Laurence Olivier (1907-1989), generally considered the greatest stage actor of the 20th century, also had a prolific film career marked by several outstanding performances. As on the stage, Lord Olivier reached his greatest screen moments in Shakespeare and remains the only Best Actor Oscar® winner for a Shakespearean role -- the title character in Hamlet (1948).

Olivier was born in Dorking, Surrey, England, the son of an Anglican clergyman who encouraged his acting at a tender age. The young Olivier played Brutus in a school production of Julius Caesar at age nine and at 14 reportedly was a convincing Kate in The Taming of the Shrew! He joined the Birmingham Repertory Company in 1926 and made his first Broadway appearance three years later. His screen debut was in the British "quickie" Too Many Crooks (1930), and his first Hollywood movie was Friends and Lovers (1931), as part of a romantic triangle that also included Lili Damita and Adolphe Menjou.

After a stint onstage alternating the roles of Romeo and Mercutio with John Gielgud, Olivier played an athletic Orlando in As You Like It (1936). He established a romantic screen presence with Vivien Leigh in Fire Over England (1937). But the movie that brought him matinee-idol status, along with his first Oscar® nomination, was William Wyler's Wuthering Heights (1939). Based on the novel by Emily Bronte, it featured Olivier as a magnificently brooding Heathcliff opposite Merle Oberon's "wild, beautiful Cathy." Rebecca (1940), from Daphne Du Maurier's novel with direction by Alfred Hitchcock, brought another nomination and cemented Olivier's reputation as an international star.

Olivier teamed with Greer Garson for a delightful version of Pride and Prejudice (1940), and was reunited with Leigh (now his wife) in That Hamilton Woman (1941). Returning to England during World War II, Olivier joined the Fleet Air Arm but served his country's cause more meaningfully with his rousing film of Shakespeare's Henry V (1944). Oscar®-nominated again as Best Actor, he won an honorary 1945 award for directing and producing the film as well as for playing the leading role.

In addition to his win for Hamlet (1948), which also won as Best Picture, Olivier's other nominations were for Richard III (1955), The Entertainer (1960), Othello (1965), Sleuth (1972), Marathon Man (1976) and The Boys from Brazil (1978). He further displayed his versatility with such roles as General Burgoyne in The Devil's Disciple (1959), The Mahdi in Khartoum (1966), the Soviet premier in The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968), Lord Dowding in Battle of Britain (1969) and Dr. Spaander in A Bridge Too Far (1977). In 1979 he was presented with another honorary Oscar® for the body of his work.

In addition to films and his prodigious stage career, Olivier also made several distinguished television appearances. In addition to Vivien Leigh, his actress wives included Jill Esmond and Joan Plowright (to whom he was married at the time of his death).

by Roger Fristoe