Laurence Olivier

Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier OM (1907-07-11 – 1989-11-07) was an English actor, director, and produce. He and his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud dominated the British stage of the mid-20th century. He worked in films throughout his career, playing more than fifty cinema roles and achieving success in television roles late in his career. Despite coming from a family with no theatrical connections, Olivier's father, a clergyman, decided that his son should become an actor. After attending drama school in London, Olivier honed his craft in a succession of acting jobs during the late 1920s. He achieved his first notable success in 1930 when cast in Noël Coward's Private Lives and later emerged as an established star by the end of the decade. In the 1940s, Olivier co-directed the Old Vic, establishing it as a highly respected company and playing celebrated roles including Shakespeare's Richard III and Sophocles's Oedipus. During his tenure as director, and later producer, of Britain's National Theatre, he fostered many future stars. Despite professional success, Olivier's personal life was turbulent. His three marriages, the first to actress Jill Esmond and the second to Vivien Leigh, were marked by personal struggles. His third marriage, to Joan Plowright, lasted from 1961 until his death.