Jules Buck, the producer behind Peter O'Toole's rise to screen stardom, died last week at the age of 83.

Jules Buck became O'Toole's partner and co-founded Keep Films with Irish star. He produced or co-produced almost every movie O'Toole made between 1960 and 1975, and was largely credited for launching his career.

The 26-year-old actor first came to Buck's attention London in 1959 when he and his wife attended a performance of The Long And The Short And The Tall, at the Royal Court. Buck cast him that year in The Day They Robbed The Bank Of England. David Lean attended the film's premiere and immediately cast the unknown actor as Lawrence in the war time epic Lawrence of Arabia.

During the war the legendary director John Huston employed Buck as his cameraman on two documentaries, Report From The Aleutians and The Battle Of San Pietro.

Although he was never a member of the communist party, nor even considered for the left wing blacklist, the Missouri born Buck fled Senator Joe McCarthy's witch hunt in 1953 to Paris before crossing the channel to England four years later to become a producer.

It was after working with John Steinbeck on early drafts of the screenplay for Elia Kazan's Viva Zapata!, and producing one of Marilyn Monroe's early films, Love Nest, that Buck decided to leave the US.