Laurence Olivier

Personal Info

Known For Actor

Gender Male

Birthday 1907-05-22

Deathday 1989-07-11 (82 years old)

Place of Birth Dorking, Surrey, England, UK

Also Known As Лоуренс Оливье, Sir Laurence Olivier, Laurence Kerr Olivier, Лоуренс Олівʼє

Laurence Olivier

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. Description above from the Wikipedia article Laurence Olivier, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known For

Actor

2024
The Bannfoot Ferry

as Self (archive footage)

2023
2021
Hannibal Hopkins & Sir Anthony

as Self (archive footage)

2020
Vivien Leigh, autant en emporte le vent

as Self (archive footage)

2018
2018
Nothing Like a Dame

as Self (archive footage)

2015
Iconic Couples

as Self (archive footage)

2014
And the Oscar Goes To...

as Self (archive footage)

2013
Talking Pictures

as Self (archive footage)

2011
Discovering Hamlet

as Hamlet (archive footage)

2010
2005
Jornal Português (1938-1951)

as Self (archive footage)

2005
Revisiting Brideshead

as Self (archive footage)

2004
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

as Dr. Totenkopf (archive footage)

2002
The Kid Stays in the Picture

as Self (archive footage)

2001
Larry & Vivien: The Oliviers in Love

as Self (archive footage)

2000
Sir John Mills' Moving Memories

as Self (archive footage)

2000
The Filth and the Fury

as Richard III (archive footage)

1999
1992
The South Bank Show: Noël Coward

as Self (archival footage)

1991
Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker

as Superintendent Newhouse (archive footage) (uncredited)

1990
Vivien Leigh: Scarlett and Beyond

as Self (archive footage)

1989
War Requiem

as The Old Soldier

1988
1988
Gregory Peck: His Own Man

as Self (archive footage)

1986
Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend

as Self (from The Prince and the Showgirl [1957]) (archive footage)

1986
Lost Empires

as Harry Burrard

1986
Peter the Great

as King William III of Orange

1985
Wild Geese II

as Rudolf Hess

1985
To Be Hamlet

as Self

1984
The Bounty

as Admiral Hood

1984
A Voyage Round My Father

as Clifford Mortimer

1984
The Ebony Tower

as Henry Breasley

1983
A Talent for Murder

as Dr. Anthony Wainwright

1983
The Jigsaw Man

as Adm. Sir Gerald Scaith

1983
1983
King Lear

as King Lear

1983
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage

as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

1983
Wagner

as Pfeuffer

1981
Inchon

as Gen. Douglas MacArthur

1981
Brideshead Revisited

as Alexander Flyte, Lord Marchmain

1980
The Jazz Singer

as Cantor Rabinovitch

1979
Dracula

as Prof. Abraham Van Helsing

1979
1978
The Boys from Brazil

as Ezra Lieberman

1978
The Betsy

as Loren Hardeman

1978
Daphne Laureola

as Sir Joseph

1977
1977
A Bridge Too Far

as Dr. Jan Spaander

1977
Jesus Of Nazareth

as Nicodemus

1977
Jesus of Nazareth

as Nicodemus

1976
1976
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution

as Professor James Moriarty

1976
1976
Marathon Man

as Szell

1976
1976
1976
1976
1975
Love Among the Ruins

as Sir Arthur Glanville-Jones

1974
1973
1973
Long Day's Journey Into Night

as James Tyrone Sr.

1973
The World at War

as Narrator

1972
Sleuth

as Andrew Wyke

1972
Lady Caroline Lamb

as Duke of Wellington

1971
Nicholas and Alexandra

as Count Witte

1971
1971
1970
Three Sisters

as Dr. Ivan Chebutikin

1969
David Copperfield

as Mr. Creakle

1969
Battle of Britain

as Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding

1969
Oh! What a Lovely War

as Field Marshal Sir John French

1969
Male of the Species

as Presenter

1969
1969
Male of the Species

as Self - Presenter

1968
The Shoes of the Fisherman

as Piotr Ilyich Kamenev

1968
Romeo and Juliet

as Narrator (voice) (uncredited)

1968
The Dick Cavett Show

as Self - Guest

1967
Omnibus

as Self (archive footage)

1967
The Carol Burnett Show

as Self - Audience Member

1966
Great Acting: Laurence Olivier

as Self - Interviewee

1966
Khartoum

as Mahdi

1966
ABC Stage 67

as Self

1966
ABC Stage 67

as Self (archive footage)

1965
Othello

as Othello

1965
Bunny Lake Is Missing

as Supt. Newhouse

1965
1963
Uncle Vanya

as Dr. Astrov

1962
Term of Trial

as Graham Weir

1961
Hollywood: The Selznick Years

as Maxim de Winter (archive footage) (uncredited)

1960
Spartacus

as Marcus Licinius Crassus

1960
The Entertainer

as Archie Rice

1959
The Moon and Sixpence

as Charles Strickland

1959
The Devil's Disciple

as Gen. Burgoyne

1957
1956
Tony Awards

as Self

1956
Tony Awards

as Self - Recipient

1955
Richard III

as Richard III

1953
The Beggar's Opera

as MacHeath

1953
A Queen Is Crowned

as Narrator

1953
The Oscars

as Self

1952
Carrie

as George Hurstwood

1952
The Magic Box

as Police Constable 94-B

1948
Hamlet

as Hamlet - Prince of Denmark / Voice of Ghost

1944
Henry V

as King Henry

1944
This Happy Breed

as Narrator (voice)

1944
1944
Golden Globe Awards

as Self - Winner

1944
Golden Globe Awards

as Self - Nominee

1943
The Demi-Paradise

as Ivan Kouznetsoff

1942
Malta G.C.

as Narrator

1941
49th Parallel

as Johnnie, the Trapper

1941
That Hamilton Woman

as Lord Horatio Nelson

1941
Words for Battle

as Narrator (voice)

1940
Pride and Prejudice

as Mr. Darcy

1940
Rebecca

as Maxim de Winter

1940
21 Days Together

as Larry Durrant

1939
Wuthering Heights

as Heathcliff

1939
Q Planes

as Tony McVane

1938
The Divorce of Lady X

as Everard Logan

1937
Fire Over England

as Michael Ingolby

1936
The Conquest of the Air

as Vincent Lunardi

1936
As You Like It

as Orlando

1935
Moscow Nights

as Captain Ivan Ignatoff

1933
No Funny Business

as Clive Dering

1933
Perfect Understanding

as Nicholas Randall

1932
Westward Passage

as Nicholas 'Nick' Allen

1931
The Yellow Ticket

as Julian Rolfe

1931
Friends and Lovers

as Lieutenant Ned Nichols

1931
Potiphar's Wife

as Straker

1930
Too Many Crooks

as The Boy

1930
The Temporary Widow

as Peter Bille

Producer

1978
Daphne Laureola

as Executive Producer

1978
1976
The Collection

as Producer

1976
1976
Hindle Wakes

as Producer

1955
Richard III

as Producer

1953
The Beggar's Opera

as Producer

1948
Hamlet

as Producer

1944
Henry V

as Producer

Director

1976
Hindle Wakes

as Director

1970
Three Sisters

as Director

1963
Uncle Vanya

as Director

1955
Richard III

as Director

1948
Hamlet

as Director

1944
Henry V

as Director

Writer

1977
Come Back, Little Sheba

as Creative Producer

1955
Richard III

as Screenplay

1948
Hamlet

as Screenplay

1944
Henry V

as Writer

Creator