Apparently, Peter O'Toole plans to lift a well-filled glass at the next Oscars whether or not he wins. Oh, never mind those silly rules against booze at the ceremony. As O'Toole made clear recently, when the great thespian is thirsty, someone should pop a bottle open or else he might pop off.

When asked about attending the Oscars three years ago to receive an honorary statuette, O'Toole recently told the London Times, "It was all right. I enjoyed it, and my children were with me. The only thing that wasn't enjoyable was in the green room. I said, 'Can I have a drink?' 'We have lemon juice, apple juice, still or sparkling.' I said, 'No, I want a drink. No drink?' I said, 'All right, I'm f***ing off. I'll be back.' A man with earphones said, 'No! No!' Eventually, this vodka was smuggled in."

However, O'Toole does admit that he no longer parties like he once did.

"I had to turn it in for a while and cut down considerably," he says. "I still like a drink."

The Times asked Oscar's biggest loser (7 defeats) if he's aware that Academy Award races nowadays are a lot like political races. Contenders must actively run for them.

"They always were!" he replied. "Always. Don't forget, the best thing if you want to know who's going to win the Oscar is to ring the Las Vegas bookies, because there are 100 members of the Screen Actors Guild who back horses. It's what I've done since 1962." Read the rest of the interview — CLICK HERE!

When asked by the London Times if he ever bet on himself in an Oscar race, O'Toole said, "Only once, because I was favorite, and I thought I might do it. I've always been an outsider."
(Miramax)