Analysis | The nightmare of the best actor waiting game
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When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences first tried to give Peter O’Toole a trophy, the then 70-year-old film icon took pen to paper to politely decline.
This 2003 prize, he knew, wasn’t for a particular movie role: It was an honorary Oscar that would recognize his overall career achievement, after seven prior nominations for best actor — and zero prior wins. Since he was “still in the game and might win the lovely bugger outright,” O’Toole pleaded, “would the Academy please defer the honour until I am 80?”
