Laurence Olivier Biography Quotes 18 Report mistakes

Early Life
Laurence Kerr Olivier was born on 22 May 1907 in Dorking, Surrey, England, the son of an Anglican clergyman. Raised in a disciplined, religious household, he discovered the stage early and proved precociously gifted at performance and mimicry. School productions gave him his first taste of Shakespeare, and formal training followed, setting him on a path toward the British repertory system then dominated by classical technique.

Stage Apprenticeship and Breakthrough
In the late 1920s and early 1930s Olivier developed quickly on provincial stages and in London, where the Old Vic served as a proving ground for classical actors. He gained renown for technically accomplished, physically dynamic work in Shakespeare and modern drama, and his rivalry and camaraderie with contemporaries like Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud helped define a golden generation of British acting. By the mid-1930s he had become a matinee idol with serious credentials, noted for bold interpretive choices and a willingness to reinvent canonical roles.

Hollywood and International Stardom
Olivier moved between London and Hollywood as his reputation spread. William Wyler's Wuthering Heights (1939), with Olivier as Heathcliff, made him an international star; he followed with Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940) and Pride and Prejudice (1940), opposite Greer Garson. These films showed his ability to translate a highly trained stage presence into nuanced, camera-sensitive performances. Though often associated with Shakespeare, he proved equally compelling in literary adaptations and romantic dramas produced by figures such as David O. Selznick.

War Service and Patriotic Filmmaking
During the Second World War, Olivier served as a pilot in the Fleet Air Arm and contributed to morale through performance. His Henry V (1944), which he directed and starred in, fused Technicolor pageantry with national purpose and became an emblematic wartime work. It demonstrated his gifts as a producer-director and his flair for rendering Shakespeare cinematic without losing verse clarity.

Shakespeare on Screen and Stage
Olivier's Shakespearean screen trilogy remains central to his legacy. Hamlet (1948), which he directed and in which he played the title role, won the Academy Award for Best Picture and earned him Best Actor. Richard III (1955) turned villainy into silken seduction, with Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud among a distinguished ensemble. He also carried Othello to the screen in 1965, adapting a National Theatre staging with Maggie Smith and Frank Finlay. On stage he continually tested himself, including a celebrated Titus Andronicus with director Peter Brook, and later a searing turn in John Osborne's The Entertainer (1957), directed by Tony Richardson, which repositioned him from classical idol to gritty modernist.

The National Theatre and Artistic Leadership
From 1963 to 1973, Olivier served as the founding director of Britain's National Theatre Company, initially housed at the Old Vic. He forged a repertory anchored in classical excellence and adventurous new writing, assembling ensembles that included Joan Plowright, Maggie Smith, Derek Jacobi, and a young Anthony Hopkins. He recruited talent boldly, encouraging rigorous speech and verse work while fostering directors such as Peter Hall and Peter Brook. Under his leadership the company balanced Shakespeare, Greek tragedy, and contemporary plays, setting standards that influenced British theatre for decades.

Later Screen and Television Work
Olivier's later career showed remarkable adaptability. He excelled in taut, modern films such as Sleuth (1972) with Michael Caine, Marathon Man (1976) with Dustin Hoffman, and The Boys from Brazil (1978). Television gave him further scope: he earned acclaim in productions including Love Among the Ruins with Katharine Hepburn and a majestic King Lear, bringing a lifetime's technique to the medium's intimacy. Even as health problems mounted, he remained prolific, an elder statesman who kept refining timing, vocal color, and psychological precision.

Personal Life
Olivier married three times. His early marriage to actress Jill Esmond produced a son, Tarquin. His union with Vivien Leigh, beginning in 1940, was both artistically incandescent and personally tumultuous; together they appeared in projects such as That Hamilton Woman and a Broadway Romeo and Juliet. After their divorce, he married Joan Plowright in 1961; they built a long partnership, worked together frequently, and had three children. Friends and colleagues often remarked on his tireless work ethic, competitiveness, and capacity for mentorship, qualities that could be demanding in rehearsal yet generous in developing younger actors.

Honors, Style, and Legacy
Olivier was knighted in 1947 and, in 1970, became the first actor to be made a life peer, as Baron Olivier of Brighton. He received numerous awards, including the Academy Award for Hamlet and honorary recognition for his contributions to film. He also won major British and American theatre and television honors and wrote influential books, notably Confessions of an Actor and On Acting, which distilled his craft into practical counsel. His style married classical technique to cinematic naturalism: he embraced transformation through voice, mask-like makeup, and physicality yet strove for emotional specificity. Colleagues from Gielgud and Richardson to Maggie Smith and Anthony Hopkins testified to his restless curiosity and risk-taking, while later figures such as Kenneth Branagh drew inspiration from his Shakespeare on film.

Final Years
Health challenges in the 1970s and 1980s curtailed his stage appearances, but he continued to act on screen and television with distinction. He died on 11 July 1989 in West Sussex, aged 82. His ashes were interred in Westminster Abbey's Poets' Corner, a rare honor for an actor. The institution he helped found, the National Theatre, and the body of work he left on stage and screen remain enduring testimonies to a career that reshaped modern acting and expanded the possibilities of bringing Shakespeare and serious drama to wide audiences.

Our collection contains 18 quotes who is written by Laurence, under the main topics: Wisdom - Love - Art - Life - Work Ethic.

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