Comments on: Unique graphic novel stars hard drinking actors Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole, Richard Harris, and Oliver Reed

By: Jim Saul

Jim Saul — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 01:40:00 +0000

Most recently (he died before the release I believe), the owner/promoter in Gladiator. “Shadows and dust!”

Second from the left, above.

By: regondi

regondi — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 22:04:00 +0000

Brits only, I’m afraid :-(

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 21:54:00 +0000

I should have thought of that given how many I’ve had.

By: Hal

Hal — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 17:43:00 +0000

“Where did it all go wrong Georgie? Where did it all go wrong?”

By: welcomeabored

welcomeabored — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 17:28:00 +0000

Good call.

Also some resemblance between Burton and Rufus Sewell, in their younger days.

By: welcomeabored

welcomeabored — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 14:54:00 +0000

Thanks, Robert. The left eyebrow and his ears stayed pretty much the same over the years… that and his droll expression.

I was sorry to hear he had retired. I remember seeing him in both ‘Lawrence’ and ‘Becket’ at the drive-in, as a child. I once picked up a magazine in a coffee shop while on vacation. In it was a long interview with O’Toole that was so interesting, that for an hour the rest of the world ceased to exist for me. My coffee got cold and I didn’t look up till I had finished the last word. When I finally looked up, I told my husband, ‘that has to be one of the best interviews I’ve ever read.’

By: Robert Sellers

Robert Sellers — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 14:32:00 +0000

The picture of O’Toole is pre the nose job he had done in the early 60s, that’s why he looks a bit different.

By: penguinchris

penguinchris — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 07:59:00 +0000

I think most people think of Young Peter O’Toole as how he looked in Lawrence of Arabia (myself included), especially since that was his star-making debut, but he was already 30 when that came out.

I’ve seen one of the three 1960 films he was in before that, The Day They Robbed The Bank of England, and he looks pretty much the same as in Lawrence (slightly less sun-affected, perhaps, but it’s not a big difference). So there’s no record in cinema of him when he actually looked as young as in this photo.

By: rattypilgrim

rattypilgrim — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 07:01:00 +0000

Yeah, it’s hard to believe that’s peter O’Toole.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 06:21:00 +0000

What, no George C. Scott?

By: Nicky G

Nicky G — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 03:48:00 +0000

One of the truly awful things about addiction is that the chemical often becomes a crutch for insecurity, but actually ends up exacerbating your insecurities. I came face to face with this situation in a big way this weekend — even two or three drinks dramatically brings my insecurities to the surface, and makes me respond to things in an entirely different (and altogether less pleasant/balanced) way.

It’s tough. If you’re not an addict, count your blessings. If you are — god help ya. I’m extraordinarily lucky to have a very good support network of friends and family. Not everyone is so lucky.

By: Mary Margaret McCurnin

Mary Margaret McCurnin — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 03:45:00 +0000

The desert sun did a real number on O’Toole. We are used to seeing him leathery.

By: Nicky G

Nicky G — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 03:44:00 +0000

Why did they do it? Pretty simple, actually. It’s called alcoholism/addiction. It’s pretty common. Sure, when it’s famous, glamorous people, we call it “hard drinking” and not “alcoholism,” but it’s the same thing. Our culture is quite tolerant of alcoholism, and it’s very very rare for people to comfortably acknowledge about themselves, friends, family members, or famous personalities.

I just had to explain to my mom that being an alcoholic means when I’ve had one or two drinks, it’s extraordinarily difficult to resist the third, fourth, fifth… Unless you are one of these people, you won’t get it, probably. And you’ll ask, why didn’t they just stop at one or two or whatever? Again, you either understand it (sorry) or you don’t (consider yourself very, very lucky).

But yeah — whenever I hear about “hard drinking” people, or people who “appreciate a good drink,” in many of those circumstances, to me, it’s pretty obvious we’re talking about alcoholics.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 03:19:00 +0000

It’s Peter O’Toole impersonating Phil Hartman.

By: welcomeabored

welcomeabored — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 03:09:00 +0000

I’ve been searching, try this one:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/peter-otoole-retires-best-pics-1138955

Scroll to youngest photo; he’s wearing a black jacket and smoking.

By: kid_a_ok_com...

kid_a_ok_com... — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 03:02:00 +0000

Insecure, too. Richard Burton in particular.

Hugh Hefner : Homer Simpson :: Andy Warhol : Ted Bundy??

By: kid_a_ok_com...

kid_a_ok_com... — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 03:00:00 +0000

That’s about right!

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 02:34:00 +0000

Where’s the diaper, then?

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 02:33:00 +0000

I’ve often said about my own father that he saw himself as a cross between Hugh Hefner and Andy Warhol, but he was really a cross between Homer Simpson and Ted Bundy. Addicts may try to project a devil may care persona, but if you look close up, they’re just desperate and depressing.

By: kid_a_ok_com...

kid_a_ok_com... — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 02:01:00 +0000

Read the book upon which this is based. Wanted so badly to think their drunken exploits were cool/amusing, just ended up feeling sorry for them.

By: kid_a_ok_com...

kid_a_ok_com... — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 02:01:00 +0000

Before the booze.

By: Clemoh

Clemoh — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 01:59:00 +0000

I worked in the film industry for years and was able to work on a film in Toronto with Peter O’Toole, He was just as you would expect: If his call time was 7 am, he would show up around 930, it was quite expensive to have the crew waiting around for hours, so the AD’s devised a clever plan. There would be two callsheets, one for the cast and crew and one for Ot’Toole. If his calltime was noon, they would give him a callsheet with a 1000 call time for H/M/W. They got the picture made.

By: aurora50

aurora50 — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 01:51:00 +0000

Saw this in either Vogue or Vanity Fair, years and years ago…have never forgotten it:
http://alexdonald.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/article-1093968-00d7a59700000190-196_468x480.jpg

Roues of the World…

By: Kimmo

Kimmo — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 01:31:00 +0000

And then there’s the time O’Toole went drinking with Peter Finch, and when the pub owner told them it was closing time and he’d have to cut them off, O’Toole wrote a an outrageously large check to the barkeep to buy the pub so the pair could continue drinking (the next morning, O’Toole raced to the bank to stop the check before the pub owner could cash it).

Bwaahahahahahah, I can totally see O’Toole dong that : D

BTW, I can see the resemblance if I squint… are people having trouble recognising him because he’s actually young in that shot?

By: welcomeabored

welcomeabored — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 01:24:00 +0000

Mark, I’m curious about the photo of O’Toole. I’ll assume it’s from the book. Is there a date on it? Possibly his early twenties?

By: welcomeabored

welcomeabored — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 01:20:00 +0000

He announced his retirement last year.

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20610734,00.html

By: Donald Petersen

Donald Petersen — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 01:15:00 +0000

Glad to know he hasn’t completely tottered into antiquity yet.

By: s2redux

s2redux — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 00:40:00 +0000

Too lazy to look it up…. Which one was the well-endowed “drink dipper,” O’Toole or Harris? (One of those two was notorious for making a laff by sidling up to a table in a club and dunking his dick in a martini glass. Kinda like a next-gen Milton Berle when it came to being proud of his gear.)

By: Daneel

Daneel — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 00:38:00 +0000

Bizarrely, 17 Oscar nominations between them, not a single win (unless you count O’Toole’s ‘honorary’ one…)

By: Narmitaj

Narmitaj — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 00:27:00 +0000

Talk of talented people “indulging in herculean binges of alcohol” but didn’t think they ruined their lives because they liked it reminded me of comments attributed to the dazzling 60s footballer George Best: “I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered” and “In 1969 I gave up women and alcohol – it was the worst 20 minutes of my life.”