One of Peter O’Toole’s lesser-known (but...

One of Peter O’Toole’s lesser-known (but not-to-be-forgotten) performances was his entrance on The Late Show with David Letterman back in the mid-’90s.

O’Toole, honorary Oscar winner and star of Lawrence of Arabia, The Lion in Winter, My Favorite Year, and, more recently, the Showtime series The Tudors, today announced his retirement from acting:

It is time for me to chuck in the sponge. To retire from films and stage. The heart for it has gone out of me: it won’t come back. … It’s my belief that one should decide for oneself when it is time to end one’s stay. So I bid the profession a dry-eyed and profoundly grateful farewell.

Ah, but he didn’t say he was retiring from talk shows, so we shall dare to hope for more.