Sad but hardly unexpected news, the passing today of Peter O’Toole at 81 years of age, after a protracted illness. The lanky, sonorous-voiced actor, an infamous off-screen hell-raiser as well, was of course best known for Lawrence of Arabia, for which he received the first of his eight Academy Award nominations (while never notching a win, a record). But his filmography is deep with other characters brimming with the same sort of wide-eyed intensity he brought to T.E. Lawrence — and his life in general, it seemed.