When Audrey Hepburn failed to be recognized by the motion picture academy for starring in best pic winner "My Fair Lady," which also reaped a best actor trophy for Rex Harrison, she was comforted by another Hepburn, Katharine, who sent her a telegram, reading, "Don’t worry about not being nominated. Someday you’ll get it for a part that doesn't rate it."

When Harrison won, it was another one of those undeserved wins. Sure, his Harry Higgins was an iconic, career-capping role, but, let's be honest, there was no emotional oomph to the part and what made that victory one of Oscar's biggest travesties was that Harrison beat two actors who gave reigning perfs of their careers: Peter O'Toole and Richard Burton in "Becket." Ah, well, at least O'Toole won a Golden Globe in consolation that year, beating his costar, but otherwise those two Hollywood hooligans ended up sharing the same tragic Oscar fate. Today O'Toole and Burton are tied as that award's biggest losers (7 defeats).

Being hooligans was probably to blame. Booze-fueled antics were no doubt the reason that Judy Garland never won and Albert Finney still hasn't and why all of the following were never even nommed: Tallulah Bankhead, John Barrymore, Errol Flynn, Glenn Ford and Marilyn Monroe, among so many pickled others. At least Barrymore had a sense of humor about it, saying, "The reason that the academy never nominates me is because they're afraid I'll show up at the ceremony drunk. And they're right!"

Burton's behavior in Hollywood was so foul that it was probably inevitable that he'd end up Oscarless. If it wasn't obvious what academy voters thought of him when he lost for his greatest performance on celluloid, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf," then it was painfully so, and humiliatingly so, when he received his seventh bid for "Equus." As he campaigned shamelessly for the prize, People magazine noted his "touching desire to win. He's been tirelessly making the talk-show circuit, apologizing profusely for his past overindulgence in good whiskey and bad movies." On Oscar night Burton was convinced he had done his penance and had the statuette at last. Legend goes that he rose in his seat when he heard the words "And the winner is . . . Richard . . ." only to have the gold grasped from his reach this time by the like-named Dreyfus, who was so shocked to prevail for the Neil Simon comedy "The Goodbye Girl" that he arrived at the podium, befuddled, saying. "I didn't prepare anything. Wait a minute. Am I here?"

But Peter O'Toole has always retained his reputation as a fine British gent, possibly because he imbibed so much of his hooch back in far-away Britain. Seldom did he ever hang out in Hollywood, actually. He's never really liked the place much, he confesses. But Hollywooders have continued to think enough of him to keep nominating him. They even decided to give him something they never gave Burton: an honorary Oscar. When O'Toole got wind of it, though, he popped his cork like a bottle of bubbly, and, at age 70, reminded the academy that he was "still in the game and might win the lovely bugger outright," adding "Would the Academy please defer the honor until I am 80?"

It didn't. Three years ago AMPAS summoned Ye Olde Rascal to town anyway and he came, quite graciously, to receive the gimme prize, buoyed by the reminder that other stars like Paul Newman, Henry Fonda and Charlie Chaplin won competitive Oscars (Chaplin for songwriting) after receiving an honorary kudo.

Now this year O'Toole has renewed hope for nabbing that lovely bugger at last for "Venus," which debuts this weekend at Telluride. Early word is that his performance is a real winner as a lecherous geezer thesp who lusts after his colleague's teen-age grand-niece (Jodie Whittaker). Here's a tease of it — a trailer preview in which we can hear him recite Shakespeare's "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day?" as his nymphet lounges nude nearby: CLICK HERE! (Look for the link along the left column.)

But can he win for it?

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Top photos: O'Toole in "Venus."(Miramax) Bottom Photos: O'Toole's 7 Oscar noms (clockwise from top) — "Lawrence of Arabia," "Becket," "The Lion in Winter," "Goodbye, Mr. Chips," "My Favorite Year," "The Stuntman," "The Ruling Class."(Columbia/ Paramount/ AVCO Embassy/ MGM/ MGM-US/ 20th Century Fox/ AVCO Embassy) He was not nommed for other notable roles in "Lord Jim," "The Last Emperor," "How to Steal a Million" or "Man of La Mancha." He won an Emmy in 1999 as best supporting actor in a TV film/mini for "Joan of Arc."