Actor continues to chase boyhood dreams

Talent sometimes sprouts early. So it was with the actor Harry O'Toole, who still nourishes his gifts in his senior years.

"At age 4, there were two things I wanted in life," said O'Toole. "I wanted to be a movie star and I wanted to marry Shirley Temple."

While Temple remained an unfulfilled dream, he progressed through the years as an actor, singer and dancer, mostly on local stages. He's also been on national TV and in movies and has done commercials.

The lifelong Mt. Washington resident got his start in first grade. At St. Mary of the Mount School he played the part of a young boy in the high school class play.

"You're right for the part," said Sister Rose Genevieve, nudging him on to the stage. In seventh grade he was in another play, and again in his last three years of high school.

In 1948 he went into the Army, where his commercial course paid off.

"I was private secretary to Major General Aaron Bradshaw, stationed in Heidelberg, and also sang tenor in a quartet," he said. "We took first place in a Horace Heidt show and I sang in a castle. In 1953, I went to the Pentagon. I loved the service, but came home in '54 and stayed in the reserves for 32 years."

He had day jobs, and on stage opportunities escalated for his free time. He was asked to join a YMCA choir, then to be in the play, "Bell, Book and Candle." The director from Little Lake Theatre saw him and invited him to reprise the role of Nicky.

"And I even got paid!" O'Toole said. He appeared in many plays there, and eventually was added to its Hall of Fame. He became a familiar face at many regional theaters and at the CLO, Pittsburgh Public Theater and the Pittsburgh Playhouse.

"Sometimes I'd be rehearsing for one show while acting in another," he said.

His favorite play was one of the most recent, "A Ritual of Faith," at City Theatre, which was written by a local doctor, Brad Levinson. He brought such realism to the character of Father Santini that some people said hateful things to him on his way out afterward. He was asked to take the role in Chicago, and rave reviews about his performance appeared in Chicago newspapers during his three-month run there.

Those he has worked with have enthusiastic praise for O'Toole.

"Harry is a tremendous actor and he made the role come alive," he said. "Ken Kissar, the original producer, brought Harry to the audition at CMU. It's great working with him as he's so professional and has a positive attitude, remembers his lines, he's just perfect, I was very impressed.

"He was tremendous in the run of the play in Chicago, too, got great reviews and the people who went to see it went to see Harry. If it's done again here, he'll be in it, as he was crucial to the play."

Ginger Lawrence, recalling her direction of O'Toole in "When the Water Turns Clear" at the Pittsburgh Playwrights Theater (formerly the Penn Theater) in Lawrenceville, said, "He was so much fun and feisty. It was a difficult play to do, as he played a white director with an all-black cast, but he was very professional. He gives such a reality to his characters. I saw him in a Mark Southers play and wanted him for this play. He grasps the sense of a character, his brain is extremely agile and he challenges you, too. If the actor thought a role should be played a certain way, he would explain why he thought so to the director."

While doing "12 Monkeys," O'Toole got acquainted with Bruce Willis.

"Bruce was very helpful to me and wonderful to work with," he said. "I was Louie, his raspy-voiced nemesis, and came up out of steam. I was dressed in raggedy clothes, had a blackened face and dirt under my fingernails. I was denied service in two restaurants while dressed for the part."

"I sang with Bobby Vinton at the William Penn Hotel in the 1980s. We harmonized; I did the tenor and he did the lead. He's a heck of a nice guy and we've kept up our friendship. I had a long run in Don Brockett's dinner show at the Marriott Greentree. That was fun. I was also in a dinner theater in the old nightclub, 'The Good Ol' Days.' When I go to Florida I'm going to audition for a dinner theater. My agent there is Suzanne Haley, and here I work through The Talent Group.

"I've done a lot of comedies. I know how to make people laugh and I know how to make people cry," he said.

He has the part of Andrew McNair in "1776" down pat as he's done it in three separate runs.

"Song of Bernadette," produced by KDKA, was his favorite TV show to do, but he said he enjoyed being in "West Wing," and in "Darrow," which was shot in the South Side for a network years ago.

"I love the intricacies of film," he said. "On stage, you're always up. In TV, they can cut. In film, you can always improvise with lines, as long as they mean the same thing that's in the script. They expect you, in films, to do more of your own stuff.

"The hardest show I've done was last year at the Pittsburgh Playhouse, I played Dr. Johnson in "Breaker Morant," and had to do a Scottish accent. A linguistic coach helped with that."

His favorite musical was Walter and Jean Kerr's "Sing Out, Sweet Land," at Synod Hall in Oakland in which he had 15 solos.

"When I was in the 'Sudden Death' in the Civic Arena, I had my own trailer. The Pittsburgh Opera treats you like a star. I was in their 'Barber of Seville.'"

He gets a lot of work as an extra and has come a long way in his profession. He's joined the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists for television, Equity for stage and the Screen Actors Guild for movie work.

In 1975 he turned pro and that year he began working at KDKA Radio. He started as a temp secretary, and stayed as public service director. He produced the Pirates baseball broadcasts, and did school closings for Jack Bogut. The late Bob Prince sometimes mentioned him on the air. During that time, he kept up with theater at night.

"KDKA was the nicest place I ever worked," he said. "They have the nicest people. I got that job through Kelly Girls and since I was the first male hired, they changed their name to Kelly Services. I retired in October 1990."

He says his hobby is acting, but he balances his life with other activities. He goes to high school plays. "Some of them are really good. If I notice anyone has talent, I go backstage and say something encouraging"

When spring comes, O'Toole gardens. His front yard glows with a galaxy of 250 tulips. Channel 11 used it as background on its news show and passers-by come to his door with compliments.

He volunteers at Radio Information Service, reading to people who can't read for themselves. He sings in the funeral choir at St. Mary of the Mount and St. Justin churches.

O'Toole's talent comes naturally, as his father and siblings were active in the St. Mary of the Mount Alumni shows of yesteryear. His sister Betty, who is deceased, and Mary Lou, were well-known singers in the area.

O'Toole is divorced, but on good terms with his former wife, Josie Tutsie, an actress. They have two daughters, Amy Deming, in Orlando, who teaches female self-defense and Heidi (named for Shirley Temple's character) in Morgantown, W.Va., who teaches parents how to deal with their children's use of drugs. Texts she has written are used in schools.

Virginia Peden is a Pittsburgh freelance writer for the Tribune-Review.