Laurence Olivier

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Image:Laurenceolivier.jpeg Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM (22 May 1907–11 July 1989) was an Oscar winning English actor and director, regarded by many critics as the greatest actor of the 20th century.

1 Early career
2 Later career
3 Private life
4 Awards
5 Honours
6 Later life
7 See also
8 References
9 Further reading
10 External links

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Early career

Olivier was born in Dorking, Surrey. He was educated at St Edward's School, Oxford and he attended the Central School of Speech and Drama. It was his father, Gerard Kerr Olivier, an Anglican priest, who decided that Laurence — or Kim as the family called him — would become an actor. His stage breakthroughs were 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 the 1939 film, Wuthering Heights, which co-starred Merle Oberon and Geraldine Fitzgerald.

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Later career

Olivier narrated the famous The World at War miniseries on BBC Television, an extensive documentary of the Second World War. His understated performance was well received critically and the series continues to air regularly in many markets around the world. In a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000, voted for by industry professionals, The World at War was placed 19th.

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Private life

Image:VivienLeighLaurenceOlivierinFireOverEngland.jpg

Olivier's biographer Donald Spoto described his first wife Jill Esmond as "a diffident lesbian." They were married in 1930 and had one son, Tarquin, in 1936. They were divorced on 29 January 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 31 August 1940, at the San Ysidro Ranch in Santa Barbara, California, with Katharine Hepburn as maid of honour. They were divorced on 2 December 1960. Olivier married his third wife, Joan Plowright, on St. Patrick's Day, 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 Template:Citation needed. He was reportedly also intimate with playwright Noel Coward.

Terry Coleman's authorised biography of Olivier suggests a relationship between Olivier and an older actor, Henry Ainley, based on correspondence from Ainley to Olivier, although some of Olivier's family dispute this interpretation.

In his book Melting the Stone: A Journey Around My Father <ref> = Olivier, R. (1996) Melting the Stone: A Journey Around My Father. Spring Publications. ISBN 0882143700.</ref>, Olivier and Plowright's son, Richard, described his father as being more interested in his work than in his children, and would become depressed when he didn't have a job.

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Awards

Year	Academy Awards	Work
1979	Lifetime Achievement	N/A
1948	Best Picture	Hamlet
1948	Best Actor	Hamlet
1944	Special Award for his Outstanding achievement as actor, producer and director in bringing Henry V to the screen.	Henry V
Nominated:
1978	Best Actor	The Boys from Brazil
1976	Best Supporting Actor	Marathon Man
1972	Best Actor	Sleuth
1965	Best Actor	Othello
1960	Best Actor	The Entertainer
1955	Best Actor	Richard III
1948	Best Director	Hamlet
1944	Best Picture	Henry V
1944	Best Actor	Henry V
1940	Best Actor	Rebecca
1939	Best Actor	Wuthering Heights

Template:Start box {{succession box | title=Academy Award for Best Actor | years=1948 | before=Ronald Colman for A Double Life | after=Broderick Crawford for All the King's Men}} {{succession box | title=BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role (British Actor) | years=1955 | before=Kenneth More for Doctor in the House | after=Peter Finch for A Town Like Alice}} Template:End box

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Honours

He was the founding director of the Chichester Festival Theatre (1962–1966) and of the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain (1962–1973) for which he received his life peerage.

He was knighted in 1947, and created a life peer in 1970 (the first actor to be accorded this distinction) as Baron Olivier, of Brighton in the County of Sussex. He was admitted to the Order of Merit in 1981.

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Later life

In 1967 Olivier underwent radiation treatment for prostate cancer, and was also hospitalised with pneumonia. For the remainder of his life, he would suffer from many different health problems, including bronchitus, amnesia and pleurisy. After being gradually forced out of his role as director 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 "paycheque" basis on the condition that he would not have to promote the film on release. In 1974 he was diagnosed with a degenerative muscle disorder, and nearly died in the following year.

He died in Steyning, West Sussex, England, from cancer at the age of 82. Lord Olivier is interred in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey, London, only the second actor to be accorded that honour. 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.

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