In his youth, Peter O’Toole was known for his baby blue eyes; striking good looks; and velvety, deep voice. But after cementing his talent as an actor in 1962 as the titular T.E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, he went on to appear alongside iconic cinematic figures like Audrey Hepburn in How to Steal a Million and Katharine Hepburn and Anthony Hopkins in The Lion in Winter. He was a lover of the craft of acting, and continued to make films until he passed away at age 81 in 2013. In the weird and clever manner that was a signature of his personality, a few new films in which he appears have been released posthumously—the latest of which, the action-adventure movie Diamond Cartel, is his last, and out through video on demand this week.
To honor O’Toole’s legacy, today we revisit his quirky cover feature from our October 1972 issue, where he talks to actress and writer Joan Buck, a family friend, about visiting Andy Warhol’s Factory, philosophy, and escaping civilization. —Katrina Alonso
Peter O’Toole
By Joan Buck
Testy. Knows a lot about a lot of things, subjects so diverse as to flummox even the most accomplished phony catchers. Can’t catch him out. They’ve been trying for two weeks, the ladies and gentlemen of the New York press, to catch him out, to ask the question that will make Peter O’Toole lose his cool, his wit, and they can’t. Dick Cavett’s show, even that terrifying video show couldn’t faze him much. Although he sat in the green room at the studio writing Latin words on his wrist and being nervous, with his wife Sian trying to send out calming vibrations, thinking he couldn’t do it, he did it. And a very good show it was too, despite the beeps.
Then there was the Judith Crist Weekend at Tarrytown, a conference center used to make mini-film festivals for people who wouldn’t otherwise end up in Cannes, Venice, or Cartagena at the right time. Handled it beautifully. Mrs. Crist is a very intelligent lady, and he liked that, answered questions from a roomful of movie buffs, proper answers, not fielding them as famous people are wont to do when they don’t feel like exercising their grey matter for the sake of a bit of publicity.
