Laurence Olivier

Acting • Born 1907-05-22 – Died 1989-07-11

Acting2Dorking, Surrey, England, UK

Biography

Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM (22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson, Peggy Ashcroft and John Gielgud, dominated the British stage of the mid-20th century. He also worked in films throughout his career, playing more than fifty cinema roles. Late in his career, he had considerable success in television roles. His family had no theatrical connections, but Olivier's father, a clergyman, decided that his son should become an actor. After attending a drama school in London, Olivier learned his craft in a succession of acting jobs during the late 1920s. In 1930 he had his first important West End success in Noël Coward's Private Lives, and he appeared in his first film. In 1935 he played in a celebrated production of Romeo and Juliet alongside Gielgud and Ashcroft, and by the end of the decade he was an established star. In the 1940s, together with Richardson and John Burrell, Olivier was the co-director of the Old Vic, building it into a highly respected company. There his most celebrated roles included Shakespeare's Richard III and Sophocles's Oedipus. In the 1950s Olivier was an independent actor-manager, but his stage career was in the doldrums until he joined the avant garde English Stage Company in 1957 to play the title role in The Entertainer, a part he later played on film. From 1963 to 1973 he was the founding director of Britain's National Theatre, running a resident company that fostered many future stars. His own parts there included the title role in Othello (1965) and Shylock in The Merchant of Venice (1970). Among Olivier's films are Wuthering Heights (1939), Rebecca (1940), and a trilogy of Shakespeare films as actor-director: Henry V (1944), Hamlet (1948), and Richard III (1955). His later films included The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968), Sleuth (1972), Marathon Man (1976), and The Boys from Brazil (1978). His television appearances included an adaptation of The Moon and Sixpence (1960), Long Day's Journey into Night (1973), Love Among the Ruins (1975), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1976), Brideshead Revisited (1981) and King Lear (1983). Olivier's honours included a knighthood (1947), a life peerage (1970) and the Order of Merit (1981). For his on-screen work he received four Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, five Emmy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards. The National Theatre's largest auditorium is named in his honour, and he is commemorated in the Laurence Olivier Awards, given annually by the Society of London Theatre. He was married three times, to the actresses Jill Esmond from 1930 to 1940, Vivien Leigh from 1940 to 1960, and Joan Plowright from 1961 until his death.

Filmography

147 credits

Rebecca

Movie • 1940

Maxim de Winter

Spartacus

Movie • 1960

Marcus Licinius Crassus

Sleuth

Movie • 1972

Andrew Wyke

Marathon Man

Movie • 1976

Dr. Christian Szell

Wuthering Heights

Movie • 1939

Heathcliff

To Be Hamlet

Movie • 1985

Self

Clash of the Titans

Movie • 1981

Zeus

Bunny Lake Is Missing

Movie • 1965

Supt. Newhouse

The Bounty

Movie • 1984

Admiral Hood

Sir John Mills' Moving Memories

Movie • 2000

Self (archive footage)

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

Movie • 2004

Dr. Totenkopf (archive footage)

A Bridge Too Far

Movie • 1977

Dr. Jan Spaander

Oh! What a Lovely War

Movie • 1969

Field Marshal Sir John French

A Little Romance

Movie • 1979

Julius

Fire Over England

Movie • 1937

Michael Ingolby

49th Parallel

Movie • 1941

Johnnie, the Trapper

The Prince and the Showgirl

Movie • 1957

The Regent

Battle of Britain

Movie • 1969

Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding

Hamlet

Movie • 1948

Hamlet - Prince of Denmark / Voice of Ghost

Henry V

Movie • 1944

King Henry

Dracula

Movie • 1979

Prof. Abraham Van Helsing

The Dance of Death

Movie • 1969

Edgar

The Jigsaw Man

Movie • 1983

Adm. Sir Gerald Scaith

Khartoum

Movie • 1966

Mahdi

War Requiem

Movie • 1989

The Old Soldier

The Seven-Per-Cent Solution

Movie • 1976

Professor James Moriarty

Richard III

Movie • 1955

Richard III

Carrie

Movie • 1952

George Hurstwood

The Jazz Singer

Movie • 1980

Cantor Rabinovitch

That Hamilton Woman

Movie • 1941

Lord Horatio Nelson

Pride and Prejudice

Movie • 1940

Mr. Darcy

Q Planes

Movie • 1939

Tony McVane

The Divorce of Lady X

Movie • 1938

Everard Logan

As You Like It

Movie • 1936

Orlando

Othello

Movie • 1965

Othello

The Boys from Brazil

Movie • 1978

Ezra Lieberman

Nicholas and Alexandra

Movie • 1971

Count Witte

A Voyage Round My Father

Movie • 1984

Clifford Mortimer

21 Days

Movie • 1940

Larry Durrant

The Shoes of the Fisherman

Movie • 1968

Piotr Ilyich Kamenev

King Lear

Movie • 1983

King Lear

Wild Geese II

Movie • 1985

Rudolf Hess

The Entertainer

Movie • 1960

Archie Rice

The Magic Box

Movie • 1952

Police Constable 94-B

Mad About the Boy: The Noël Coward Story

Movie • 2023

Self (archive footage)

Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage

Movie • 1983

Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

Term of Trial

Movie • 1962

Graham Weir

The Devil's Disciple

Movie • 1959

Gen. Burgoyne

The Betsy

Movie • 1978

Loren Hardeman

The Yellow Ticket

Movie • 1931

Julian Rolfe

The Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci

Movie • 1953

Narrator

Love Among the Ruins

Movie • 1976

Sir Arthur Glanville-Jones

The Power and the Glory

Movie • 1963

Priest

Inchon

Movie • 1981

Gen. Douglas MacArthur

David Copperfield

Movie • 1969

Mr. Creakle

Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood

Movie • 2018

Self (archive footage)

Words for Battle

Movie • 1941

Narrator (voice)

The Gentleman Tramp

Movie • 1976

Narrator

The Conquest of the Air

Movie • 1931

Vincent Lunardi

The Collection

Movie • 1976

Harry

Moscow Nights

Movie • 1934

Captain Ivan Ignatoff

Westward Passage

Movie • 1932

Nicholas 'Nick' Allen

Friends and Lovers

Movie • 1931

Lieutenant Ned Nichols

Male of the Species

Movie • 1969

Presenter

Perfect Understanding

Movie • 1933

Nicholas Randall

Discovering Hamlet

Movie • 2011

Hamlet (archive footage)

Hannibal Hopkins & Sir Anthony

Movie • 2021

Self (archive footage)

The Demi-Paradise

Movie • 1943

Ivan Kouznetsoff

Revisiting Brideshead

Movie • 2005

Self (archive footage)

The Merchant of Venice

Movie • 1973

Shylock

Larry & Vivien: The Oliviers in Love

Movie • 2001

Self (archive footage)

Long Day's Journey Into Night

Movie • 1973

James Tyrone Sr.

Three Sisters

Movie • 1970

Dr. Ivan Chebutikin

Come Back, Little Sheba

Movie • 1977

Doc Delaney

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Movie • 1976

Big Daddy

The Beggar's Opera

Movie • 1953

MacHeath

Malta G.C.

Movie • 1942

Narrator

Lady Caroline Lamb

Movie • 1972

Duke of Wellington

The Ebony Tower

Movie • 1984

Henry Breasley

The Rehearsal

Movie • 1974

Self

Gregory Peck: His Own Man

Movie • 1988

Self (archive footage)

This Happy Breed

Movie • 1944

Narrator (voice)

No Funny Business

Movie • 1933

Clive Dering

Night of 100 Stars II

Movie • 1985

Self

A Talent for Murder

Movie • 1983

Dr. Anthony Wainwright

Romeo and Juliet

Movie • 1968

Narrator (voice) (uncredited)

A Queen Is Crowned

Movie • 1953

Narrator

The Bannfoot Ferry

Movie • 2024

Self (archive footage)

Daphne Laureola

Movie • 1978

Sir Joseph

Hitchcock, Selznick and the End of Hollywood

Movie • 1999

Self (archive footage)

The Volunteer

Movie • 1944

Self

The Temporary Widow

Movie • 1930

Peter Bille

Too Many Crooks

Movie • 1930

The Boy

Potiphar's Wife

Movie • 1931

Straker

Saturday, Sunday, Monday

Movie • 1978

Antonio

Cavalcade of the Academy Awards

Movie • 1940

Self

Hollywood: Style Center of the World

Movie • 1940

Self

The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind

Movie • 1988

Self (archive footage)

Jornal Português (1938-1951)

Movie • 2015

Self (archive footage)

At the Haunted End of the Day

Movie • 1981

Self

Great Acting: Laurence Olivier

Movie • 1966

Self - Interviewee

The Magic of Hollywood... Is the Magic of People

Movie • 1976

Self

The Filth and the Fury

Movie • 2000

Richard III (archive footage)

Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker

Movie • 1991

Superintendent Newhouse (archive footage) (uncredited)

Directed by William Wyler

Movie • 1986

Self

Uncle Vanya

Movie • 1963

Dr. Astrov

Olivier Talks About Othello

Movie • 1965

Self - Host

Mr. Halpern and Mr. Johnson

Movie • 1983

Joe Halpern

Vivien Leigh: Scarlett and Beyond

Movie • 1990

Self (archive footage)

Vivien Leigh, autant en emporte le vent

Movie • 2021

Self (archive footage)

Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff

Movie • 2010

Self (archive footage)

Nothing Like a Dame

Movie • 2018

Self (archive footage)

The Moon and Sixpence

Movie • 1959

Charles Strickland

Tree of Life

Movie • 1971

Narrator