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Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, Order of
Merit|OM (May 22, 1907 – July 11, 1989)  was
an England|English actor and film
director|director, esteemed by many as the
greatest actor of the 20th century.

==Life==
Laurence Olivier was born in Dorking, Surrey. He
attended the Central School of Speech and Drama.
It was his father, a clergyman, who decided that
Laurence - or Kim as the family called him - would
become an actor. His stage breakthrough was in
Noel Coward's Private Lives (in 1930), and in
Romeo and Juliet (in 1935) alternating the roles
of Romeo and Mercutio with John Gielgud. His film
breakthrough was his portrayal of Heathcliff in
Wuthering Heights in 1939 in film|1939.

He was founding director (1962-1973) of the Royal
National Theatre|National Theatre of Great Britain
for which he received his peerage.

On July 25, 1930, he married Jill Esmond, whom
Olivier biographer Donald Spoto described as "a
diffident lesbian." They had one son, Tarquin, and
were divorced on January 29, 1940. By 1938, he had
embarked on a torrid affair with Vivien Leigh, who
was also married. Finally divorced by their
respective spouses, they married on August 31,
1940 at San Ysidro Ranch in Santa Barbara,
California, with Katharine Hepburn as the maid of
honour. They were divorced on December 2, 1960.
Olivier married Joan Plowright on March 17, 1961.

Esmond named Leigh as co-respondent in her divorce
on grounds of adultery. Leigh named Plowright as
co-respondent in her divorce, also on grounds of
adultery. Plowright said "I have always resented
the comments that it was I who was the homewrecker
of Larry's marriage to Vivien Leigh. Danny Kaye
was attached to Larry far earlier than I,"
referring to biographer Donald Spoto's claim that
Kaye and Olivier were lovers. He was reportedly
also intimate with playwright Noel Coward.

In his book "Melting the Stone: A Journey Around
My Father", Olivier and Plowright's son, Richard,
described Laurence as being more interested in his
work than in his children, and would actually
become depressed when he didn't have a job.

Among his honours are 10 Academy Award|Oscar
nominations. He won both Best Actor and Best
Picture (as the producer) for Hamlet (1948
movie)|Hamlet in 1948 in film|1949, and two
Academy Honorary Award|honorary Oscars (1946 in
film|1947, for Henry V (1946 movie)|Henry V; 1978
in film|1979). He was created a Knight Bachelor in
1947, and a life peer in 1970 (the first actor to
be accorded this distinction) as Baron Olivier, of
Brighton in the County of Sussex, and was admitted
to the Order of Merit in 1981.

After the opening of the National Theatre, Olivier
became concerned that he had not done enough to
provide for his family after he died. As a result
between 1973 and 1986 when his health gave out he
did many films and TV specials on a 'paycheck'
basis on the condition that he would not have to
promote the film on release. 

He died in Steyning, West Sussex, England, from
complications of a neuromuscular disorder and
cancer at the age of 82.

Lord Olivier is interred in Poets' Corner in
Westminster Abbey, London. The Laurence Olivier
Awards, organised by The Society of London
Theatre, were renamed in his honour in 1984.

Fifteen years after his death, Olivier once again
received star billing in a movie. Through the use
of computer graphics, footage of him as a young
man was integrated into the 2004 film Sky Captain
and the World of Tomorrow in which Olivier
"played" the villain.

==Acting appearances in London's West End==
*The Merry Wives of Windsor - 1924
*Henry IV Part 2 - 1925
*Henry VIII - 1925
*Oedipus Tyrannus - 1926
*The Cenci - 1926
*The Marvellous History of Saint Bernard - 1926
*The Merchant of Venice - 1926
*The Song - 1926
*The Adding Machine - 1928
*Macbeth - 1928
*Back to Methuselah - 1928
*Harold - 1928
*The Taming of the Shrew - 1928
*Bird in Hand - 1928
*Paul Among The Jews - 1928
*The Dark Path - 1928
*Journey's End - 1928
*Beau Geste - 1929
*Prize Giving at Woodside House School (sketch) -
1929
*The Circle of Chalk - 1929
*Paris Bound - 1929
*The Stranger Within - 1929
*The Last Enemy - 1929
*100 Not Out (sketch) 1930
*After All - 1930
*Private Lives -1930
*Some Other Private Lives (sketch) 1930
*The Rats of Norway - 1931
*Biography - 1934
*Queen of Scots - 1934
*Theatre Royal - 1934
*Journey's End - 1934
*A Kiss for Cinderella - 1934
*November Afternoon (sketch) - 1934
*The Winning Post - 1934
*Ringmaster (film)|Ringmaster - 1935
*November Afternoon (sketch) - 1935
*Notices (sketch) - 1935
*The Down and Outs Matinee - 1935
*Golden Arrow - 1935
*Romeo and Juliet - 1935 
*Bees on the Boatdeck - 1936
*Hamlet - 1937
*Twelfth Night - 1937
*Henry V (1937 film)|Henry V - 1937
*Macbeth - 1937
*Othello -1938
*The King of Nowhere - 1938
*Coriolanus - 1938
*Here's To Our Enterprise - 1938
*Henry V (scene) - 1942
*Elsie Fogerty Jubilee Matine - 1942
*Peer Gynt - 1944
*Arms and the Man - 1944
*Richard III (play)|Richard III - 1944
*Uncle Vanya - 1945
*Henry IV Part 1 - 1945
*Henry IV Part 2 - 1945
*Oedipus & The Critic - 1945
*King Lear - 1946
*The School for Scandal - 1949
*Richard III (play)|Richard III - 1949
*Antigone - 1949
*Venus Observed - 1950
*Caesar and Cleopatra - 1951
*Antony and Cleopatra - 1951
*The Sid Field Tribute - 1951
*The Sleeping Prince - 1953
*The Entertainer - 1957
*Titus Andronicus - 1957
*Rhinoceros - 1960
*Semi-Detached - 1962
*Uncle Vanya - 1963
*The Recruiting Officer - 1963
*Othello - 1964
*The Master Builder - 1964
*Love for Love - 1965
*The Dance of Death - 1967
*A Flea in her Ear - 1967
*Home and Beauty - 1969
*The Merchant of Venice - 1970
*Long Day's Journey Into Night - 1971
*Saturday, Sunday, Monday - 1973
*The Party - 1973
*Tribute to the Lady - 1974
*Time (as hologram) - 1986

==Acting appearances on Broadway==
*Murder on the Second Floor - 1929
*Private Lives - 1931
*The Green Bay Tree - 1933
*No Time for Comedy  - 1939
*Romeo and Juliet - 1940  (also producer,
composer, director, and designer)
*King Henry IV, Part I - 1946
*King Henry IV, Part II - 1946
*Uncle Vanya - 1946
*Oedipus the King|Oedipus Rex - 1946
*The Critic - 1946
*Antony and Cleopatra - 1952 (also producer)
*The Entertainer - 1958
*Becket - 1960-1

==Productions on Broadway==
*Romeo and Juliet - 1940  (also acted, composed,
directed, and designed)
*Daphne Laureola - 1950 (producer)
*Antony and Cleopatra - 1952 (also acted)
*Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead - 1967-8
(producer, director)
*Venus Observed - 1952 (producer and director)

==Broadway directing credits==
*Romeo and Juliet - 1940  (also acted, composed,
produced, and designed)
*Venus Observed - 1952 (producer and director)
*The Tumbler - 1960 (director)
*Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead - 1967-8
(producer, director)
*Filumena - 1980 (director)

==Movie credits==

*The Temporary Widow - 1930
*Too Many Crooks - 1930
*Friends and Lovers - 1931
*The Yellow Ticket - 1931
*Potiphar's Wife - 1931
*Westward Passage - 1932
*Perfect Understanding - 1933
*No Funny Business - 1933
*Moscow Nights - 1936
*Conquest of the Air - 1936
*As You Like It - 1936
*Fire Over England - 1937
*The Divorce of Lady X - 1938
*Q Planes - 1939
*Wuthering Heights - 1939 - Academy Award|Oscar
nomination: Academy Award for Best Actor|Best
Actor
*Rebecca - 1940 - Academy Award|Oscar nomination:
Academy Award for Best Actor|Best Actor
*21 Days - 1940
*Pride and Prejudice - 1940
*That Hamilton Woman - 1941
*Forty-Ninth Parallel - 1941
*The Demi-Paradise - 1943
*This Happy Breed - 1944
*Henry V (1946 movie)|The Chronicle History of
King Henry the Fifth with his Battell at Agincourt
in France - 1944 - 2 Academy Award|Oscar
nominations: Academy Award for Best Actor|Best
Actor, Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture
(also Academy Honorary Award)
*Hamlet (1948 movie)|Hamlet - 1948 - 2 Academy
Award|Oscars: Academy Award for Best Actor|Best
Actor, Academy Award for Best Picture|Best
Picture; also nominated for Academy Award for
Directing|Best Director
*The Magic Box - 1951
*Sister Carrie|Carrie - 1952
*The Beggar's Opera - 1953
*Richard III (movie, 1955)|Richard III - 1955 -
Academy Award|Oscar nomination: Academy Award for
Best Actor|Best Actor
*The Prince and the Showgirl - 1957
*The Devil's Disciple - 1959
*The Entertainer - 1960 - Academy Award|Oscar
nomination: Academy Award for Best Actor|Best
Actor
*Spartacus (movie)|Spartacus - 1960
*Term of Trial - 1962
*Uncle Vanya - 1963
*Bunny Lake Is Missing - 1965
*Othello (1965 movie)|Othello - 1965 - Academy
Award|Oscar nomination: Academy Award for Best
Actor|Best Actor
*Khartoum (movie)|Khartoum - 1966
*Romeo and Juliet (1968 movie)|Romeo and Juliet -
1968
*The Shoes of the Fisherman - 1968
*Oh! What a Lovely War - 1969
*The Dance of Death - 1969
*Battle of Britain - 1969
*Three Sisters (movie)|Three Sisters - 1970
*Nicholas and Alexandra - 1971
*Sleuth - 1972 - Academy Award|Oscar nomination:
Academy Award for Best Actor|Best Actor
*Lady Caroline Lamb - 1972
*The Rehearsal (movie)|The Rehearsal - 1974
*Marathon Man - 1976 - Academy Award|Oscar
nomination: Academy Award for Best Supporting
Actor|Best Supporting Actor
*The Seven-Per-Cent Solution - 1976
*A Bridge Too Far - 1977
*The Betsy - 1978
*The Boys from Brazil - 1978 - Academy Award|Oscar
nomination: Academy Award for Best Actor|Best
Actor
*A Little Romance - 1979
*Dracula#Movies|Dracula - 1979
*The Jazz Singer - 1980
*Inchon (movie)|Inchon - 1981
*Clash of the Titans - 1981
*The Jigsaw Man - 1983
*Mutiny on the Bounty (fiction)|The Bounty - 1984
*Wild Geese II - 1985
*War Requiem - 1989
*Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow - 2004 (via
computer-manipulated stock footage in his honor)

==Television credits==

*John Gabriel Borkman - 1958
*The Moon and Sixpence - 1959
*The Power and the Glory - 1961
*Male of the Species - 1969
*David Copperfield (1969 movie)|David Copperfield
- 1969
*Long Day's Journey Into Night - 1973
*The Merchant of Venice - 1973
*The World At War - 1974
*Love Among the Ruins (TV movie)|Love Among the
Ruins - 1975
*The Collection - 1976
*Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - 1976
*Jesus of Nazareth (movie)|Jesus of Nazareth -
1977
*Come Back, Little Sheba - 1977
*Daphne Laureola - 1978
*Brideshead Revisited - 1981
*A Voyage Round My Father - 1982
*Mr. Halpern and Mr. Johnson - 1983
*Wagner (TV)|Wagner - 1983
*A Talent for Murder - 1984
*King Lear#Movie Adaptations|King Lear - 1984
*The Last Days of Pompeii - 1984
*The Ebony Tower - 1984
*Peter the Great - 1986
*Lost Empires - 1986

==External links==
*imdb name|id=0000059|name=Laurence Olivier