Laurence Olivier

Sir Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier of Brighton, (May 22, 1907 - July 11, 1989) was an English actor and director, esteemed by many as the greatest actor of the 20th century.

Laurence Olivier was born in Dorking. He attended the Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art. His stage breakthrough was in Noel Coward's Private Lives ( in 1930), and in Romeo and Juliet ( in 1935) alternating the roles of Romeo and Mercutio with John Gielgud. His film breakthrough was portrayal of Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights in 1939.

He was founding director (1962-1973) of the National Theatre of Great Britain.

On July 25, 1930, he married actress Jill Esmond, whom Olivier biographer Donald Spoto described as "a diffident lesbian." They had one son, Tarquin, and were divorced on January 29, 1940.

On August 31, 1940 he married actress Vivien Leigh. They were divorced on December 2, 1960.

On March 17, 1961 he married actress Joan Plowright. They had one son and two daughters. He was not notably faithful in those marriages and had extramarital affairs with both men and women: Joan Plowright said "I have always resented the comments that it was I who was the homewrecker of Larry's marriage to Vivien Leigh. Danny Kaye was attached to Larry far earlier than I." Olivier reportedly was also intimate with playwright Noel Coward.

Among his honours are 10 Oscar nominations (he won best actor/picture for Hamlet in 1949), and two honorary Oscars (1947, 1979). He was knighted in 1947, made a life peer in 1970 (the first actor to achieve this distinction), and was admitted to the Order of Merit in 1981.

He died in Steyning, West Sussex, England, of complications of a neuromuscular disorder and cancer.

Lord Olivier is interred in Westminster Abbey, London, England. The Laurence Olivier Awards, organised by The Society of London Theatre, were renamed in his honour in 1984.

Table of contents

1 Acting Appearances in London 2 Acting Appearances on Broadway 3 Productions on Broadway 4 Broadway Directing Credits 5 Movie Credits 6 Television Credits

Acting Appearances in London

• Private Lives -1930
• Romeo and Juliet - 1935
• The Entertainer - 1957

Acting Appearances on Broadway

• Murder on the Second Floor - 1929
• Private Lives - 1931
• The Green Bay Tree - 1933
• No Time for Comedy - 1939
• Romeo and Juliet - 1940 (also producer, composer, director, and designer)
• King Henry IV, Part I - 1946
• King Henry IV, Part II - 1946
• Uncle Vanya - 1946
• Oedipus Rex - 1946
• The Critic - 1946
• Antony and Cleopatra - 1952 (also producer)
• The Entertainer - 1958
• Becket - 1960-1

Productions on Broadway

• Romeo and Juliet - 1940 (also acted, composed, directed, and designed)
• Daphne Laureola - 1950 (producer)
• Antony and Cleopatra - 1952 (also acted)
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead - 1967-8 (producer, director)
• Venus Observed - 1952 (producer and director)
• Romeo and Juliet - 1940 (also producer, composer, director, and designer)

Broadway Directing Credits

• Romeo and Juliet - 1940 (also acted, composed, produced, and designed)
• Venus Observed - 1952 (producer and director)
• The Tumbler - 1960 (director)
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead - 1967-8 (producer, director)
• Filumena - 1980 (director)

Movie Credits

• The Temporary Widow - 1930
• Too Many Crooks - 1930
• Friends and Lovers - 1931
• The Yellow Ticket - 1931
• Potiphar's Wife - 1931
• Westward Passage - 1932
• Perfect Understanding - 1933
• No Funny Business - 1933
• Moscow Nights - 1936
• Conquest of the Air - 1936
• As You Like It - 1936
• Fire Over England - 1937
• The Divorce of Lady X - 1938
• Q Planes - 1939
• Wuthering Heights - 1939
• Rebecca - 1940
• 21 Days - 1940
• Pride and Prejudice - 1940
• That Hamilton Woman - 1941
• Forty-Ninth Parallel - 1941
• The Demi-Paradise - 1943
• This Happy Breed - 1944
• The Chronicle History of King Henry the Fifth with his Battell at Agincourt in France - 1944
• Hamlet - 1948
• The Magic Box - 1951
• Carrie - 1952
• The Beggar's Opera - 1953
• Richard III - 1955
• The Prince and the Showgirl - 1957
• The Devil's Disciple - 1959
• The Entertainer - 1960
• Spartacus - 1960
• Term of Trial - 1962
• Uncle Vanya - 1963
• Bunny Lake Is Missing - 1965
• Othello - 1965
• Khartoum - 1966
• Romeo and Juliet - 1968
• The Shoes of the Fisherman - 1968
• Oh! What a Lovely War - 1969
• The Dance of Death - 1969
• Battle of Britain - 1969
• Three Sisters - 1970
• Nicholas and Alexandra - 1971
• ''Sleuth'\' - 1972
• Lady Caroline Lamb - 1972
• The Rehearsal - 1974
• Marathon Man - 1976
• The Seven-Per-Cent Solution - 1976
• A Bridge Too Far - 1977
• The Betsy - 1978
• The Boys from Brazil - 1978
• A Little Romance - 1979
• Dracula - 1979
• The Jazz Singer - 1980
• Inchon - 1981
• Clash of the Titans - 1981
• The Jigsaw Man - 1983
• The Bounty - 1984
• Wild Geese II - 1985
• War Requiem - 1989

Television Credits

• John Gabriel Borkman - 1958
• The Moon and Sixpence - 1959
• The Power and the Glory - 1961
• Male of the Species - 1969
• David Copperfield - 1969
• Long Day's Journey Into Night - 1973
• The Merchant of Venice - 1973
• Love Among the Ruins - 1975
• The Collection - 1976
• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - 1976
• Jesus of Nazareth - 1977
• Come Back, Little Sheba - 1977
• Daphne Laureola - 1978
• Brideshead Revisited - 1981
• A Voyage Round My Father - 1982
• Mr. Halpern and Mr. Johnson - 1983
• Wagner - 1983
• A Talent for Murder - 1984
• King Lear - 1984
• The Last Days of Pompeii - 1984
• The Ebony Tower - 1984
• Peter the Great - 1986
• Lost Empires - 1986