Laurence Olivier

'Scratch an actor, and underneath you will find another actor'
Laurence Olivier

Laurence Olivier started his professional acting career with the Birmingham Repertory Company in 1926. His first major commercial success came in 1930 when Noël Coward gave him the role of Victor Prynne in his play Private Lives. From then on he established his reputation in London as a great stage actor, and formed friendships and working relationships with the other great actors of his day; notably co-starring with Sir John Geilgud in a production of Romeo and Juliet, the actors alternating performances in the roles of Romeo and Mercutio. Olivier soon moved into film playing leading roles in the film versions of Wuthering Heights (1939), Rebecca (1940) and Pride and Prejudice (1940); and becoming a major Hollywood film star. Olivier returned from America and on release from the Naval Reserve he led, with Ralph Richardson, the Old Vic company as it toured away from the bomb damaged London theatre. In 1944 Olivier directed his first film, Henry V, he also played the lead and in 1947 received an out-of-competition honorary Oscar statuette for the film; he was knighted in the same year. His film realisations of Hamlet (1948) and Richard III (1955) established him as the preeminent film interpreter of Shakespeare. From January 1950 Olivier, with his second wife Vivien Leigh, ran with great success the ill-fated St James' Theatre – despite public outcry the theatre was demolished in 1957 and replaced with an office block.

In August 1962 the newly appointed National Theatre Board announced the appointment of the National's first Director: Sir Laurence Olivier, then launching the first season at Chichester Festival Theatre, of which he was Director. Olivier would form the core of the National's company from the company at Chichester. The Board decided not to wait for the construction of a new building but start productions at the Old Vic; they were to remain there for 12½ years. The National's first performance with Peter O'Toole as Hamlet was given in 1963, under Olivier's Directorship. He appeared in and directed many of the NT's most successful productions at the Old Vic, including Othello, Uncle Vanya, The Dance of Death, A Flea in Her Ear, Saturday Sunday Monday, and Long Day's Journey Into Night, and directed others. Throughout his time at the National Olivier continued to make film and television appearances. He was made a life peer in 1970 and was awarded the Order of Merit in 1981. He died in 1989.

Maggie Smith and Olivier in rehearsal for Othello Photo Angus McBean

Below is extracted an awed appreciation by Kenneth Tynan of Olivier as an actor:

“Laurence Olivier at his best is what everyone has always meant by the phrase “a great actor.” He holds all the cards; and in acting the court cards consist of (a) complete physical relaxation, (b) powerful physical magnetism, (c) commanding eyes that are visible at the back of the gallery, (e) superb timing, which includes the ability to make verse swing, (f) chutzpah – the untranslatable Jewish word that means cool nerve and outrageous effrontery combined, and (g) the ability to communicate a sense of danger.

These are all vital attributes, although you can list them in many orders of importance (Olivier himself regards his eyes as the ace of trumps); but the last is surely the rarest. Watching Olivier, you feel that at any moment he may do something utterly unpredictable; something explosive, possibly apocalyptic, anyway unnerving in its emotional nakedness. There is nothing bland in this man. He is complex, moody and turbulent; deep in his temperament there runs a vein of rage that his affable public mask cannot wholly conceal. I once asked Ralph Richardson how he differed, as an actor, from Olivier. He replied: “I haven't got Laurence's splendid fury.” (Tynan; Kenneth, Othello: The National Theatre Production, Rupert Hart Davis, 1966, p.1)

Olivier at the National
Hamlet (Shakespeare) 1963, directed
Uncle Vanya (Chekhov) 1963, directed and played Astrov
The Recruiting Officer (Farquhar) 1963, played Captain Brazen
Othello (Shakespeare) 1964, played Othello
The Master Builder (Ibsen) 1964, played Halvard Solness
The Crucible (Miller) 1965, directed
Love for Love (Congreve) 1965, played Tattle
The Dance of Death (Strindberg) 1967, played Edgar
In A Flea in Her Ear (Feydeau) 1967, played Plucheux
The Three Sisters (Chekhov) 1967, directed
Home and Beauty (Maugham) 1968, played A. B. Raham
Love's Labour's Lost (Shakespeare) 1968, directed
The Advertisement (Ginzburg) 1968, Co-directed with Donald MacKechnie
The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare) 1970, played Shylock
Amphitryon 38 (Giraudoux) 1971, directed
Long Day's Journey Into Night (O'Neill) 1971, played James Tyrone
Saturday Sunday Monday (de Filippo) 1973, played Antonio
The Party (Griffiths) 1973, played John Tagg