reporter: that film gave o toole his big break and made him an international sensation and got him his first nomination for an academy award. if you oppose me i ll strike you anywhere i can. reporter: admittedly a heavy drinker his taste for alcohol not only threatened his career but also his life. he managed to give up the drink and mounted a comeback as a crazed director in the stunt man. it screws you up! reporter: a self-described entertainer by trade, o toole mocked his own image as an alcoholic over the hill matinee idol in my favorite year, a performance that earned him his seventh oscar nomination. ah! reporter: though he made some regretability films through the 80s such as 1984 super girl o toole continued to work appearing in several made-for-tv films including joan of arc. i know a good deed without all of that, but this work is every bit as important as the other. reporter: in 2003, the academy of motion pictures arts
the profession a profoundly great fl fair well. peter o toole, an immortal on-screen, uniquely human off. martin savidge, krn krn. cnn. and making big changes. could the music industry be changed as we know it. that s ahead. weaving it through the wire switch me on i want to touch you you re just made for love i need ooh la la la la la before using her new bank of america credit card,
assumed he was joking. obviously, he wasn t kidding. reporter: never did he think his friend was capable of this. carl was a good guy and he made my days better and that s what make hurts most. he wasn t a villain. reporter: today s disbelief. tomorrow s determination. i want to see arapahoe recover from this. thanks to will ripley with our affiliate for that report. 17-year-old claire davis was shot, in critical condition at the hospital. actor peter o toole from the film lawrence of arabia has died. why don t you take a picture? that film gave o toole his big break and made him an international sensation and got him his first nomination for an academy award. he was nominated seven more times but never won. o toole s agent says he died peacefully at the hospital yesterday and he was sick for a while. he was 81 years old. china is now a player in
and he rebelled against show business off the screen. and despite his mega stardom, peter o toole somehow never managed to win that one big hollywood award. here s cnn s martin savidge. reporter: he was one of the greats. peter o toole was simply an icon, towards the end of his life continued to wow audiences with his screen presence. born peter seamus o toole in ireland in 1932, he made his professional debut on the london stage in 1955. from the west end he transitioned from the stage to film. in lawrence of arabia he was catapulted to worldwide stardom and earned him his first emmy nomination. oscar nomination. why don t you take a picture?
and it could possibly happen. then on friday, president obama leaves for hawaii spending both christmas and new year s. one last thing it could be a very big day at the box office. the highly anticipated mothvie anchor man 2 make its debut. thanks for joining us. i m martin savidge. my colleague rosa florez takes it from here. rosa? martin, thank you so much. the next hour of newsroom begins right now. captions by vitac www.vitac.com you re in the cnn newsroom. i m rosa florez live in new york. thank you so much for spending some of your sunday with us. we start with some sad news tonight. the iconic actor peter o toole is dead. my life when it is written will read better than it lived. that line may have been appropriate for king henry ii, but not for the actor who