Peter O'Toole with Dermot Breen and Leslie Mallory

192-01-J.jpg

Dublin Core

Title

Peter O'Toole with Dermot Breen and Leslie Mallory

Subject

Cork Film Festival, Peter O'Toole, Dermot Breen, Leslie Mallory

Description

This is a sepia-toned photograph, dated 1963, of the actor Peter O’Toole walking with the festival director Dermot Breen and the journalist Leslie Mallory. All three are shown smiling whilst in conversation. A dapper-looking O’Toole, in glasses on the far right of the photo, is looking towards Breen and Mallory with a broad grin. Mallory on the far left, in sunglasses and hand in pocket, walks alongside Breen who is smiling as he steps forward. We might guess that Mallory and Breen are meeting O’Toole on the tarmacadam of Cork Airport which had recently opened in 1961.

Leslie Mallory was an RTÉ news reporter who died in 2006, age 81. He worked in RTÉ radio and television news for most of his career. He also dabbled in film production and wrote a script of a feature film at the behest of Peter Sellers. He moved back to Ireland from London in the 1970s and was a senior foreign editor by the time of his retirement. By all accounts he was a beloved colleague. (Dermot Mullane, Sunday Independent, 26.03.2006.)

Peter O’Toole (1932-2013) was a British actor of Irish descent. He was either born in Connemara, Co. Galway or Leeds in England depending on his telling. A stage and film actor of Irish descent he was a Shakespearean actor with the Bristol Old Vic with whom he played many parts including Hamlet (1958, 1963) and Waiting for Godot (1958), which he reprised at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1969. His love for the theatre was such that he would turn down film roles stating that “You’ve got to go to Stratford when you get the chance.” (Stephen Watts, New York Times, 05.02.1961.) O'Toole achieved international recognition for his part as TE Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean, 1962) which was released a year before this photo was taken. He holds the record for the most Academy Award nominations for acting without receiving a win including aforementioned Lawrence of Arabia, The Lion In Winter (Anthony Harvey, 1968), Mr Chips (Herbert Ross, 1969), and the British comedy-drama Venus (Roger Mitchell, 2002) written by Hanif Kureishi. He did however receive an honorary Academy Award in 2003 which might have assuaged his missing out on earlier nominations.

O'Toole died in London, age 81, and his ashes taken to the West of Ireland. He was a friend of the President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, who spent time with him in Galway over the years, and who speaks fondly of him: “He was unsurpassed for the grace he brought to every performance on and off the stage.” (www.thejournal.ie, 15.12.2013.)

Creator

University College Cork, Cork Film Festival, Liam Kennedy

Source

Cork Film Festival Collection

Publisher

University College Cork

Date

1963

Contributor

Liam Kennedy

Rights

©Liam Kennedy. All rights reserved. Please credit Cork International Film Festival & provide a link back to this site.

Format

Photo
TIFF
JPEG

Language

English, eng

Coverage

1963
Cork, Ireland

Still Image Item Type Metadata

Original Format

Photo

Physical Dimensions

82 x 131mm

Collection

Citation

University College Cork, Cork Film Festival, Liam Kennedy , “Peter O'Toole with Dermot Breen and Leslie Mallory,” Cork International Film Festival Archive, accessed December 14, 2024, https://corkfilmfest.ucc.ie/items/show/225.