Editing Lawrence of Arabia (film) (section)

== Cast ==
* [[Peter O'Toole]] as [[T. E. Lawrence]]. [[Albert Finney]] was a virtual unknown at the time but he was Lean's first choice to play Lawrence. Finney underwent a successful screen test but turned down the part as he did not want to sign a long-term contract with producer Sam Spiegel. [[Marlon Brando]] was also offered the part, while [[Anthony Perkins]] and [[Montgomery Clift]] were briefly considered before O'Toole was cast.<ref>{{Harvnb|Turner|1994|pages=41–45}}</ref> Spiegel disliked Clift, having worked with him on ''[[Suddenly, Last Summer (film)|Suddenly, Last Summer]]'' (1959). [[Alec Guinness]] had played Lawrence in the play ''[[Ross (play)|Ross]]'' and was briefly considered for the part, but Lean and Spiegel thought him too old. Lean had seen O'Toole in ''[[The Day They Robbed the Bank of England]]'' (1960) and was bowled over by his screen test, proclaiming, "This ''is'' Lawrence!" Spiegel eventually acceded to Lean's choice. Pictures of Lawrence suggest also that O'Toole bore some resemblance to him, though at {{height|ft=6|in=2|abbr=mos}} tall O'Toole was significantly taller than Lawrence.<ref name="Woolf">{{cite web |last=Woolf |first=Christopher |url=https://www.pri.org/stories/2013-12-16/peter-otooles-lawrence-arabia-fact-or-fiction |title=Is Peter O'Toole's Lawrence of Arabia fact or fiction? |website=[[Public Radio International|PRI]] |date=16 December 2013 | access-date=10 February 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211155438/https://www.pri.org/stories/2013-12-16/peter-otooles-lawrence-arabia-fact-or-fiction | archive-date=11 February 2017 | url-status=live}}</ref> O'Toole's looks prompted a different reaction from [[Noël Coward]], who quipped after seeing the première of the film, "If you had been any prettier, the film would have been called ''Florence of Arabia''".<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Lane |first=Anthony |url=https://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2008/03/31/080331crat_atlarge_lane |title=Master and Commander |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |date=31 March 2008 | access-date=26 February 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606142628/http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2008/03/31/080331crat_atlarge_lane | archive-date=6 June 2011 | url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Alec Guinness]] as [[Faisal I of Iraq|Prince Faisal]] ("Feisal" in the credits). Faisal was originally to be portrayed by [[Laurence Olivier]]. Guinness had performed in other David Lean films, and he got the part when Olivier dropped out. Guinness was made up to look as much like the real Faisal as possible; he recorded in his diaries that while shooting in Jordan he met several people who had known Faisal who actually mistook him for the late prince. Guinness said in interviews that he developed his Arab accent from a conversation that he had with Omar Sharif.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/10516976/Alec-Guinness-in-films-picture-special.html|title=Alec Guinness in films: picture special|first1=Martin|last1=Chilton|date=6 November 2015|access-date=27 June 2024|website=The Telegraph|publisher=Telegraph Media Group Limited|quote=Guinness said he developed his Arab accent from a conversation he had with Sharif.}}</ref>
* [[Anthony Quinn]] as [[Auda Abu Tayi]]. Quinn got very much into his role; he spent hours applying his own makeup, using a photograph of the real Auda to make himself look as much like him as he could. One anecdote has Quinn arriving on set for the first time in full costume, whereupon Lean mistook him for a native and asked his assistant to ring Quinn and notify him that they were replacing him with the new arrival.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}
* [[Jack Hawkins]] as General [[Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby|Edmund Allenby]]. Spiegel pushed Lean to cast [[Cary Grant]] or [[Laurence Olivier]] (who was engaged at the [[Chichester Festival Theatre]] and declined). Lean convinced him to choose Hawkins because of his work for them on ''[[The Bridge on the River Kwai]]'' (1957). Hawkins shaved his head for the role and reportedly clashed with Lean several times during filming. Guinness recounted that Hawkins was reprimanded by Lean for celebrating the end of a day's filming with an impromptu dance. Hawkins became close friends with O'Toole during filming, and the two often improvised dialogue during takes, to Lean's dismay.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}
* [[Omar Sharif]] as Sherif Ali ibn el Kharish. The role was offered to many actors before Sharif was cast. [[Horst Buchholz]] was the first choice but had already signed on for the film ''[[One, Two, Three]]''. [[Alain Delon]] had a successful screen test but ultimately declined because of the brown contact lenses he would have had to wear. [[Maurice Ronet]] and [[Dilip Kumar]] were also considered.<ref>{{Harvnb|Turner|1994|pages=45–49}}</ref> Sharif, who was already a major star in the Middle East, was originally cast as Lawrence's guide Tafas, but when the other actors proved unsuitable Sharif was shifted to the part of Ali. An amalgamation of numerous Arab leaders, particularly Faisal's cousin Sharif Nassir, who led the Harith forces in the attack on [[Aqaba]], this character was created largely because Lawrence did not serve with any single Arab leader aside from Auda throughout the majority of the war; most such leaders were combined into Ali's character.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}
* [[José Ferrer]] as the Turkish [[Bey]]. Ferrer was initially dissatisfied with the small size of his part and accepted the role only on the condition of being paid $25,000 (more than O'Toole and Sharif combined) plus a [[Porsche]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Turner|1994|p=49}}</ref> Afterwards, Ferrer considered this his best film performance, saying in an interview: "If I was to be judged by any one film performance, it would be my five minutes in ''Lawrence''". Peter O'Toole once said that he learned more about screen acting from Ferrer than he could in any acting class. According to Lawrence in ''Seven Pillars of Wisdom'', this was General Hajim Bey (in Turkish, ''Hacim Muhiddin Bey''), though the film does not name him. Biographers including [[Jeremy Wilson]] and [[John E. Mack|John Mack]] have argued that Lawrence's account is to be believed; others including [[Michael Asher (explorer)|Michael Asher]] and [[Lawrence James]] argue that contemporary evidence suggests that Lawrence never went to Deraa at this time and that the story is invented.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}
* [[Anthony Quayle]] as Colonel Harry Brighton. Quayle, a veteran of military roles, was cast after Jack Hawkins, the original choice, was shifted to the part of Allenby. Quayle and Lean argued over how to portray the character, with Lean feeling Brighton to be an honourable character, while Quayle thought him an idiot. He is in essence a composite of all of the British officers who served in the Middle East with Lawrence, most notably Lieutenant Colonel [[S. F. Newcombe]] (in Michael Wilson's original script, the character was named Colonel Newcombe before Robert Bolt changed it). Like Brighton in the film, Newcombe was Lawrence's predecessor as liaison to the Arab Revolt; he and many of his men were captured by the Turks in 1916, but Newcombe escaped. Brighton was created to represent how ordinary British soldiers would feel about a man like Lawrence: impressed by his accomplishments but repulsed by his affected manner.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}
* [[Claude Rains]] as Mr. Dryden. Like Sherif Ali and Colonel Brighton, Dryden was an amalgamation of several historical figures, primarily [[Ronald Storrs]], a member of the Arab Bureau, but also [[David George Hogarth|David Hogarth]], an archaeologist friend of Lawrence; [[Henry McMahon]], the High Commissioner of Egypt who negotiated the [[McMahon–Hussein Correspondence]] which began the Arab Revolt and [[Mark Sykes]], who helped draw up the [[Sykes–Picot Agreement]] which partitioned the post-war Middle East. [[Robert Bolt]] stated that the character was created to "represent the civilian and political wing of British interests, to balance Allenby's military objectives".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.telawrence.info/telawrenceinfo/legacy3/film/film3.htm |title=Lawrence of Arabia or Smith in the Desert? |access-date=8 March 2021 |archive-date=29 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929015041/http://www.telawrence.info/telawrenceinfo/legacy3/film/film3.htm |url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Arthur Kennedy]] as Jackson Bentley. In the early days of the production, when the Bentley character had a more prominent role, [[Kirk Douglas]] was considered for the part; Douglas expressed interest but demanded a star salary and the highest billing after O'Toole and thus was turned down by Spiegel. Later, [[Edmond O'Brien]] was cast in the part.<ref>{{Harvnb|Turner|1994|p=51}}</ref> O'Brien filmed the Jerusalem scene and (according to Omar Sharif) Bentley's political discussion with Ali, but he suffered a heart attack on location and had to be replaced at the last moment by Kennedy, who was recommended to Lean by Anthony Quinn.<ref>{{Harvnb|Turner|1994|pages=137–38}}</ref> The character was based on famed American journalist [[Lowell Thomas]], whose reports helped make Lawrence famous. Thomas was a young man at the time who spent only weeks at most with Lawrence in the field, unlike Bentley, who is a middle-aged man present for all of Lawrence's later campaigns. Bentley was the narrator in Wilson's original script, but Bolt reduced his role significantly in the final treatment.
* [[Donald Wolfit]] as General [[Archibald Murray]]. He releases Lawrence to Mr. Dryden.
* [[I. S. Johar]] as Gasim. Johar was a well-known [[India]]n actor who occasionally appeared in international productions.
* [[Gamil Ratib]] as Majid. Ratib was a veteran Egyptian actor. His English was not considered good enough, so he was dubbed by an uncredited [[Robert Rietti]]{{citation needed|date=November 2018}} in the final edit.
* [[Michel de Carvalho|Michel Ray]] as Farraj. At the time, Ray was a rising Anglo-Brazilian actor who had appeared in several films, including [[Irving Rapper]]'s ''[[The Brave One (1956 film)|The Brave One]]'' (1956) and [[Anthony Mann]]'s ''[[The Tin Star]]'' (1957).
* John Dimech as Daud
* [[Zia Mohyeddin]] as Tafas. Mohyeddin, one of Pakistan's best-known actors, played a character based on Lawrence's actual guide, Sheikh Obeid el-Rashid of the Hazimi branch of the Beni Salem, whom Lawrence referred to as Tafas several times in ''Seven Pillars''.
* [[Howard Marion-Crawford]] as the medical officer. He was cast at the last minute during the filming of the Damascus scenes in Seville. The character was based on an officer mentioned in an incident in ''Seven Pillars of Wisdom''. Lawrence's meeting the officer again while in British uniform was an invention of the script.
* [[Jack Gwillim]] as the club secretary. Gwillim was recommended to Lean for the film by close friend Quayle.
* [[Hugh Miller (actor)|Hugh Miller]] as the [[RAMC]] colonel. He worked on several of Lean's films as a dialogue coach and was one of several members of the film crew to be given bit parts (see below).
* [[Peter Burton]] as a Damascus sheik (uncredited)
* Kenneth Fortescue as Allenby's aide (uncredited)<ref name="Eagan2010">{{cite book |author=Daniel Eagan |title=America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=deq3xI8OmCkC&pg=PA586 |date=2010 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-0-8264-2977-3 |pages=586–|access-date=2 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190724211745/https://books.google.com/books?id=deq3xI8OmCkC&pg=PA586|archive-date=24 July 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Harry Fowler]] as Corporal William Potter (uncredited)<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/jan/04/harry-fowler |title=Harry Fowler obituary |newspaper=The Guardian |date=4 January 2012 |last1=Baxter |first1=Brian| access-date=2 February 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120109022501/http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/jan/04/harry-fowler| archive-date=9 January 2012| url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Jack Hedley]] as a reporter (uncredited)
* [[Ian MacNaughton]] as Corporal Michael George Hartley, Lawrence's companion in O'Toole's first scene (uncredited)
* [[Henry Oscar]] as Silliam, Faisal's servant (uncredited)
* [[Norman Rossington]] as Corporal Jenkins (uncredited)<ref name="Eagan2010" />
* [[John Ruddock]] as Elder Harith (uncredited)<ref name="Eagan2010" />
* [[Fernando Sancho]] as the Turkish sergeant (uncredited)
* Stuart Saunders as the [[regimental sergeant major]] (uncredited)
* [[Bryan Pringle]] as the driver of the car which takes Lawrence away at the end of the film (uncredited)

The crew consisted of over 200 people. Including cast and extras, over 1,000 people worked on the film.{{sfn|Jackson|2007|p=59}} Members of the crew portrayed minor characters. First assistant director Roy Stevens played the truck driver who transports Lawrence and Farraj to the Cairo HQ at the end of Act I; the sergeant who stops Lawrence and Farraj ("Where do you think you're going to, Mustapha?") is construction assistant Fred Bennett, and screenwriter [[Robert Bolt]] has a wordless cameo as one of the officers watching Allenby and Lawrence confer in the courtyard (he is smoking a pipe).{{sfn|Phillips|2006|p=296}} Steve Birtles, the film's [[Gaffer (occupation)|gaffer]], played the motorcyclist at the Suez Canal; Lean is rumoured to have provided the cyclist's voice shouting "Who are you?" Continuity supervisor Barbara Cole appeared as one of the nurses in the Damascus hospital scene.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}}