O’Toole, Bruce and Wambaugh

I once saw the author/one-time LAPD detective, Joseph Wambaugh, give an interview in which he stated that his police career would have been a great deal different had he worn a badge in any other American city besides Los Angeles.  He told a story about, while a rookie cop in the early sixties, he and his partner having busted two men smoking marijuana in the car. (A pot bust was a much bigger deal back then than it is now.)  One of the men, who spoke with a considerable Irish accent, tearfully begged them not to ruin his career by taking him in.  When Wambaugh’s Sergeant arrived on the scene, he listened to what the young actor had said and tossed the marijuana down the sewer drain.  That young Irish actor, Wambaugh says, was none other than Peter O’Toole who went on to have quite a career.  His companion in the car that night was the comedian, Lenny Bruce.  Wambaugh says that maybe it was a coincidence, but after that night, he never again heard Bruce refer to police officers as pigs.