History Creator / LaurenceOlivier

* ByronicHero: He played Heathcliff, Richard III, Maxim de Winter, Hamlet, and his take on Nelson in ''That Hamilton Woman'' was also quite Byronic, brooding, dark and intense.

He is the TropeNamer for MoneyDearBoy, which was his response to why he appeared in ''Film/{{Inchon}}''. The [[UsefulNotes/LaurenceOlivierAward Olivier Awards]] are given every year to the best of London theatre, serving as the London equivalent to Broadway's [[MediaNotes/TonyAwardWinners Tony Awards]].

On stage, he was unanimously seen as a genius actor and director. In cinema, he hit a peak in his early films, including an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward-winning performance as the title role in ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' (1948), which he also directed. ''Hamlet'' also won [[MediaNotes/AcademyAwardForBestPicture Best Picture]] (the ''only'' film spoken in Shakespeare's dialogue to win to date) and earned him a [[MediaNotes/AcademyAwardForBestDirecting Best Director]] nomination (making him the first person to direct ''himself'' to an Oscar, and the only one until Creator/RobertoBenigni matched the feat for ''Film/LifeIsBeautiful'' 50 years later).

As a film director, Olivier is best known for his three Creator/WilliamShakespeare adaptations. In addition to ''Hamlet'', there's ''Henry V'' (1944) and ''Theatre/RichardIII'' (1955), both of which were shot in Technicolor, featuring impressive cinematic spectacle for its time, and still considered [[Creator/OrsonWelles among]] [[Creator/RomanPolanski the]] [[Creator/AkiraKurosawa best]] Shakespeare films. His turn as Richard III in particular proved to be one of his most iconic and much-parodied roles, famous for his BreakingTheFourthWall monologues to the camera. He was nominated for the [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAwardForBestActorInALeadingRole Best Actor]] Oscar each time, and it more or less cemented him in PopCulturalOsmosis as [[TheBardOnBoard "the" Shakespearean actor]].

He was married for 20 years to Creator/VivienLeigh and often starred with her on stage and screen. He is often compared to Creator/KennethBranagh, another stage and screen star who directed himself in cinematic versions of ''Henry V'' and ''Hamlet''. In what was perhaps the logical extreme to both their careers, Branagh netted an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nomination for playing Olivier in ''Film/MyWeekWithMarilyn'', a film about the difficult production of ''The Prince and the Showgirl'', which co-starred Olivier and Creator/MarilynMonroe.

On stage, he was unanimously seen as a genius actor and director. In cinema, he hit a peak in his early films, including an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward-winning performance as the title role in ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' (1948), which he also directed. ''Hamlet'' also won [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAwardForBestPicture Best Picture]] (the ''only'' film spoken in Shakespeare's dialogue to win to date) and earned him a [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAwardForBestDirecting Best Director]] nomination (making him the first person to direct ''himself'' to an Oscar, and the only one until Creator/RobertoBenigni matched the feat for ''Film/LifeIsBeautiful'' 50 years later).

He is the TropeNamer for MoneyDearBoy, which was his response to why he appeared in ''Film/{{Inchon}}''. The [[UsefulNotes/LaurenceOlivierAward Olivier Awards]] are given every year to the best of London theatre, serving as the London equivalent to Broadway's [[UsefulNotes/TonyAwardWinners Tony Awards]].

* ''Literature/{{Rebecca}}'' (1940) (Academy Award nomination)

* CreatorCouple: He and Creator/VivienLeigh appeared in many stage productions together but only three films.[[note]] Leigh auditioned for the role of Mrs. de Winter in ''Film/{{Rebecca}}'' but was passed over; the footage of her screen test with Olivier still exists.[[/note]] ''Film/ThatHamiltonWoman'' is considered the best and it was UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill's favorite film. He also worked several times with Joan Plowright, notably both the play and film of ''Theatre/TheEntertainer''.

He is the TropeNamer for MoneyDearBoy, which was his response to why he appeared in ''Film/{{Inchon}}''. The UsefulNotes/LaurenceOlivierAward for Best New Play is given every year to the best new play on the London stage.

No relation to [[Wrestling/KennyOmega Kenny Olivier]].

He has an [[http://www.laurenceolivier.com/ official site]].

Olivier is the TropeNamer for MoneyDearBoy, which was his response to why he appeared in ''Film/{{Inchon}}''. The UsefulNotes/LaurenceOlivierAward for Best New Play is given every year to the best new play on the London stage.

[[http://www.laurenceolivier.com/ Official site]]

On stage, he was unanimously seen as a genius actor and director. In cinema, he hit a peak in his early films, including an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward-winning performance as the title role in ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' (1948), which he also directed. ''Hamlet'' also won Best Picture (the ''only'' film spoken in Shakespeare's dialogue to win to date) and earned Olivier a Best Director nomination (making him the only person to direct ''himself'' to an Oscar until Roberto Benigni matched the feat for ''Film/LifeIsBeautiful'' fifty years later).

As a film director, he's best known for his three Creator/WilliamShakespeare adaptations. In addition to Hamlet, there's ''Henry V'' (1944) and ''Theatre/RichardIII'' (1955), both of which were shot in Technicolor, featuring impressive cinematic spectacle for its time, and still considered [[Creator/OrsonWelles among]] [[Creator/RomanPolanski the]] [[Creator/AkiraKurosawa best]] Shakespeare films. His turn as Richard III in particular proved to be one of his most iconic and much-parodied roles, famous for his BreakingTheFourthWall monologues to the camera. He was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar each time and it more or less cemented him in PopCulturalOsmosis as [[TheBardOnBoard "the" Shakespearean actor]].

He was married for 20 years to Creator/VivienLeigh and often starred with her on stage and screen. Often compared to Creator/KennethBranagh, another stage and screen star who directed himself in cinematic versions of ''Henry V'' and ''Hamlet''. In what was perhaps the logical extreme to both their careers, Branagh netted an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nomination for playing Olivier in ''Film/MyWeekWithMarilyn'', a film about the difficult production of ''The Prince and the Showgirl'', which co-starred Olivier and Creator/MarilynMonroe.

TropeNamer for MoneyDearBoy, which was his response to why he appeared in ''Inchon''. The UsefulNotes/LaurenceOlivierAward for Best New Play is given every year to the best new play on the London stage.

* ''Film/TheBoysFromBrazil'' (1978) (Academy Award nomination)

* DoingItForTheArt: Nearly bankrupted himself helping to run the National Theatre. This is a major reason Olivier took so many subpar film roles in his later years.

* OldShame: Olivier had many rotten films to choose from, but he seemed to particularly hate the musical ''The Beggar's Opera'', due to his contentious relationship with director Peter Brook, and ''The Jazz Singer'', which he said "oozes sentiment like pus," adding "I never saw anything, heard anything, read anything so absolutely awful." The only films he really liked were the ones he made with Creator/WilliamWyler who he noted taught him how to act for films.

* ByronicHero: He played Heathcliff, Richard III, Maxim de Winter, Hamlet, and his take on Nelson in ''That Hamilton Woman'' was also quite Byronic, brooding, dark and intense. He was also a real-life one.

[[quoteright:285:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/laurence_olivier_2853.jpg]]

Laurence Kerr Olivier, [[UsefulNotes/KnightFever Baron Olivier of Brighton]] (22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director, who was considered in his lifetime to be the greatest actor of his generation.

* PlayingGertrude: His film version of ''Hamlet'' is the TropeNamer.

* ''Film/TheBoysFromBrazil'' (1978)

* ''Theatre/CatOnAHotTinRoof'' (1976 TV film)

* ''Theatre/KingLear'' (1983 TV Movie)