his Oscar-nominated performance in David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia. In that four-hour epic, he played the heroic but flamboyantly doomed T.E. Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia”). After such a worldwide success, O’Toole announced, “I’ve arrived. Ignore me at your peril!” He would go on to be nominated for seven more Becket with his drinking buddy and co-star, Richard Burton; The Lion in Winter (’68) opposite Katharine Hepburn, who beat him up; Goodbye, Mr. Chips (’69); The Ruling Class (’72); The Stunt Man (’80); My Favorite Year (’82); and Venus (in ’06). Finally, in 2003, the Academy belatedly awarded him an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement. Born to a vagabond bookie working the U.K.’s racetracks, O’Toole as a very young man “became the most notorious sailor in Her Majesty’s Royal Navy,” before working as a hawker of balloons, a paparazzo, a newsman, and a steeplejack. He drifted into the London Theater and studied ballet. “When I pranced out onto the stage in my obscenely thin pink tights, I was pursued by all of the stately homos of Britain—from Olivier to Gielgud.” Reed thin, toweringly tall, and larger than life, with blue eyes as pale as an autumn morning, O’Toole brought his tormented personality to stage and screen, exhibiting a galvanizing mania with a booming speech pattern evocative of the most chauvinistic days of the British Empire. Some critics suggested that he wasn’t a real star, but a quasar. To that, he shot “At least the image is celestial!” He was hailed as the greatest stage actor since Lord Laurence Olivier, eventually evolving into the Crown Prince of the British Theatre. As a Shakespearean actor, he was His Hamlet was acclaimed as the most stunning of the century. But he was unpredictable. His horrendous, ridiculous performance of Macbeth was laughed off the London stage, one critic asserting that his voice combined that of Bette Davis in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane with Vincent Price “hamming up a horror film.” With drinking buddies like Richard Burton, O’Toole was the last of the dying breed of orgiastic hellraisers in the tradition of Errol Flynn. Off screen, O’Toole starred in week-long binges and sex orgies of near biblical proportions. He equaled Don Juan’s legendary 1,003 seductions, bedding everyone from Elizabeth Taylor to Princess Margaret, who relentlessly pursued him. His other conquests were Ursula Andress (his co-star in What’s New, Pussycat?, ’65); Audrey Hepburn (his co-star in How to Steal a Million, ’66); and Jodie Foster (his co-star in Svengali, ’83). He also seduced the stunningly beautiful then-most-famous transvestite in Britain, April Ashley. Anthony Quinn once asked him, “Was there a leading lady you didn’t seduce?” O’Toole replied, “Give me some time, and I might come up with a name.” After a night of heavy drinking in a pub, he was fond of “dropping trou to show off my wand of lust, my mighty mallet.” He married only once, to the Welsh actress, Siân Phillips, who was warned in advance of the ceremony, “Peter’s a genius, but he indulges in unnatural perversions.” Mercurial acting talent on the screen was combined with a lethal off-screen life that “would have landed most blokes in jail” (his words). As the decades passed, his ravaged face and body reflected his dissipated lifestyle, evoking the demented Emperor Tiberius he played in Penthouse’s A-list porn flick, Caligula. “I look like five miles of bad roads in Ireland,” he lamented.

Genres: Biography

632 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 8, 2015

About the author

Darwin Porter (1937-) is an American travel writer, producing numerous titles, mostly for the Frommer guidebook series, over a 50-year career span.

Reviews

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

One might expect that Peter O'Toole: Hellraiser, Sexual Outlaw, Irish Rebel would hold the usual biographical survey of the actor's life and times; but in fact it's a story that offers something far greater: an analysis of O'Toole's life and career that features a new look at the actor's passion, controversies, and determination to 'raise hell'.

Lest readers think this will be a rehash of prior biographies, it should be mentioned that Peter O'Toole: Hellraiser, Sexual Outlaw, Irish Rebel represents decades of research by writers who define their efforts as being steeped in media and celebrity stories - and therefore replete with the high tension, drama, and eye-popping gossip and grit of Hollywood's most outrageous moments and characters.

So don't anticipate a casual coverage: it's an account of a hellraising, outrageous personality and is itself steeped in the culture it investigates, cultivating lively language, newly-revealed shocking truths, and passionate descriptions to capture the life and times of a film star who, according to Peter O'Toole, "…became the toast of international society. The decadent part, those who live just to fornicate on the Costa del Sol. It's the new gathering place for panty sniffers, child molesters, drunkards, prostitutes, pimps, gigolos, pillheads, and poon stalkers. I adore it. It seems that all the big names want to go to bed with me. A lucky few actually manage to accomplish that splendid feat."

Outrageous? You bet. It's not for the morally faint - and that promises that Peter O'Toole: Hellraiser, Sexual Outlaw, Irish Rebel will be a frequent flyer out of library collections and film reference holdings alike.

[Janet · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a well intentioned gift but not quite the biography the gift giver thought it was. It is one tabloid type chapter after another mainly concerned with the sexual exploits of every person that comes in touch (no pun intended) with Peter O'Toole. Gets a bit tiresome after awhile. Would not really recommend unless you like tabloids.

[Surreysmum · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book got its second star only because I'm a completist for all things O'Toole and T.E. Lawrence. When I ordered it I knew full well from the title it wouldn't be "the" biography - I sure hope that's being written out there somewhere with the assistance of his surviving family and friends. This is the gossipy-dude version of O'Toole's life, with emphasis on the alcohol, the outrageous public behaviour, and the sex life. There is no apparent understanding of the nature or effect of his acting, nor any interest in relating his role choices and acting choices to the events of his life. The book is large and heavy, but its production values are not top-notch by any stretch; the illustrations are small, in-text, black and white reproductions, and there are blaring, space-wasting headlines throughout. Most of all, the text is largely made up of that most objectionable tabloid habit of made up "reported speech", presenting the author's speculation about what may have been said at a particular event or meeting as if it were a true transcript. It undermines any lingering inclination the reader may have to put faith in the accuracy of the text.

As to sources, there is of course none of the apparatus of more reputable biographies: notes, bibliography, not even an acknowledgment page for major interview sources. However, based on the tone and the subjects covered, my best guess is that a very large number of the more salacious anecdotes and personality assessments of O'Toole's inner circle came from his long-time associate Kenneth Griffith, who is referenced a few times. However, Porter appears to have approached most of O'Toole's surviving associates (especially the male ones - the female voice is decidedly underrepresented) and they have trotted out their favourite O'Toole stories for him.

There's probably more than a grain of truth in most of those stories, but it's hard to know exactly where it is, and it's certainly hard to be sure that the overall picture of the man that emerges is one that anyone who actually knew him would recognize.

As I said, I'm a completist.

[Daryth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very very gossip-y, but entertaining. Some of the pictures throughout are pixelated which seems like a terrible over site. Probably would have given it a two had it not been Peter O'Toole.

[Tracy Backer · Rating 2 out of 5]

um. Maybe I should have stopped when the authors said that it was now the norm to make up conversations that might have, could have, possibly happened. There are zero footnotes, references, no bibliography for any of the claims that are made. The very titillating claims, and some may be true, but without better documentation, I won't commit either way. I loved Peter O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia, The Lion in Winter and so many other films, but I'm really sorry I read this 'biography' because O'Toole comes off like a total jerk. If you are interested in the sex lives of O'Toole and his contemporaries with lots of details (again - real or make believe, you decide), then this is for you.

[Denise Kruse · Rating 4 out of 5]

The drink, the exploits, the acting … the book covers far too much including (it seems) every single (and married) person with whom O’Toole comes in contact. Not sure why the man is rather fascinating but it is more than just his good looks. With all his notoriety, he seemed gentlemanly; in spite of his many drunken escapades, he survived. For such a bigger than life being, he seems earthy and elegant. And a fine actor. (Not for everyone because it is gossipy and long.)

[Mauri Baumann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved Peter O'Toole....Lion in Winter and Ruling Class (and Pygmalion) were among my favorite movies. This was a great gossipy book. Very mindless...very hollywood gossip. Loved it!!

[Rama Rao · Rating 4 out of 5]

The sexual odyssey of Peter O’Toole

This is the third memoir of Peter O’Toole; the first two being, “Loitering with Intent: The Child” is about his childhood in the years leading up to WWII, and the second book, “Loitering with Intent: The Apprentice,” is about his years spent training with a cadre of friends at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. Both books were published in 1997. The current book chronicles his sexual odyssey and exploitation of his fame and popularity with more than one thousand women including his co-stars, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Jayne Mansfield, Anita Ekberg and Diana Dors. The most notable being the Princess Margaret while she was still married to Lord Snowdon.

O’Toole was known for leading week-long sex orgies with women who pursued him obsessively. This tremendously gifted Irish actor with severe addiction to alcohol and women could have ended up in jail had he not be a famous actor. A self-described romantic, O'Toole regarded the sonnets as his favorite English poems. He was also political active early in his career opposing the Korean War, and later the American involvement in Vietnam. Peter O’Toole achieved fame and recognition for playing in Lawrence of Arabia (1962) for which he received his first Academy Award nomination but lost the award to Gregory Peck for “To Kill a Mocking Bird.”

When NBA star Wilt Chamberlain revealed that he had physical intimacy with over 20,000 women, the perception of him in the sports world changed, especially for his fans. Peter O’Toole is not an alec, he is a smart Irishman; standing at 6’2”, this blonde and blue-eyed dude published his sex-escapades posthumously, baring his mind, his soul, his body and the rest.

[Mick Meyers · Rating 4 out of 5]

it is an enjoyable gossipy type book like a Christmas annual for national enquired.it follows his life sometimes with tenuous links to other stars and films.they seemed to get bogged down in people's sexuality but when it settles down towards the end the last couple of chapters turned out to be rather good reads.it is a mammoth door stopper of a book so give plenty of time to read.