Known For
Acting
Born
May 22, 1907
Died
Jul 11, 1989
Place of Birth
Dorking, Surrey, England, UK
Credits
160 titles
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.
Known For
Filmography
Charmed Lives: A Family Romance
Self (archive footage)
Dame Maggie Smith - A Celebration
Self (archive footage)
The Bannfoot Ferry
Self (archive footage)
Mad About the Boy: The Noël Coward Story
Self (archive footage)
Hannibal Hopkins & Sir Anthony
Self (archive footage)
Vivien Leigh, autant en emporte le vent
Self (archive footage)
Churchill and the Movie Mogul
Self (archive footage)
Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood
Self (archive footage)
Nothing Like a Dame
Self (archive footage)
The Vivien Leigh Archive at the V&A
Self (archive footage)
The Greats: Vivien Leigh
Self (archive footage)
Jornal Português (1938-1951)
Self (archive footage)
Iconic Couples of Hollywood
Self (archive footage)
Talking Pictures
Self (archive footage)
Marilyn Monroe: In The Movies
Marilyn despite herself
Fascination: Unauthorized Story of Marilyn Monroe
Self (archive footage)
Discovering Hamlet
Hamlet (archive footage)
Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff
Self (archive footage)
The Making of 'Rebecca'
Self (archive footage)
Marilyn, dernières séances
Self(archive footage)
Revisiting Brideshead
Self (archive footage)
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Dr. Totenkopf (archive footage)
The Prince, The Showgirl and Me
Self (archive footage)
The Body of Marilyn Monroe
archive footage
Larry & Vivien: The Oliviers in Love
Self (archive footage)
Sir John Mills' Moving Memories
Self (archive footage)
Vivien Leigh: A Delicate Balance
Self (archive footage)
The Filth and the Fury
Richard III (archive footage)
Hitchcock, Selznick and the End of Hollywood
Self (archive footage)
Legends in Light: The Photography of George Hurrell
Self (archive footage)
Korda: I Don't Grow on Trees: Part One
Self
Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker
Superintendent Newhouse (archive footage) (uncredited)
Vivien Leigh: Scarlett and Beyond
Self (archive footage)
War Requiem
The Old Soldier
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind
Self (archive footage)
Gregory Peck: His Own Man
Self (archive footage)
Lost Empires
Harry Burrard
Directed by William Wyler
Self
Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend
archive footage
Peter the Great
King William III of Orange
Marilyn Monroe
archive footage
Wild Geese II
Rudolf Hess
Night of 100 Stars II
Self
To Be Hamlet
Self
The Last Days of Pompeii
Gaius
The Bounty
Admiral Hood
A Voyage Round My Father
Clifford Mortimer
The Ebony Tower
Henry Breasley
A Talent for Murder
Dr. Anthony Wainwright