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SkyNews: Is it Chips for O'Toole?

When Peter O'Toole strolls down the red carpet into the Kodak Theatre on Sunday night the Irishman will make Hollywood history. The veteran actor's eighth Oscar nod for his performance in Venus makes him the most nominated actor never to have won the coveted gong, a dubious honour he previously shared with old friend and former drinking companion, Richard Burton.And while movie buffs will be eager to see if O'Toole can at last win an Oscar, the people of County Galway will be more interested than most, writes Sky News' Joe Walsh.Their most famous thespian son has never been a stranger, returning to live in Clifden at the height of his fame in the 1960's where he bred ponies.The actor's daughter, the playwright Kate O' Toole still lives in Clifden and is making the trip to Los Angeles to be with her father on Oscar night.And locals are getting behind the actor in his bid for what would be an overdue award.His friend of over 40 years, Billy Foyle of Dolphin Beach Country House in Clifden, remembers O'Toole's first visit to Clifden well. "He arrived into town as a superstar after Lawrence of Arabia but we had no cinema so nobody knew who he was. I brought him around the town and then we went for a few pints. All was going well until he decided to entertain the pub with his version of God Save the Queen - not the best idea in a republican pub." I saved his life that night so if he wins an Oscar I'm taking some of the credit." Foyle will be just one of many locals staying up into the late hours to see if O'Toole can beat the odds and short priced favourite Forest Whitaker. And win or loose O'Toole's return to Clifden is eagerly awaited.AdblockBut despite lifelong claims of Irishness, the facts behind O'Toole's birth are disputed.In typical enigmatic style the actor has failed to shine much light on the issue, admitting in his autobiography that his birth in Galway to a bookmaker father and a Scottish mother is the "family version" and that he may have been born in Leeds.What is certain is that O'Toole spent his youth in northern England, landing his first job with the Yorkshire Evening Post as messenger and copyboy, eventually rising to cub reporter. But it was acting that was O'Toole's true love.At 17 he made his stage debut at the Leeds Civic Theatre, but that career was cut short when he was drafted into the Royal Navy. O'Toole served as a radio signalman describing the experience as "a bloody nightmare." He was released after 18 months, as "mentally unsuitable."In 1952 he won a scholarship to London's famed Royal Academy of Dramatic Art where he studied alongside some of the era's greats including Alan Bates, Albert Finney and Richard Harris.The actor's love hate relationship with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences began ten years later when he received his first Academy award nomination for his remarkable portrait as Lawrence of Arabia.He went on to receive further nominations for Becket, The Lion In Winter, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, The Ruling Class, The Stuntman and 1982's My Favourite Year.In Venus O'Toole plays an ageing actor who begins an unlikely friendship with his best friend's great niece. The performance, alongside fellow stage and screen veteran Leslie Philips, wowed the critics and earned him his eighth Oscar nomination, 44 years after his first.In 2003 O'Toole picked up an honorary Oscar from the Academy for lifetime achievement. He almost refused the award because he felt he could still win a real one - and on Sunday night he may well be proved right.