BOOKS BY AND ABOUT LAURENCE OLIVIER

Caesar and Cleopatra [by Bernard Shaw] Antony and Cleopatra [by William Shakespeare. With photos. from the productions starring Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh]

Confessions of an actor : an autobiography

Great acting: Laurence Olivier, Sybil Thorndike, Ralph Richardson, Peggy Ashcroft, Michael Redgrave, Edith Evans, John Gielgud, Noël Coward

Laurence Olivier

Laurence Olivier

Laurence Olivier : a biography

Olivier

Theatre and film chronology: p. 196-208.

On acting

Pageant of English actors

Contents:  Richard Burbage.--Richard Tarlton.--William Kemp.--Edward Alleyn.--Thomas Betterton.--David Garrick.--John Kemble.--Edmund Kean.--William Charles Macready.--Samuel Phelps.--Sir Henry Irving.--Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson.--Sir Herbert Beerbohm-Tree.--John Gielgud.--Sir Laurence Olivier.--Bibliography (p. 285-286).

Stage fight: swords, firearms, fisticuffs, and slapstick.

Introduction by Laurence Olivier.

Stars in my eyes

Theatre, the rediscovery of style

Introduction by Sir Laurence Olivier.

FILMOGRAPHY: TITLES IN THE UDM COLLECTION

Chronicle History Of King Henry The Fifth

Credits: Producer-director, Laurence Olivier; screenplay, Laurence Olivier and Alan Dent; art director, Paul Sheriff; photography, Robert Krasker; costume design, Roger Furse ; music, William Walton ; music director, Muir Matheson; music score, The London Symphony Orchestra. Cast: Laurence Olivier, Robert Newton, Leslie Banks, Renee Asherson, Felix Aylmer, Esmond Knight, Leo Genn. The London Symphony Orchestra Olivet and Alan Dent; art director Paul Sheriff; director of photography Robert Krasker; costume design, Roger Furse; operating cameraman, Jack Hildyard; associate producer, Dallas Bower; Music composer, Sir William Walton; Musical director Muir Matheson; music score Notes: Title on container: Henry V. Complete title from screen: The chronicle history of King Henry the Fifth with his battell faught in Agincourt in France by Will Shakespeare will be played by the Lord Chamberlain's Men at the Globe Playhouse this day the first of May, 1600. Based on the play by William Shakespeare. Originally released as a motion picture in 1944 by Two Cities. VHS format. Summary: Shakespeare's play is presented as a performance at the Globe Theater in 1600. The scene becomes progressively more realistic for the Battle of Agincourt, but once again reverts to the Globe for the conclusion. (137 min.)

Hamlet

Credits: Photographer, Desmond Dickinson ; cameraman, Ray Sturgess ; editor, Helga Cranston ; music, William Walton ; text editor, Alan Dent ; by William Shakespeare ; directed by Laurence Olivier. Cast: Laurence Olivier (Hamlet), Felix Aylmer (Polonius), Jean Simmons (Ophelia), Eileen Herlie (Gertrude), Anthony Quayle (Marcellus), Basil Sydney (Claudius), Norman Wooland (Horatio), Terence Morgan (Laertes) Notes: Hi-Fi, Dolby processed. Not rated. "A J. Arthur Rank enterprise." Originally issued as a motion picture by Two Cities, Britain, 1948, as a Laurence Olivier production. "This brilliant production earned critical acclaim and four 1948 Academy Awards: Best picture, Actor, Art direction-set direction and Costume design"--Container. Videocassette release of the 1948 motion picture. Summary: The classic version of Shakespeare's Hamlet, the towering tragedy of the Danish prince who feigns madness to trap his father's murderer. (155 min.)

King Lear

Credits: Directed by Michael Elliott. Cast: Laurence Olivier (King Lear), Dorothy Tutin (Goneril), Diana Rigg (Regan), Anna Calder-Marshall (Cordelia), Colin Blakely (Kent), Jeremy Kemp (Cornwall), Robert Lang (Albany), Robert Lindsay (Edmund), Leo McKern (Gloucester), David Threlfall (Edgar), John Hurt (The fool). Notes: VHS. Summary: Emmy Award winning television presentation of Shakespeare's timeless tale of greed and lust of power with Laurence Olivier as the aged, embittered King Lear, a foolish king who divides his realm between two ungrateful daughters. (158 min.)

Merchant Of Venice

Credits: Executive producer, Cecil Clarke. Cast: Laurence Olivier, Joan Plowright, Jeremy Brett, Michael Jayston. Notes: A television version of Jonathan Miller's 1973 London stage production. Summary: Set in 1860's Venice, a young Venetian borrows money from a Jew who gives him the money on the security of one pound of flesh. Upon default the Jew insists on payment of his bond and the young Venetian is rescued by the heroine disguised as a male lawyer. (134 min.)

Rebecca

Cast:  Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Judith Anderson, Florence Bates, Nigel Bruce, Reginald Denny, C. Aubrey Smith, Gladys Cooper, Leo G. Carroll, Leonard Carey, Lumsden Hare, Edward Fielding, Philip Winter. 

Notes:  A videodisc release of the 1940 motion picture, based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier.  Special features: Commentary by film scholar Leonard J. Leff; isolated music and effects track; Screen, hair, makeup and costume tests including Vivien Leigh, Anne Baxter, Loreeta Young, Margaret Sullavan and Joan Fontaine; Hitchcock on Rebecca, excerpts from his conversations with François Truffaut; phone interviews with Joan Fontaine and Judith Anderson from 1986; behind-the-scenes photo gallery; production correspondence and casting notes; deleted scenes script excerpts; 1939 test screening questionnaire; footage from 1940 Academy Awards ceremony; re-issue trailer; three hours of readio show adaptations.

Summary:  A young bride is brought by her new husband to his manor house in England. There she finds that the memory of her husband's first wife haunts her, and she tries to discover the secret of that mysterious woman's death.  On 2 DVDs (total running time:  130 min.).

Richard III

Credits: Produced and directed by Sir Laurence Olivier. Cast: Laurence Olivier, Claire Bloom, John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson. Videocassette release of the 1955 motion picture. Newly remastered original full length version. Adapted from the play by William Shakespeare. "Newly Remastered original full length version." (155 min.)

Wuthering Heights

Credits:  produced by Samuel Goldwyn ; directed by William Wyler ; screenplay by Charles MacArthur and Ben Hecht. 

Cast:  Laurence Olivier, Merle Oberon, David Niven, Flora Rolson, Donald Crisp, Leo G. Carroll.    Notes:  Originally released as a motion picture in 1939.

Summary:  The story of the impact of the abused waif, Heathcliff, on two Yorkshire families, the Earnshaws and Lintons, at the close of the 18th century. When Heathcliff loses Cathy Earnshaw, the woman he obsessively loves, to the wealthy but inferior Edgar Linton, he plans a savage retaliation upon both families, extending into the second generation.  (104 min.).

WEB RESOURCES

Laurence Olivier

Website includes biography, filmography, photos, and links to message boards.

Olivier

Website includes:  Entry | Contents | Biography | Films | Awards | Links | This & That I & II | Rebecca | One Degree | Entertainer | On Acting | Brideshead | Henry V | Hamlet | Lady X | Wuthering Heights | Theatre | His Wives | Pictures | The Idol | Pictures 2 | Pictures 3 | | Speeches | Spartacus | News | Richard III | Joan Howard's Pics | Theater Week Magazine | Olivier Forum | Time Magazine 1946

Sir Laurence Olivier Official Web Site

The Official Web Site of Sir Laurence Olivier has everything that you want to know about Laurence Olivier. Check out this month's TV Appearances in our What's New section, read our Biography about the Impressive Screen Legend, or browse through some fabulous Laurence Olivier Photos.  Also includes links to books, posters, and tributes.