Word has just reached us of the death of an acting legend, Peter O'Toole, who passed away at the Wellington Hospital in London after a long battle with illness. He was 81. He shot to fame in 1962 with the title role in David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia, a performance which earned him the first of his eight Oscar nominations (he sadly never won). This was the first highlight in an entire career of highlights on the stage and screen, and he counts a varied array of movies amongst his filmography, including Beckett, What's New Pussycat?, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Supergirl, The Last Emperor, and Troy. In recent years, he was seen in Stardust, Venus (which he yet again lost out on Oscar, this time Forest Whitaker in the Last King of Scotland), and his highly memorable role in Ratatouille, well for me at least, as food critic Anton Ego. His last two films, Mary and Katerine of Alexandria, have yet to be released. The thoughts of everybody here at The Movie Bit go out to his family and friends during this sad time.
