Laurence Olivier
Acting
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.
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)
Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood
Self (archive footage)
Nothing Like a Dame
Self (archive footage)
Jornal Português (1938-1951)
Self (archive footage)
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)
Revisiting Brideshead
Self (archive footage)
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Dr. Totenkopf (archive footage)
Larry & Vivien: The Oliviers in Love
Self (archive footage)
Sir John Mills' Moving Memories
Self (archive footage)
The Filth and the Fury
Richard III (archive footage)
Hitchcock, Selznick and the End of Hollywood
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)
Directed by William Wyler
Self
Wild Geese II
Rudolf Hess
Night of 100 Stars II
Self
To Be Hamlet
Self
The Bounty
Admiral Hood
A Voyage Round My Father
Clifford Mortimer
The Ebony Tower
Henry Breasley
A Talent for Murder
Dr. Anthony Wainwright
The Jigsaw Man
Adm. Sir Gerald Scaith
Mr. Halpern and Mr. Johnson
Joe Halpern
King Lear
King Lear
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Laurence Olivier: a life
Self
Natalie - A Tribute to a Very Special Lady
Clash of the Titans
Zeus
Inchon
Gen. Douglas MacArthur
At the Haunted End of the Day
Self
The Jazz Singer
Cantor Rabinovitch
Dracula
Prof. Abraham Van Helsing
A Little Romance
Julius
The Boys from Brazil
Ezra Lieberman
The Betsy
Loren Hardeman
Daphne Laureola
Sir Joseph
Saturday, Sunday, Monday
Antonio
Come Back, Little Sheba
Doc Delaney
A Bridge Too Far
Dr. Jan Spaander
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Big Daddy
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution
Professor James Moriarty
The Gentleman Tramp
Narrator
Marathon Man
Dr. Christian Szell
The Magic of Hollywood... Is the Magic of People
Self
Love Among the Ruins
Sir Arthur Glanville-Jones
The Collection
Harry
The Rehearsal
Self
The Merchant of Venice
Shylock
Long Day's Journey Into Night
James Tyrone Sr.
Sleuth
Andrew Wyke
Lady Caroline Lamb
Duke of Wellington
Nicholas and Alexandra
Count Witte
Tree of Life
Narrator
Three Sisters
Dr. Ivan Chebutikin
David Copperfield
Mr. Creakle
Battle of Britain
Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding
The Dance of Death
Edgar
Oh! What a Lovely War
Field Marshal Sir John French
Male of the Species
Presenter
The Shoes of the Fisherman
Piotr Ilyich Kamenev
Romeo and Juliet
Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Great Acting: Laurence Olivier
Self - Interviewee
The Legend of Marilyn Monroe
Khartoum
Mahdi
Othello
Othello
Bunny Lake Is Missing
Supt. Newhouse
Olivier Talks About Othello
Self - Host
Uncle Vanya
Dr. Astrov
The Power and the Glory
Priest
Term of Trial
Graham Weir
Spartacus
Marcus Licinius Crassus
The Entertainer
Archie Rice
The Moon and Sixpence
Charles Strickland
The Devil's Disciple
Gen. Burgoyne
The Prince and the Showgirl
The Regent
Richard III
Richard III
The Beggar's Opera
MacHeath
A Queen Is Crowned
Narrator
The Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci
Narrator
Carrie
George Hurstwood
The Magic Box
Police Constable 94-B
Rebecca
Maxim de winter
Hamlet
Hamlet - Prince of Denmark / Voice of Ghost
Henry V
King Henry
This Happy Breed
Narrator (voice)
The Volunteer
Self
The Demi-Paradise
Ivan Kouznetsoff
Malta G.C.
Narrator
49th Parallel
Johnnie, the Trapper
That Hamilton Woman
Lord Horatio Nelson
Words for Battle
Narrator (voice)
Private lives
Elyot Chase
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
Self
Pride and Prejudice
Mr. Darcy
Hollywood: Style Center of the World
Self
Rebecca
Maxim de Winter
21 Days
Larry Durrant
Wuthering Heights
Heathcliff
Q Planes
Tony McVane
The Divorce of Lady X
Everard Logan
Fire Over England
Michael Ingolby
As You Like It
Orlando
Moscow Nights
Captain Ivan Ignatoff
No Funny Business
Clive Dering
Perfect Understanding
Nicholas Randall
Westward Passage
Nicholas 'Nick' Allen
The Conquest of the Air
Vincent Lunardi
The Yellow Ticket
Julian Rolfe
Friends and Lovers
Lieutenant Ned Nichols
Potiphar's Wife
Straker
Too Many Crooks
The Boy
The Temporary Widow
Peter Bille