Peter O’Toole to be celebrated in Christmas Day documentary

The story of the hell-raising life of Peter O’Toole makes for a hugely entertaining and insightful documentary full of fun stories of wild excess, brilliant movie anecdotes and at the heart of it, the story of a man searching for an identity and longing to be Irish.

Peter O’Toole was known throughout the world as Lawrence of Arabia, as a hell-raising actor and as an Irish man. His distinguished career saw him conquer the stage and screen as one of our greatest movie stars. He was nominated for eight Oscars and thrilled audiences with performances in classics like 'Lawrence of Arabia', 'The lion in Winter', My Favourite Year' and 'Venus'.

The Meath-Westmeath border claims its links with TE Lawrence, the subject of Lawrence of Arabia, reputed to be a scion of the Chapman family of Killua in Clonmellon and Southill in Delvin.

Lawrence was born in Tremadoc in Wales in 1888. His father was Sir Thomas Chapman, eldest son of the Chapman family of Killua Castle, who was married with four daughters when, in 1879, Sarah Junner came to work at South Hill as governess. Some time thereafter, Thomas and Sarah began an affair. By 1885, they were living a secret life as the 'Chapmans' in Dublin when their first son was born. When news of their affair became known, the 'Lawrences', as they then referred to themselves, fled to Wales and shortly afterwards Thomas Edward was born. Settling in Oxford in 1896, Thomas and Sarah would eventually have five sons together. Lawrence died in a motorbike crash in Morton, Devon, in 1935.

Liz Coburn has styled the Lawrence Hotel in Athboy after her almost near neighbour, with great images of O'Toole and his co-star, Omar Sharif, gracing the restaurant walls there.

There is also an O'Toole connection with Dunsany - one of his last movies was ‘Dean Spanley’, the movie based on writer Lord Dunsany’s ‘My Talks With Dean Spanley’

Peter O’Toole and Sam Neill play leading roles in the movie released in 2008. Reincarnation and reconciliation form the heart of the new feature comedy-drama inspired by the 1936 novella by the 18th Lord Dunsany, Edward Plunkett. Set in Edwardian England, it follows a father and son as they encounter the eponymous eccentric, a man-of-the-cloth who claims to have had a rather strange past life. Henslowe Fisk (Jeremy Northam) and his ailing father, Horatio Fisk (Peter O’Toole), go to a lecture given by the Swami Nala Prash (Art Malik) on reincarnation, called ‘The Transmigration of Souls’. While there, they meet one Dean Spanley (Sam Neill) as well as Wrather (Bryan Brown), a self-described facilitator from the colonies. Later encountering the Dean at his father’s club, and then in the grounds of the cathedral, Henslowe takes this to be more than coincidence and decides to ask the man to dinner, enticing him with the promise of his favourite tipple Imperial Tokay, a rare Hungarian sweet wine.

Using Wrather to procure a bottle, Henslowe begins a series of dinners with Spanley, in which – after two glasses of the wine – the Dean begins to recount strange recollections of his past life.

Between his time on stage and screen, Peter O’Toole spent his life in Connemara, a place he called home, a place that offered him a refuge and respite from the pressures of the world of entertainment.

Featuring rare family archive and interviews with his daughter Kate O’Toole, friends and co-stars, including model, actress and singer Twiggy, the legendary actor Brian Blessed and Irish co-stars Bryan Murray, Jim Bartley and Mary Coughlan, 'PETER O’TOOLE – RÉALTA & RÓGAIRE', screening on TG4 on Christmas Day at 9.25pm, and on www.TG4.ie, produced by Dearg Films, is the definitive account of the life and career of one of our greatest movie stars and his enduring love of Ireland.