Laurence Olivier, along with contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, dominated the British stage in his day but he also worked regularly in films. From a ritzy Technicolor screwball to a heart-rending portrayal of the end-of-the-pier music hall performer Archie Rice, his film career is impressively extensive and varied.
His film versions of Hamlet and Heathcliff evoke their respective literary counterparts’ rich, complex Freudian complexity.
1. Wuthering Heights (1939)
The most influential film of Olivier’s career, this tumultuous adaptation of the Bront sisters’ classic set him on the path to international fame. Previously, Olivier had viewed film as an inferior medium to theater, and he struggled to adapt his theatrical style to the constraints of the screen. Producer Samuel Goldwyn was so dissatisfied with his work that he threatened to fire him.
However, he persevered and was ultimately rewarded with an Oscar nomination for his performance as Heathcliff. The role marked a significant turning point in the actor’s career as it solidified his place among Hollywood’s elite. He would continue to pursue roles both on stage and in gomovies films throughout his life. He won further Oscar nominations for his performances in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Love Among the Ruins, Marathon Man and Brideshead Revisited.
2. Rebecca (1940)
While Olivier’s career on the xxxtentacion shop stage is well documented, he didn’t really start to make an impact in film until he was cast as the leading man in Daphne Du Maurier’s gothic romance Rebecca. While the original 1940 credits read “Selznick International Presents” (as shown on the re-issued Criterion DVD), the film was Olivier’s directorial debut and his first major success as a Hollywood star.
It also led to the formation of his Old Vic theatre company, a group that would bring Shakespeare to the masses. He’d adapt his own play Hamlet for the screen in 1948, albeit with some scissors (the movie cut out Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, for instance). The same year he’d win his first Oscar. He’d eventually win a total of four.
3. Spartacus (1960)
Olivier made his name on the stage, where he was one of the most renowned actors in British history. He was a founding director of the National Theatre in London and ran a resident company that fostered many future stars.
In 1948, he took a pair of scissors to Shakespeare’s Hamlet and adapted it for the screen, producing and directing the film himself. The result is a dark and sombre drama about an anguished prince, one that’s widely considered to be the best movie version of the Bard’s classic. It also introduced the world to Vivien Leigh.
4. The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968)
The last of Olivier’s 13 Oscar nominations came in John Schlesinger’s nerve-jangling adaptation of William Goldman’s novel, for which he was also the producer and director. The role—a fugitive Nazi hunter who kills Dustin Hoffman’s special agent brother—showcased the kind of cold-eyed cruelty that had made Olivier such a formidable dramatic actor.
One of the greatest stage and screen actors of his time, Sir Laurence Olivier forged a formidable career by balancing Shakespearean productions with contemporary plays. He served as the first director of Britain’s National Theatre, where he built up an impressive resident company that helped launch the careers of many other talented performers. He starred in several of that company’s stage productions that later made their way to film, including Hamlet and Coriolanus.
5. Sleuth (1972)
While Olivier was a popular stage actor, it was not until he was enlisted to revitalize Britain’s Old Vic Theatre that he truly transformed the presentation of Shakespeare. He also became an acclaimed film director, creating films that preserved his stage interpretations of such plays as Henry V, Hamlet and Othello.
Although he had initially viewed Merle Oberon as a mere amateur, producer Samuel Goldwyn persuaded him to temper his view of her and to give her the opportunity to prove herself on screen. The result was Sleuth, a dandy take on the verbal armageddon that these two great English actors are known for. It was a career-defining performance for both of them. The original version of this film is a must-see. It was later remade as the brash and entertaining Batman (1974).
6. Marathon Man (1976)
Olivier was no stranger to films that leaned away from the theatre and toward action-adventure. He was the star of several WWII and Cold War propaganda efforts, and he starred in a number of Shakespearean film adaptations.
He was also a capable director, and he directed his own stage play Hamlet to a resounding Oscar win in 1948. He later helmed three more Shakespearean film adaptations (including Othello and Richard III), as well as the nerve-jangling thriller Marathon Man.
In the final years of his life, Olivier suffered from ill health. He did continue to act, however. He earned another three Oscar nominations—including two as producer—for Sleuth, Love Among the Ruins, and The Boys from Brazil. He also served as the narrator for UK Thames Television’s The World at War series in 1974.
7. The Boys from Brazil (1978)
Olivier, who acted in Greek tragedy and Shakespeare as well as British and American drama, was one of the greatest theatre artists of the 20th century. He was also a founding director of Britain’s National Theatre, running a resident company that helped launch the careers of many young actors.
Olivier was married three times, to Jill Esmond (1930–40), Vivien Leigh (1940–60) and Joan Plowright (from 1961 until her death). He took on virtually every film role that came his way in order to provide for his family, including a turn as the pathetic end-of-pier music hall performer Archie Rice in John Osborne’s play The Entertainer. He also starred as the relentless Nazi dentist opposite Frank Langella in Franklin J. Schaffner’s The Boys from Brazil.
