Laurence Olivier

Laurence Olivier is an award-winning British film, television, and stage actor, director, and producer, best known for directing and performing in Shakespearean adaptations.

Born in 1907 in Dorking, Surrey, England, he was raised by a strict and religious father, who was Anglican priest. He performed in plays as a young boy which led to his attending the Central School of Dramatic Art when he was 17.

He gained fame in the United States playing Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights and would have further success in Rebecca and Pride and Prejudice. His noted Shakespearean films are Henry V, Hamlet, Richard III and Othello.

He was a founder of the National Theatre, and his influence on British theatre and actors, after a career that spanned six decades, has made him a respected part of the history of performing arts.

1. 1939: Wuthering Heights
2. 1940: Rebecca
3. 1944: Henry V
4. 1948: Hamlet
5. 1960: Spartacus
6. 1960: The Entertainer
7. 1972: Sleuth
8. 1976: Marathon Man
9. 1977: A Bridge Too Far
10. 1978: The Boys from Brazil

• Note: The majority of the links in this timeline are to IMDb, which has pop-ups.

• May 22, 1907: Born

• 1931: The Yellow Ticket

• 1936: As You Like It

• 1939: Wuthering Heights

• 1940: Rebecca

• 1940: Pride and Prejudice

• 1941: That Hamilton Woman

• 1944: The Chronicle History of King Henry the Fift with His Battell Fought at Agincourt in France

• 1948: Hamlet

• 1955: Richard III

• 1957: The Prince and the Showgirl

• 1960: Spartacus

• 1960: The Entertainer

• 1963: Uncle Vanya

• 1965: Othello

• 1968: Romeo and Juliet

• 1970: Three Sisters

• 1972: Sleuth

• 1973: Long Day's Journey Into Night

• 1973: The Merchant of Venice

• 1976: The Collection

• 1976: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

• 1976: Marathon Man

• 1977: Come Back, Little Sheba

• 1978: The Boys from Brazil

• 1978: Daphne Laureola

• 1983: King Lear

• 1983: Published autobiography, Confessions of an Actor

• July 11, 1989: Died