Peter O'Toole: Not time for Honorary Oscar

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., Jan. 29 (UPI) -- The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced that it will give an Honorary Oscar to Peter O'Toole, but O'Toole isn't sure he wants it.

Academy president Frank Pierson announced this week that O'Toole would be honored at the upcoming 75th Annual Academy Awards for a body of work that includes seven nominations for the best actor Oscar -- for "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962), "Becket" (1964), "The Lion in Winter" (1968), "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" (1969), "The Ruling Class" (1972), "The Stunt Man" (1980) and "My Favorite Year" (1982).

"O'Toole's performances have ignited the screen for more than four decades," said academy President Frank Pierson. "He has appeared in some of the most unforgettable roles in the history of the medium."

Pierson said the academy's Board of Governors felt it was time for O'Toole to "hold his own Oscar in his hands."

O'Toole isn't so sure.

According to a report in Daily Variety, O'Toole sent a handwritten open letter to the academy saying he was "enchanted" by the gesture, but insisting that he is "still in the game and might win the lovely bugger outright." The 70-year-old actor wondered whether the academy would "please defer the honor until I am 80?"

Pierson told Variety the academy hopes O'Toole will reconsider his reluctance to accept the Honorary Oscar.

"We will have the Oscar for him and if he cares to pick it up, that would be great," said Pierson.

Variety said Pierson expressed as much in a letter responding to O'Toole's note.

"The board unanimously and enthusiastically voted you the honorary award because you've earned and deserved it," Pierson wrote. "As to being 'in the game,' nobody ever thought you were out of it. The award is for achievement and contribution to the art of the motion picture, not for retirement."

Pierson's letter pointed out that Henry Fonda and Paul Newman had received honorary awards before going on to receive Oscars for individual performances.

Fonda received his honorary award in 1980, and then won the best actor Oscar the following year for "On Golden Pond," his last movie. Newman received an Honorary Oscar in 1985 -- when he was just 60 -- and went on to win for best actor the following year for "The Color of Money."

Academy executive director Bruce Davis said a statuette with O'Toole's name inscribed on the nameplate will be there for O'Toole if he decides to show up at the Academy Awards ceremony. In his letter to O'Toole, Pierson said that if O'Toole decides not to come to the ceremony, the statuette will be "at the Academy for you to pick up when you're 80 or whenever you're ready."

O'Toole joins a list of Honorary Oscar recipients that includes Charles Chaplin (twice), Bob Hope (twice), Gene Kelly, Federico Fellini, Chuck Jones and Sidney Poitier. The Academy Awards will be presented on March 23 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, in ceremonies to be televised live by ABC.