Laurence Olivier on stage and screen

Common card · No. 307016

Laurence Olivier (1907–1989) was an English actor and director who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson, John Gielgud and Michael Redgrave, dominated the British stage of the mid-20th century. He also worked in films throughout his six-decade career, playing more than fifty cinema roles. From 1955, Olivier also performed in radio broadcasts and, from 1956, had considerable success in television roles. After attending drama school, Olivier began his professional career with small touring companies before being taken on in 1925 by Sybil Thorndike and her husband, Lewis Casson, as a bit-part player, understudy and assistant stage manager for their London company. In 1926 he joined the Birmingham Repertory Company, where he was given the chance to play a wide range of key roles. In 1930 he had his first important West End success in Noël Coward's Private Lives, and in 1935 he played in a celebrated production of Romeo and Juliet alongside Gielgud and Peggy Ashcroft, and by the end...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Allan warren, CC BY-SA 3.0