Peter O’Toole’s 10 best films

“The Stunt Man” (1980)
O’Toole once more gets to play God, in the form of  maniacal movie director Eli Cross, in Richard Rush’s tricky tale of a fugitive Vietnam veteran (Steve Railsback) who finds himself dodging fake bullets and other special effects on the set of a war movie. When the sinister Cross recruits him to replace a deceased stuntman, O’Toole’s truth-or-illusion games really begin.

“My Favorite Year” (1982)
This is the backstage comedy in which O’Toole declares “I’m not an actor, I’m a movie star.” He plays Alan Swann, a character loosely based on Errol Flynn, who makes this proclamation when he discovers that he’s expected to perform on live television during the early-1950s. In O’Toole’s hands, Swann always has his wits about him, no matter how drunk and pratfall-prone he becomes.

“The Last Emperor” (1987)
For once, O’Toole is overshadowed by other performers as well as a lavish production that won nine Academy Awards, including one for his director, Bernardo Bertolucci. Still, O’Toole’s self-effacing performance, as tutor to the last emperor of China (John Lone), is one of his subtlest.

“Venus” (2006)
O’Toole plays an aging actor who falls for a much younger woman in Hanif Kureishi’s tenderly awkward tale of an impossible relationship. Doddering, forgetful and impotent, O’Toole claims he has only a “theoretical interest” in the girl, who is both flattered and offended by all the attention. It’s the richest role O’Toole has played since the 1980s.

Nominated in the past for “Lawrence,” “Becket,” “Lion in Winter,” “Mr. Chips,” “Ruling Class,” “Stunt Man” and “My Favorite Year,” O’Toole seems likely to earn his eighth nod for “Venus.” If he’s nominated and the movie turns out to be too slender or eccentric for Academy tastes, he’ll still score a new record for an actor: eight nominations, no wins.

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