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Acting

Laurence Olivier

Career: Active from 1930 to 2004, with a break from 1990 to 2003, busiest in 1976 with 8 main titles.

Leading roles: 67
top three billing

Average score: 64/100

Highest rated: The World at War
91/100

Awards

Reported results for this person. Coverage is incomplete; these results don't establish award totals.

Primetime Emmy Awards · Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
1984 · Won · 36th Primetime Emmy Awards
King Lear
Source: Wikidata
Primetime Emmy Awards · Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
1982 · Won · 34th Primetime Emmy Awards
Brideshead Revisited
Source: Wikidata
Primetime Emmy Awards · Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
1982 · Won
Great Performances
Source: Wikidata
Academy Awards · Academy Honorary Award
1979 · Won · 51st Academy Awards
Source: Wikidata
Golden Globe Awards · Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
1977 · Won · 34th Golden Globe Awards
Marathon Man
Source: Wikidata
BAFTA Awards · BAFTA Fellowship
1976 · Won
Source: Wikidata
Primetime Emmy Awards · Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
1975 · Won
Love Among the Ruins
Source: Wikidata
Primetime Emmy Awards · Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
1973 · Won
Long Day's Journey into Night
Source: Wikidata
BAFTA Awards · Best Supporting Actor
1970 · Won · 23rd British Academy Film Awards
Oh! What a Lovely War
Source: Wikidata
Primetime Emmy Awards · Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
1960 · Won
The Moon and Sixpence
Source: Wikidata
Primetime Emmy Awards · Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
1960 · Won · 12th Primetime Emmy Awards
The Moon and Sixpence
Source: Wikidata
BAFTA Awards · Best Film
1956 · Won
Richard III
Source: Wikidata
BAFTA Awards · Best British Film
1955 · Won
Richard III
Source: Wikidata
Academy Awards · Best Picture
1949 · Won · 21st Academy Awards
Hamlet
Source: Wikidata
Academy Awards · Actor in a Leading Role
1949 · Won · 21st Academy Awards
Hamlet
Source: Wikidata
Golden Globe Awards · Best Actor in a Leading Role
1949 · Won · 6th Golden Globe Awards
Hamlet
Source: Wikidata
Academy Awards · Academy Honorary Award
1947 · Won
Source: Wikidata
Academy Awards · Actor in a Leading Role
1979 · Nominated · 51st Academy Awards
The Boys from Brazil
Source: Wikidata
Academy Awards · Actor in a Supporting Role
1977 · Nominated · 49th Academy Awards
Marathon Man
Source: Wikidata
Academy Awards · Actor in a Leading Role
1973 · Nominated · 45th Academy Awards
Sleuth
Source: Wikidata

Characters

2

The characters Laurence Olivier played, best-known titles first.

Laurence Olivier as Lord Marchmain

Laurence Olivier as Othello

Character images: TheTVDB

What stands out

Compared with the average well-known movie, over 63 of their titles. Select a trait to filter titles.

Laurence Olivier Catalog average

Rarely in their work

Contemporary Realism
1.3, average 5.4
Pop Culture
1.2, average 2.2
Physical Comedy
1.5, average 2.4
Fantasy
1.0, average 1.7

Main genres

Select a genre to see those titles.

Recurring tags

Political Intrigue 14
Historical Drama 9
Character-Driven 8
Historical Setting 6
Classic Hollywood 5
Social Commentary 5
Character Study 5
Witty Dialogue 4
Class Conflict 4
Social Satire 3
Literary Adaptation 3
Shakespearean Tragedy 3

Works often with

People in at least two of their main titles.

Movies and TV shows

106

Type

Role

Score

Decade

Genre

Group by

2020s

1 title

1939: Secrets of Hollywood's Golden Year

TV show

2010s

1 title

Discovering Hamlet

as Hamlet (archive footage)

2000s

3 titles · average score 73

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

61

as Dr. Totenkopf (archive footage)

The Body of Marilyn Monroe

as archive footage

The Filth and the Fury

84

as Richard III (archive footage)

1990s

1 title

Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker

as Superintendent Newhouse (archive footage) (uncredited)

1980s

19 titles · average score 61

War Requiem

81

as The Old Soldier

Lost Empires

65

TV show · as Harry Burrard

Peter the Great

77

TV show · as King William III of Orange

The Ebony Tower

65

as Henry Breasley

The Last Days of Pompeii

45

TV show · as Gaius

The Jigsaw Man

39

as Adm. Sir Gerald Scaith

King Lear

68

as King Lear

Wagner

71

TV show · as Pfeuffer

Mr. Halpern and Mr. Johnson

as Joe Halpern

A Talent for Murder

66

as Dr. Anthony Wainwright

Inchon

15

as Gen. Douglas MacArthur

The Jazz Singer

39

as Cantor Rabinovitch

1970s

27 titles · average score 65

Dracula

65

as Prof. Abraham Van Helsing

A Little Romance

61

as Julius

The Boys from Brazil

62

as Ezra Lieberman

The Betsy

28

as Loren Hardeman

Marathon Man

74

as Dr. Christian Szell

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

69

as Big Daddy

Love Among the Ruins

75

as Sir Arthur Glanville-Jones

The Seven-Per-Cent Solution

72

as Professor James Moriarty

The World at War

91

TV show · as Narrator

The Merchant of Venice

78

as Shylock

Sleuth

78

as Andrew Wyke

Three Sisters

46

as Dr. Ivan Chebutikin

1960s

17 titles · average score 68

Oh! What a Lovely War

72

as Field Marshal Sir John French

Battle of Britain

64

as Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding

The Dance of Death

as Edgar

The Shoes of the Fisherman

56

as Piotr Ilyich Kamenev

Khartoum

82

as Mahdi

Bunny Lake Is Missing

78

as Newhouse

Othello

67

as Othello

Uncle Vanya

64

as Dr. Astrov

The Power and the Glory

as Priest

Term of Trial

66

as Graham Weir

Spartacus

82

as Marcus Licinius Crassus

The Entertainer

57

as Archie Rice

1950s

10 titles · average score 68

The Devil's Disciple

68

as Gen. Burgoyne

The Moon and Sixpence

as Charles Strickland

The Prince and the Showgirl

58

as The Regent

Richard III

77

as Richard III

The Beggar's Opera

57

as MacHeath

A Queen Is Crowned

76

as Narrator

The Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci

as Narrator

Carrie

70

as George Hurstwood

The Magic Box

70

as Police Constable 94-B

Rebecca

as Maxim de winter

1940s

12 titles · average score 75

Hamlet

82

as Hamlet - Prince of Denmark / Voice of Ghost

Henry V

85

as King Henry

This Happy Breed

72

as Narrator (voice)

The Demi-Paradise

62

as Ivan Kouznetsoff

Malta G.C.

as Narrator

That Hamilton Woman

87

as Lord Horatio Nelson

49th Parallel

80

as Johnnie, the Trapper

Words for Battle

65

as Narrator (voice)

Rebecca

83

as Maxim de Winter

Pride and Prejudice

79

as Mr. Darcy

21 Days

56

as Larry Durrant

Private Lives

as Elyot Chase

1930s

15 titles · average score 53

Wuthering Heights

68

as Heathcliff

Q Planes

63

as Tony McVane

The Divorce of Lady X

59

as Everard Logan

As You Like It

32

as Orlando

Moscow Nights

as Captain Ivan Ignatoff

Perfect Understanding

40

as Nicholas Randall

No Funny Business

as Clive Dering

Westward Passage

45

as Nicholas 'Nick' Allen

Friends and Lovers

51

as Lieutenant Ned Nichols

The Conquest of the Air

61

as Vincent Lunardi

The Yellow Ticket

57

as Julian Rolfe

Potiphar's Wife

as Straker