Profile
Laurence Olivier
Actor + Producer + Director + Peer + Knight
Male
Born
May 22, 1907
Hometown
Dorking
Died
Jul 11, 1989
Death Place
Steyning
Other Names
Olivier, Laurence...
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. One of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century, he was the youngest actor to be knighted and the first to be elevated to the peerage. He married three… Read More
Romance
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Family
Discover the family history of Laurence Olivier.
Laurence Olivier
d.1989
children
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Tarquin OlivierSon, Age 77 -
Richard OlivierSon, Age 51
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Tamsin OlivierSon, Age 50
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Julie Kate OlivierDaughter, Age 47
News + Updates
Browse recent news and stories about Laurence Olivier.
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Life And 'Debt' Boston HeraldGoogle News - Aug 31, 2011
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Dda Films Highlighted At New York Film Festival Shoot Online (Press Release)Google News - Aug 30, 2011
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In Praise Of … Laurence Olivier. Herald ScotlandGoogle News - Aug 25, 2011
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First Official Poster For 'My Week With Marilyn' With Michelle Williams First ShowingGoogle News - Aug 24, 2011
Timeline
Learn about the memorable moments in the evolution of Laurence Olivier.
CHILDHOOD
TEENAGE
1918
11 Years Old
In 1918, his father became the new church minister at St. Mary's Church, Letchworth, Hertfordshire and the family lived at the Old Rectory, now part of St Christopher School.
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1926
19 Years Old
In 1926, he joined the Birmingham Repertory Company.
TWENTIES
1927
20 Years Old
At first he was given only minor tasks at the theatre, such as bell-ringing; however, his roles eventually became more significant, and in 1927 he was playing Hamlet and Macbeth.
1928
21 Years Old
In 1928, he was cast to play Captain Stanhope in the Apollo theatre's first production of Journey's End, a play which would expand his career.
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Olivier married Jill Esmond, a rising young actress, on 25 July 1930; their only son, Simon Tarquin was born on 21 August 1936.
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1936
29 Years Old
He first saw Vivien Leigh in The Mask of Virtue in 1936, and a friendship developed after he congratulated her on her performance.
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THIRTIES
1937
30 Years Old
The engagement as Romeo resulted in an invitation by Lilian Baylis to be the star at the Old Vic in 1937/38.
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1940
33 Years Old
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Finally divorced, they were married in simple ceremony on 31 August 1940 with only Katharine Hepburn and Garson Kanin as witnesses.
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With Britain engaged in World War II, the Oliviers returned to England, and in 1944 tuberculosis was diagnosed in Leigh's left lung, but after spending several weeks in hospital, she appeared to be cured.
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1945
38 Years Old
In 1945 Olivier and Richardson were made honorary Lieutenants with ENSA, and did a six-week tour of Europe for the army, performing Arms and the Man, Peer Gynt and Richard III for the troops, followed by a visit to the Comédie-Française in Paris, the first time a foreign company had been invited to play on its famous stage.
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FORTIES
In 1947 Olivier was made a Knight Bachelor, and by 1948 he was on the Board of Directors for the Old Vic Theatre, and he and Leigh embarked on a tour of Australia and New Zealand to raise funds for the theatre.
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1948
41 Years Old
Finch began an affair with Leigh in 1948, which continued on and off for several years, ultimately falling apart due to her deteriorating mental condition.
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1953
46 Years Old
Leigh recovered sufficiently to play The Sleeping Prince with Olivier in 1953, and in 1955 they performed a season at Stratford-upon-Avon in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Macbeth and Titus Andronicus.
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FIFTIES
After World War II, apart from his Shakespeare trilogy, Olivier had made only sporadic film appearances. In 1957, he directed and acted in The Prince and the Showgirl with Marilyn Monroe.
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In 1958, considering her marriage to be over, Leigh began a relationship with the actor Jack Merivale, who knew of her medical condition and assured Olivier he would care for her.
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In December 1960 she and Olivier divorced, enabling Olivier to marry the actress Joan Plowright, his co-star in John Osborne's The Entertainer on both stage and screen.
LATE ADULTHOOD
Olivier's final film as director was the 1970 film Three Sisters, based on the Chekhov play of the same name, and his 1967 National Theatre production.
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1983
76 Years Old
Finally, in 1983 Olivier played his last great Shakespearean role, King Lear, for Granada Television.
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1984
77 Years Old
When presenting the Best Picture Oscar at the Academy Awards for 1984 (held 25 March 1985), he absent-mindedly presented it by simply stepping up to the microphone and saying Amadeus.
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1986
79 Years Old
In 1986, Olivier appeared as the pre-filmed holographic narrator of the West End production of the multimedia Dave Clark rock musical Time.
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1987
80 Years Old
On 31 May 1987 the National Theatre put on a 80th birthday tribute pageant, with Olivier, and his family in attendance.
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1988
81 Years Old
In 1988 Olivier gave his final performance, aged 81, as a wheelchair-bound old soldier in Derek Jarman's film War Requiem (1989).
Olivier died at his home in Steyning, West Sussex, England, from renal failure on 11 July 1989.
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Original Authors of this text are noted on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Olivier.
Text is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
Text is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.