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Born in Connemara, Ireland in 1932, Peter O'Toole grew up in Leeds, the son of a bookmaker. O'Toole left school at 14 to work at the Yorkshire Evening Post, initially as a messenger boy and later as a cub reporter. He started acting at 17 and, after two years in the navy, won a scholarship to RADA, where he studied alongside Alan Bates and Albert Finney. He debuted on film in 1959 (The Savage Innocents), but his ticket to stardom came in 1962 with the title role in Lawrence of Arabia, one of his seven Oscar nominations. Further nominations came with his two interpretations of the role of Henry II, in Becket and The Lion In Winter.
