Flashback: Peter O'Toole Finally Receives an Oscar
In the wake of his death, ET takes you back to Peter O'Toole's press room interview after accepting his first Oscar at age 70.
It took him seven nominations and forty years, but after a long wait, Peter O'Toole finally received his first Oscar statuette at the 2003 Academy Awards.
The Academy granted the Irish-born, British-raised actor with an honorary award for his "remarkable talents, [which] have provided cinema history with some of its most memorable characters." However, O'Toole originally said he'd rather be honored at 80 and wouldn't accept the award that year.
"Delighted," O'Toole says sardonically when asks if he's glad he came to accept the award. He continues his humor when asked about the experience, describing it as "exhilarating, charming, delightful" with tongue in cheek.
However, he drops the humor for a serious tangent on war when reflecting on the show.
"I'm an entertainer. That's my job. There are men, women, children, [and] soldiers being killed right now. My job is to cheer 'em up if I can," he says.
O'Toole had first been nominated for an Oscar at the 1963 Academy Awards for what is now considered his most iconic work: starring as the titular character in the adventure drama Lawrence of Arabia. Over his seven nominations to that point, he received a pair of nods for his roles as King Henry II in Becket (1964) and The Lion in Winter (1968).
He'd later go on to be nominated once more at the 2007 Oscars for his lead role in the romantic-comedy Venus.