May 22, 1907

Dorking, Surrey, United Kingdom

Laurence Kerr Olivier (22 May 1907–11 July 1989) was an Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA and four-time Emmy winning English actor, director, and producer. He is regarded by many as the greatest English speaking actor of the 20th century.
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Olivier's career stretched over several decades, prolific both on stage and in film. In both media, he played a wide variety of roles, from Shakespeare's Othello to a Nazi dentist in Marathon Man and Sir Toby Belch. A High Church clergyman's son w... ... (read more...) ho found fame on the West End stage, Olivier became determined to master Shakespeare, and in turn he became one of the foremost interpreters of the bard in the 20th century. In later years, Olivier became torn by guilt over having left his second wife Vivien Leigh, and so he immersed himself in his work. Olivier played over 120 stage roles, including: Macbeth, Romeo, Hamlet, Othello, Uncle Vanya, and Archie Rice. He appeared in nearly sixty films, including William Wyler's Wuthering Heights, Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca, Stanley Kubrick's Spartacus, Otto Preminger's Bunny Lake is Missing, Richard Attenborough's Oh! What a Lovely War, Joseph L. Mankiewicz's Sleuth, John Schlesinger's Marathon Man and his own Hamlet.