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Jodie Auckland Whittaker
Whittaker at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	June 1982 (age 29–30) Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2005 - present
Spouse	Christian Contreras

Jodie Auckland Whittaker (born 1982) is an English actress, perhaps best known for her work in the film Venus (2006). She also starred in the ITV1 series Marchlands playing the young Ruth who had lost her daughter Alice.

Career[link]

Whittaker made her professional debut in The Storm at Shakespeare's Globe in 2005. She has since worked in film, television, radio and theatre. In 2007 she stood in at short notice for an unwell actress in the Royal Court's production of The Seagull, and appeared in a fundraising play at the Almeida Theatre.

Whittaker's radio credits include a 2008 adaptation of Blinded by the Sun by Stephen Poliakoff, which also starred Harriet Walter and Alex Jennings^[1] and the role of Lydia Bennett in Unseen Austen an original drama by Judith French.

She appears in the film The Kid. In 2009 she worked on the film Ollie Kepler's Expanding Purple World and the BBC2 drama Royal Wedding.^[2] She also co-starred in BBC1's Accused which was aired on 6 December 2010.

Whittaker appeared in Ian Fitzgibbon's 2009 Irish comedy crime film Perrier's Bounty, alongside Cillian Murphy and Jim Broadbent.

She appears as Viv in the 2011 BBC adaptation of Sarah Waters' novel The Night Watch.

Personal life[link]

Whittaker is from the village of Skelmanthorpe in Yorkshire. She trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, graduating in 2005 with the gold medal for acting. She is married to actor Christian Contreras.

Filmography[link]

Plays[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Jodie Whittaker at the Internet Movie Database
• Jodie Whittaker interview with Matt Wolf on Theatre.com
• Jodiewhittaker.co.uk UK fan site. Allows you to comment on the star and provides additional links.
• Jodie Whittaker at BFI Film & TV Database

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Ralf Little
Born	Ralf Alistair J.B. Little (1980-02-08) 8 February 1980 (age 32) Oldham, Greater Manchester, England
Occupation	Actor, Writer, Footballer

Ralf Alistair J. B. Little (born 8 February 1980) is an English actor, writer and semi-professional footballer, working mainly in television comedy. He is best known for playing Antony Royle in The Royle Family and Jonny Keogh in the first six series of Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps.

Early life and work[link]

Little was born in Oldham, Greater Manchester. He attended Bolton School (Boys' Division). Some of his early television roles included minor roles in various programmes such as Elidor, Children's Ward,^[1] Sloggers,^[1] Bostock's Cup, Always and Everyone, and a production of Aladdin.

[edit] The Royle Family

Ralf's big break came when he was offered to play Antony Royle in the BBC sitcom, The Royle Family. He took three months out of his 'A' Level studies to record the series, after which he returned to school and got the grades he needed to get into his chosen course at university. Shortly after starting his medical studies degree at university, the first series of The Royle Family began to air and offers to audition started coming Little's way, as many as five per week. This prompted him to abandon his studies and focus on his acting career.^[1] The original run of the series was from Autumn 1998 to December 2000, and after a one-off special in 2006 returned for a series of Christmas specials from 2008, with Little returning to the role of Antony in 2006 and from 2009.

[edit] Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps

After the original run of The Royle Family, he was cast in another sitcom, Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps (or Two Pints), as Jonny Keogh. The first series ran from February 2001, and has been running for nine series so far. During an interview for This Morning in September 2007 Little said that he would not be returning for the next series due to an overwhelming schedule, and his character was therefore killed off screen in the first episode of the seventh series although mentioned throughout the rest of the series.

Other work[link]

Little was nominated for an Olivier Award for his performance in Notes on Falling Leaves at the Royal Court Theatre.

In 1999 Little played a Star in the ITV Comedy/Drama "The Flint Street Nativity". This also starred Frank Skinner, Jane Horrocks, Mark Addy, Josie Lawrence, Neil Morrissey, Stephen Tomkinson, and Julia Sawalha.

In 2000 Little played Wishee Washee in the ITV Panto Aladdin.

In 2004, Little played the title character in Billy Liar at the Theatre Royal in Windsor.^[2]

Little appeared in Juliet McKoen's ghost story/murder mystery film Frozen (2005) set in Fleetwood, Lancashire.

His other film credits include 24 Hour Party People (playing Joy Division and New Order bass player Peter Hook^[1]) and Al's Lads. Little also starred as Stephen, alongside Anne-Marie Duff, in Oscar-nominee Roger Goldby's film The Waiting Room,^[3] released throughout the UK in June 2008.

In television, he also appeared in Paradise Heights alongside Neil Morrisey and Charles Dale.^[1][4]

In October 2007, he appeared in the one man show, Stacy, written by Jack Thorne at the Trafalgar Studios in London and on TV in Robin Hood as a sinister scientist Joseph, in the episode "The Angel of Death".

In August 2007 he released his first online novel (co-written with Stephen Morris), The Golden Generation, a coming of age tale about a recently single man who is taken under the wings of two city traders who show him the trappings of big money in the big city but that it comes at a price. Money taken from the sale of the novel went to the charity Shelter.^[5]

Little was a member of the cast of KateModern, a web series which is a spin-off of the more well-known lonelygirl15. The series started in July 2007 and posted its final video in June 2008.

In early 2008 Little appeared in adverts for McVitie's digestive biscuits, did the voiceover for SMA baby formula adverts, as well as in 2009 the Asda Rollback adverts.^[6] He also provided the narration for series two, three and four of Monkey Life.

In September 2008 he starred in Massive, a BBC comedy about an indie record label, and in the same year narrated the second series of Last Man Standing.

In July 2008 he appeared in 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover, a new play at the Bush Theatre which was revised as 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover at Christmas later in the year.

In 2009 he had role of Clint in the ITV comedy drama series Married Single Other along side Miranda Raison^[7] He also worked on the film Powder.^[8]

In the autumn of 2010, he starred in "The Aliens", a British premier of a new play by Annie Baker, again at the Bush Theatre alongside Mackenzie Crook and Olly Alexander.^[9]

In 2011, he appears as Richard Dickens in the new comedy series The Cafe shown on Sky 1, which he co-wrote with Michelle Terry and was directed by Craig Cash.

Football career[link]

Little, a supporter of Manchester United,^[2] is a keen footballer and has played for a number of semi-professional clubs when other commitments allow. In March 2003 he played for Maidstone United against AFC Wimbledon, having previously been training with Staines Town.^[10] He joined Isthmian League side Edgware Town in October 2004, making his debut in the FA Vase game against Waltham Abbey.^[11]

He played for Chertsey Town during the 2007-08 season and on 8 July 2008 signed for North West Counties League side Stone Dominoes.^[12] He has also on a few occasions played celebrity football matches for charity^[13][14] and played with members of Hollywood United while in the district for acting career purposes. He also plays for the Arsenal Ex-Pro and Celebrity XI.^[15] He also participated in the 2010 Soccer Aid game for England on the left wing.

On August the 28th he played in the John Kennedy tribute match for Manchester united against Celtic which resulted in a 5-2 win for Celtic.

In May 2012, he appeared for the Sealand national football team in a match against the Chagos Islands . The match was held at the grounds of Godalming Town FC^[16].

References[link]

External links[link]

• Ralf Little at the Internet Movie Database
• "How We Met: Jemima Rooper & Ralf Little". The Independent on Sunday. 24 August 2008. http://www.independent.co.uk/extras/sunday-review/regulars/how-we-met-jemima-rooper--ralf-little-904864.html. 

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2009)

Luke Antony N. Treadaway (born 10 September 1984) is an English actor, whose career includes roles in the films Brothers of the Head and Attack the Block.

Personal life[link]

Treadaway was brought up in Sandford, near Crediton, Devon, with his father, an architect, his mother, a primary school teacher, and two brothers - his slightly younger twin Harry and their older brother Sam, an artist. He attended Queen Elizabeth's Community College in Crediton. As a young teenager he played the guitar in a band called Lizardsun which he formed with Harry, as well as Matt Conyngham and Seth Campbell.

As a child, he was a member of the National Youth Theatre, for whom he played Prince Ivan in The Firebird. He was also in the ensemble for a production of Murder in the Cathedral.

Career[link]

While still at drama school, he and his twin brother recorded roles in their first feature film: Brothers of the Head, in which they played conjoined twins. Luke played Barry Howe, the band's singer, and his brother Harry played Tom Howe, the guitarist and song-writer. During rehearsals and throughout the shoot, Luke and Harry were connected to each other for fifteen hours a day, wearing sewn-together wetsuits or a harness. They also slept in one bed to simulate the conjoined nature of their characters. The Treadaways performed all tracks featured in the film themselves live on stage, as well as recording nine tracks for the sound-track album.

After graduating from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 2006, he played a series lead in the Innocence Project for BBC television. He also appeared as a 14 year old Theo in the hard-hitting Channel 4 drama Clapham Junction.

He made his stage debut in Saint Joan at the Royal National Theatre, followed by playing Albert in the original production of War Horse at the same venue. In 2008 he appeared in Piranha Heights, a new play by Philip Ridley, at the Soho Theatre in London and in Cradle Me, a new play by Simon Vinnicombe, at the Finborough Theatre. He also played Albert in John Tams' adaptation of War Horse for BBC Radio 2 on 8 November 2008.

In 2009 he appeared in the play Over There at the Royal Court Theatre alongside his twin brother from 25 February to 21 March. He spent November 2009 in Romania filming The Whistleblower with Rachel Weisz, Vanessa Redgrave and Monica Bellucci.

He played Prokopion in the 2010 film Clash of the Titans. He plays Lee in Philip Ridley's Heartless, also starring Jim Sturgess and Noel Clarke, released in May 2010. He appeared in Killing Bono, starring Ben Barnes and Pete Postlethwaite.

He is also known for starring in Attack the Block, a Film Four production, alongside Nick Frost and Jodie Whittaker. He is also currently filming Late Bloomers with William Hurt and Isabella Rossellini.

In 2011 he played the eponymous hero of The History of Titus Groan, a cycle of six BBC Radio 4 dramas based on the books of Mervyn Peake dramatised by Brian Sibley.

He also had a leading role in the independent Scottish film You Instead, which was filmed at T in the Park 2010.

He is also in the music video for The Script's song "For the First Time" and Crystal Fighters' music video for the song "Champion Sound".

Luke Treadway also starred in Cheerful Weather for the Wedding, set to be released in 2012

Filmography[link]

Theatre[link]

• 2007: Saint Joan (Royal National Theatre)
• 2007: War Horse as Albert (Royal National Theatre)
• 2008: Piranha Heights by Philip Ridley (Soho Theatre)
• 2008: Cradle Me by Simon Vinnicombe (Finborough Theatre)
• 2008: War Horse by John Tams (BBC Radio 2)
• 2009: Over There (Royal Court Theatre)
• 2011: The History of Titus Groan (Radio 4 Drama)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Luke Treadaway at the Internet Movie Database

Jim Broadbent
Broadbent at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	James Broadbent (1949-05-24) 24 May 1949 (age 63) Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England, UK
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1972[1]–present
Spouse	Anastasia Lewis (m. 1987) «start: (1987)»"Marriage: Anastasia Lewis to Jim Broadbent" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Jim_Broadbent)

James "Jim" Broadbent (born 24 May 1949) is an English theatre, film, and television actor. He is known for his roles in Iris, Moulin Rouge!, Topsy-Turvy, Hot Fuzz, and Bridget Jones' Diary. He also appears in the Harry Potter films as Horace Slughorn.

Early life[link]

Broadbent was born in Holton cum Beckering,^[2] the son of Doreen "Dee" Broadbent (née Findlay), a sculptor, and Roy Laverick Broadbent, an artist, sculptor, interior designer, and furniture maker who turned a former church into a theatre named after him.^[3] Broadbent's parents were both amateur actors who co-founded the Holton Players acting troupe at Holton cum Beckering;^[4] the two were described by the BBC as conscientious objectors who "worked the land" rather than participate in World War II.^[3] He had a twin sister who died at birth. Broadbent was educated at Leighton Park School, a Quaker school in Reading,^[5] and briefly attended art college before transferring to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art from which he graduated in 1972.^[6]

Career[link]

Broadbent at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival

Broadbent's early stagework included a number of productions for The National Theatre of Brent, as the downtrodden assistant Wallace to Patrick Barlow's self-important actor/manager character Desmond Olivier Dingle. Broadbent and Barlow played many male and female character roles in comically less-than-epic tellings of historical and religious stories such as The Messiah, The Complete Guide to Sex, The Greatest Story Ever Told, Revolution!!, and All The World's A Globe. These were hits at the Edinburgh Fringe, in London, and on tour. Later stage work included the original productions of Kafka's Dick (1986) and Our Country's Good (1988) at the Royal Court Theatre and work for the Royal National Theatre including "The Government Inspector". Work on the stage with Mike Leigh includes Goosepimples and Ecstasy.

Broadbent made his film debut in 1978 with a tiny role in Jerzy Skolimowski's The Shout, and made his television debut the following year. He went on to work with Stephen Frears (for television and in The Hit (1984)) and Terry Gilliam (in Time Bandits (1981) and Brazil (1985)) before establishing himself in Mike Leigh's Life Is Sweet (1990). He proved his ability as a character actor in films including The Crying Game (1992), Enchanted April (1992), Bullets Over Broadway (1994), The Borrowers (1997), and Little Voice (1998) before taking a leading role in another Mike Leigh film, Topsy-Turvy (1999), playing dramatist Sir William S. Gilbert. He played "The Shy Doctor" in the 1999 Comic Relief parody Doctor Who sketch, Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death. In 2001, Broadbent starred in three of the year's most successful films: Bridget Jones's Diary; Moulin Rouge!, for which he won a BAFTA; and Iris, for which he won an Oscar for his portrayal of John Bayley.^[7]

Broadbent voiced the secondary antagonist Madame Gasket from the 2005 film Robots, which won him an award. Broadbent also appeared as DCI Roy Slater, an associate character in the enormously popular sitcom Only Fools and Horses. The character appeared in three episodes over an eight-year period. He had originally been offered the lead role of Del Trotter in the series, but he turned it down due to other commitments. He has also played a role in the Inspector Morse series. Other comic roles include the lead role in the sitcom The Peter Principle and occasional guest appearances in Not The Nine O'Clock News, Only Fools and Horses, and Victoria Wood As Seen On TV. He played Don Speekingleesh in The Queen of Spain's Beard in the first series of The Black Adder in 1983. He also played the role of Prince Albert in Blackadder's Christmas Carol, first broadcast in 1988. He joined Rowan Atkinson in his Spider-Man spoof Spider-Plant Man, as a disgruntled Batman, jealous of Spider-Plant Man's success.

Broadbent played the title role in the Channel 4 drama Longford in October 2006, earning a BAFTA TV Award, a Golden Globe, and a 2007 Emmy nomination for his performance as Frank Pakenham (1905–2001), Earl of Longford, which was centred on the late Lord's ultimately unsuccessful campaign for the parole of Myra Hindley from her life imprisonment for the Moors Murders.

Broadbent appeared as Inspector Frank Butterman in Hot Fuzz in 2007.

The Broadbent Theatre, 15 June 2006

He appeared in the original radio production of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, playing the character Vroomfondel. He was also a regular in Stephen Fry's radio comedy show Saturday Night Fry, which aired on BBC Radio 4 in 1988.

Broadbent played Dean Charles Stanforth in the fourth film in the Indiana Jones series, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull; King William IV in The Young Victoria; and Horace Slughorn in the sixth Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, as well as its two sequels.^[8] In 2008, he starred as pro-Newtonian physicist Sir Oliver Lodge in the fact-based single drama Einstein and Eddington, for the BBC.

In 2009, he portrayed Sam Longson, chairman of Derby County football club in the 1960s and 1970s, in the film The Damned United; the starring character in the film was football manager Brian Clough, played by Michael Sheen.

In 2010, he provides the voice for the character Major Mouse in a series of radio adverts and one produced for television for energy company; E.ON for their 'eonenergyfit.com' website campaign. He also starred as the older Logan Mountstuart in the TV adaptation of William Boyd's novel Any Human Heart.

He had a lead role in Exile, a BBC One drama, starring John Simm and written by Danny Brocklehurst.^[9]

Personal life[link]

This section requires expansion.

Broadbent is married to painter and former theatre designer, Anastasia Lewis. He is an atheist.^[10]

Filmography and awards[link]

Other awards[link]

• 2004; Nominated Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for Winnie-the-Pooh.
• 2007; British Independent Film Awards – Richard Harris Award

References[link]

External links[link]

• Jim Broadbent at the Internet Movie Database
• Jim Broadbent at AllRovi
• Jim Broadbent at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
• Biography on the Broadbent Theatre website

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2012)

Peter O'Toole
In Lawrence of Arabia, 1962
Born	Peter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole (1932-08-02) 2 August 1932 (age 79) Location of birth uncertain; either Connemara, County Galway, Ireland or Leeds, Yorkshire, England[1]
Nationality	Irish
Alma mater	Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1954–present
Spouse	Siân Phillips (m. 1959–79)
Children	Kate O'Toole (b. 1960) Patricia O'Toole Lorcan O'Toole, born on (1983-03-17) 17 March 1983 (age 29)

Peter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole^[1] (born 2 August 1932) is an Irish actor of stage and screen.^[2] O'Toole achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, and then went on to become a highly-honoured film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, and holds the record for most competitive Academy Award acting nominations without a win. He has won four Golden Globes, a BAFTA, and an Emmy, and was the recipient of an Honorary Academy Award in 2003 for his body of work.

Early life[link]

Peter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole was born in 1932. Some sources give his birthplace as Connemara, County Galway, Ireland, and others as Leeds, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, where he grew up. O'Toole himself is not certain of his birthplace or date, noting in his autobiography that, while he accepts 2 August as his birthdate, he has a birth certificate from each country, with the Irish one giving a June 1932 birthdate.^[1] O'Toole is the son of Constance Jane (née Ferguson), a Scottish^[3] nurse, and Patrick Joseph O'Toole, an Irish metal plater, football player and racecourse bookmaker.^[4][5] When O'Toole was one year old, his family began a five-year tour of major racecourse towns in Northern England. He was brought up Roman Catholic.^[6][7] O'Toole was evacuated from Leeds early in World War II and went to a Catholic school for seven or eight years, where he was "implored" to become right-handed. “I used to be scared stiff of the nuns: their whole denial of womanhood – the black dresses and the shaving of the hair – was so horrible, so terrifying,” he later commented. “Of course, that's all been stopped. They're sipping gin and tonic in the Dublin pubs now, and a couple of them flashed their pretty ankles at me just the other day.”^[8]

Upon leaving school O'Toole obtained employment as a trainee journalist and photographer on the Yorkshire Evening Post, until he was called up for national service as a signaller in the Royal Navy. As reported in a radio interview in 2006 on NPR, he was asked by an officer whether he had something he had always wanted to do. His reply was that he had always wanted to try being either a poet or an actor. O'Toole attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) from 1952 to 1954 on a scholarship after being rejected by the Abbey Theatre's drama school in Dublin by the director Ernest Blythe, because he couldn't speak Irish. At RADA, he was in the same class as Albert Finney, Alan Bates and Brian Bedford. O'Toole described this as "the most remarkable class the academy ever had, though we weren't reckoned for much at the time. We were all considered dotty."^[9]

Career[link]

Peter O'Toole as T. E. Lawrence

O'Toole began working in the theatre, gaining recognition as a Shakespearean actor at the Bristol Old Vic and with the English Stage Company, before making his television debut in 1954. He first appeared on film in 1959 in a bit part in The Day They Robbed the Bank of England.^[10] O'Toole's major break came when he was chosen to play T. E. Lawrence in David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia (1962), after Marlon Brando proved unavailable and Albert Finney turned down the role.^[11] His performance was ranked number one in Premiere magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Performances of All Time.^{[citation needed]} The role introduced him to U.S. audiences and earned him the first of his eight nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

O'Toole is one of a handful of actors to be Oscar-nominated for playing the same role in two different films; he played King Henry II in both 1964's Becket and 1968's The Lion in Winter. O'Toole played Hamlet under Laurence Olivier's direction in the premiere production of the Royal National Theatre in 1963. He has also appeared in Seán O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock at Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, and fulfilled a lifetime ambition when taking to the stage of the Irish capital's Abbey Theatre in 1970 to perform in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot alongside Donal McCann. In 1980, he received wide critical acclaim for playing the director in the behind-the-scenes film The Stunt Man. He received good reviews as John Tanner in Man and Superman and Henry Higgins in Pygmalion, and won a Laurence Olivier Award for his performance in Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell (1989).^{[citation needed]} O'Toole was nominated for another Oscar for 1982's My Favorite Year, a light romantic comedy about the behind-the-scenes at a 1950s TV variety-comedy show, much like Your Show of Shows, in which O'Toole plays an ageing swashbuckling film star strongly reminiscent (intentionally) of Errol Flynn.

In 1972, he played both Miguel de Cervantes and his fictional creation Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha, the motion picture adaptation of the 1965 smash hit Broadway musical, opposite Sophia Loren. Widely criticised for using mostly non-singing actors and shunned by the public at the time, the film has gone on to become more of a success on videocassette and DVD, though there are those who still find fault with it. O'Toole's singing was dubbed by tenor Simon Gilbert,^[12] but the other actors sang their own parts. O'Toole and co-star James Coco, who played both Cervantes's manservant and Sancho Panza, both received Golden Globe nominations for their performances. In 1980, O'Toole starred as Tiberius in the Penthouse-funded biographical film Caligula.

O'Toole won an Emmy Award for his role in the 1999 mini-series Joan of Arc. In 2004, O'Toole played King Priam in the summer blockbuster Troy. In 2005, he appeared on television as the older version of legendary 18th century Italian adventurer Giacomo Casanova in the BBC drama serial Casanova. O'Toole's role was mainly to frame the drama, telling the story of his life to serving maid Edith (Rose Byrne). The younger Casanova, seen for most of the action, was played by David Tennant, who had to wear contact lenses to match his brown eyes to O'Toole's blue.

He was once again nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award for his portrayal of Maurice in the 2006 film Venus, directed by Roger Michell, his eighth such nomination. Most recently, O'Toole co-starred in the Pixar animated film Ratatouille, an animated film about a rat with dreams of becoming the greatest chef in Paris, as Anton Ego, a food critic. O'Toole appeared in the second season of Showtime's hit drama series The Tudors, portraying Pope Paul III, who excommunicates King Henry VIII from the church; an act that leads to a showdown between the two men in seven of the ten episodes.

Personal life[link]

In a BBC Radio interview in January 2007, O'Toole said that he had studied women for a very long time, had given it his best try, but knew "nothing." In 1959, he married Welsh actress Siân Phillips, with whom he had two daughters: award-winning actress Kate (b. 1960) and Patricia. Peter and Sîan were divorced in 1979. Phillips later revealed in two autobiographies that O'Toole had subjected her to mental cruelty — largely fuelled by drinking — and was subject to bouts of extreme jealousy when she finally left him for a younger lover.^[13]

O'Toole and his girlfriend, model Karen Brown, had a son, Lorcan Patrick O'Toole (born 14 March 1983, when O'Toole was fifty years old). Lorcan, now an actor, was a pupil at Harrow School, boarding at West Acre from 1996.

Severe illness almost ended his life in the late 1970s. Owing to his heavy drinking and a digestive defect from birth, he underwent surgery in 1976 to have his pancreas and a large portion of his stomach removed, which resulted in insulin-dependent diabetes. In 1978 he nearly died from a blood disorder. He eventually recovered and returned to work, notably in The Stuntman (1980) and My Favorite Year (1982), both of which brought him Academy Award nominations. He also appeared in 1987's much-garlanded The Last Emperor. The late eighties and nineties brought fewer film roles but more work for television as well as the occasional stage performance.

He resided in Clifden, County Galway, Ireland from 1963, and at the height of his career maintained homes in Dublin, London, and Paris (at the Hotel Ritz, which was where his character supposedly lived in the film How to Steal a Million). Currently, he makes his home solely in London.

While studying at RADA in the early 1950s he was active in protesting against British involvement in the Korean War. Later, in the 1960s, he was an active opponent of the Vietnam War.

It may be of interest that he played an important role in the creation of the current form of the well known folksong Carrickfergus (song) which he related to Dominic Behan, who put it in print and made a recording in the mid-1960s.

He is perhaps the only one of his "London" acting contemporaries not to be knighted. However, according to London's Daily Mail, he was offered a knighthood or honorary knighthood in 1987, but turned it down for personal and political reasons.^[14]

In an interview with National Public Radio in December 2006, O'Toole revealed that he knows all 154 of Shakespeare's sonnets. A self-described romantic, O'Toole regards the sonnets as among the finest collection of English poems, reading them daily. In the film Venus, he recites Sonnet 18, "Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day." O'Toole has written two memoirs. Loitering With Intent: The Child chronicles his childhood in the years leading up to World War II and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 1992. His second, Loitering With Intent: The Apprentice, is about his years spent training with a cadre of friends at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. The books have been praised by critics such as Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times, who wrote: "A cascade of language, a rumbling tumbling riot of words, a pub soliloquy to an invisible but imaginable audience, and the more captivating for it. O'Toole as raconteur is grand company." O'Toole spent parts of 2007 writing his third installment. This book will have (as he described it) "the meat," meaning highlights from his stage and filmmaking career.

O'Toole is a noted fan of rugby union, and used to attend Five Nations matches with friends and fellow rugby fans Richard Harris, Kenneth Griffith, Peter Finch and Richard Burton. (O'Toole, Harris and Burton have a combined 17 Oscar nominations.) He is also a lifelong player, coach and enthusiast of cricket. O'Toole is licensed to teach and coach cricket to children as young as ten.

O'Toole has been interviewed at least three times by Charlie Rose on The Charlie Rose Show. In the 17 January 2007 interview, O'Toole said that Eric Porter was the actor who had most influenced him. He also said that the difference between actors of yesterday and today is that actors of his generation were trained for "theatre, theatre, theatre." He also believes that the challenge for the actor is "to use his imagination to link to his emotion" and that "good parts make good actors." However, in other venues (including the DVD commentary for Becket), O'Toole has also credited Donald Wolfit as being his most important mentor. In an appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on 11 January 2007, O'Toole said that the actor he most enjoyed working with was Katharine Hepburn, his close friend; he played Henry II to her Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter.

O'Toole remains close friends with his Lawrence of Arabia co-star Omar Sharif and his RADA classmate Albert Finney.

O'Toole is a fan of Sunderland A.F.C., as he told Chris Evans on an episode of TFI Friday, dated Friday, October 11, 1996. The allegiance has lapsed, according to an article at the Salut! Sunderland website.^[15] Coincidentally, however, the mother of T. E. Lawrence, Lawrence of Arabia, was born in Sunderland.