Quotes

After two or three interviews, talking about pictures and how they're made and what I do in them and what I'm going to do next, there's nothing more to say.

[on doing a weekly TV series] It's a big fat drag to any actor with interest in his work. It's the ultimate trap.

[in 1971, on changing the spelling of his name] It all came to a head about a year and a half ago. A lot of things entered into it. I'm not conventional in my habits. I had personal problems that made me feel it was time to try something new. Then there was the matter of simplicity. People were always saying, "Peter who?" or "Peter O'Toole?' There were too many questions. I first took the "e" out of Deuel, and then said to myself, "Why not take the 'r' out of Peter and make that a four-letter word, too, to balance the other?}.

[in 1967, on his love for cars and motorcycles] Cars and motorcycles are a weakness I watch. I'm mechanical and revel in the quality of a fine car and cycle. When I was on tour with the play I fell for a British sports car. The payments on it were too high during my first year here so I learned not to do that again. I drive a Jeep. It's rugged but not cheap, either. If a date thinks we should go somewhere in a nicer car, we transfer to hers. If it's a premiere, I rent one for the evening. I sold my last motorcycle five months ago, when I was persuaded it was dangerous. I'm apt to buy a new one, though. I admit I once split my right leg open from my knee to my ankle when a nut turned in front of me abruptly and sent me careening down a canyon.