Laurence Olivier

Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, (22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century.[1] He was the youngest actor to be knighted and the first to be raised to the peerage.[2] Olivier married English actresses Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh and Joan Plowright.


The Lord Olivier

File:Lord Olivier 18 Allan Warren.jpg
Olivier in 1972
Born
Laurence Kerr Olivier

(1907-05-22)22 May 1907
Died11 July 1989(1989-07-11) (aged 82)
Occupation
  • Actor
  • director
  • producer
Years active1925–1988
Works
Full list
Spouse(s)
  • (m. 1930; div. 1940)
  • (m. 1940; div. 1960)
  • (m. 1961)
Children4
AwardsFull list

Actor Spencer Tracy said that Olivier was 'the greatest actor in the English-speaking world'.[3] In 1999, the American Film Institute named Olivier among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time, at number 14 on the list.

Olivier had many awards: twelve Oscar nominations, with two wins (for Best Actor and Best Picture for the 1948 film Hamlet), plus two honorary awards including a statuette and certificate. He was awarded five Emmy Awards. He was a three-time Golden Globe and BAFTA winner. In 1976 he received the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award, a lifetime achievement award.

Olivier's ashes are buried in Westminster Abbey.


Laurence Olivier Media

References

  1. Hodgdon, Barbara. Shakespeare Quarterly, "From the Editor", Fall, 2002
  2. Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Utilities at line 38: bad argument #1 to 'ipairs' (table expected, got nil).
  3. Tracy quoted in By Myself and Then Some by Lauren Bacall (Harper Paperbacks 2006), pp. 214-15.