Laurence Olivier: British Theatre’s Greatest Actor
Laurence Kerr Olivier (22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director. He dominated the British stage of the mid-20th century alongside John Gielgud, Michael Redgrave and Ralph Richardson, and became one of cinema’s most celebrated performers across a six-decade career.
Early Life and Education
Olivier was born on 22 May 1907 in Dorking, Surrey, the youngest of three children. His father, the Reverend Gerard Kerr Olivier, was a clergyman of the Church of England’s high church, ritualist wing, known as “Father Olivier.” His mother was Agnes Louise (née Crookenden). Olivier’s family had no theatrical connections, but his father decided his son should become an actor.
For Olivier’s first years, his father’s temporary church posts meant constant relocation. In 1912, when Olivier was five, his father secured a permanent appointment as assistant rector at St Saviour’s, Pimlico, providing the stability that had been lacking. Olivier was devoted to his mother but found his father cold and remote, though he absorbed much from watching his father’s dramatic preaching style—the timing, the shifts in mood and manner that would later inform his own craft.
In 1916, Olivier entered the choir school of All Saints, Margaret Street, in central London. At age ten, he played Brutus in a school production of Julius Caesar in 1917, impressing an audience that included Ellen Terry, who wrote in her diary: “The small boy who played Brutus is already a great actor.” He went on to St Edward’s School, Oxford, from 1921 to 1924. After drama school in London, Olivier learned his craft through acting jobs during the late 1920s.
Career and Achievements
In 1930, Olivier had his first important West End success in Noël Coward’s Private Lives and appeared in his first film. By 1935, he had played in a celebrated production of Romeo and Juliet alongside John Gielgud and Peggy Ashcroft. By the end of the 1930s, he was an established star.
During the 1940s, Olivier served as co-director of the Old Vic alongside Ralph Richardson and John Burrell, building it into a highly respected company. His most celebrated roles there included Shakespeare’s Richard III and Sophocles’s Oedipus. In the 1950s he worked as an independent actor-manager, but his stage career stagnated until 1957, when he joined the avant-garde English Stage Company to play the title role in The Entertainer, which he later reprised on film.
From 1963 to 1973, Olivier was the founding director of Britain’s National Theatre, running a resident company that fostered many future stars. His roles there included the title role in Othello (1965) and Shylock in The Merchant of Venice (1970).
Notable Events and Milestones
Olivier’s film career spanned decades. His major films included Wuthering Heights (1939), Rebecca (1940), Spartacus (1960), The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968), Sleuth (1972), Marathon Man (1976) and The Boys from Brazil (1978). He directed and starred in a trilogy of Shakespeare films: Henry V (1944), Hamlet (1948) and Richard III (1955).
Late in his career, Olivier found considerable success in television. 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), A Little Romance (1979), Brideshead Revisited (1981) and King Lear (1983).
Awards and Honors
Olivier received a knighthood in 1947 and a life peerage in 1970. In 1981, he was appointed to the Order of Merit. His on-screen work earned him an Academy Award, five British Academy Film Awards, five Emmy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards. He received two non-competitive Academy Honorary Awards in 1947 and 1979, the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1983 and a BAFTA Fellowship in 1976. The National Theatre’s largest auditorium is named in his honour, and the Laurence Olivier Awards, given annually by the Society of London Theatre, commemorate his legacy.
Additional Resources
Olivier’s life and work are documented extensively in biographical archives and film histories. More detailed information about his performances, directorial work and personal life is available through Wikipedia and other theatrical and cinema reference sources.
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