An actor (usually actress for female; see terminology) is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity. The ancient Greek word for an "actor," ''(hypokrites)'', means literally "one who interprets"; in this sense, an actor is one who interprets a dramatic character.

Terminology

After 1660, when women first appeared on stage, ''actor'' and ''actress'' were initially used interchangeably for female performers, but later, influenced by the French ''actrice'', ''actress'' became the usual term. The etymology is a simple derivation from ''actor'' with ''ess'' added. The word ''actor'' refers to a person who acts regardless of gender, and "is increasingly preferred", while ''actress'' refers specifically to a female person who acts. ''Actress'' "remains in general use", although in a survey of a "wide cross-section of current British English", compiled in 2010, ''actor'' was almost twice as commonly found as ''actress''. Within the profession, however, the re-adoption of the neutral term dates to the 1950s–60s, the post-war period when women's contribution to cultural life in general was being re-evaluated. ''Actress'' remains the common term used in major acting awards given to female recipients.

The gender-neutral term "player" was common in film in the early days of the Motion Picture Production Code with regards to the cinema of the United States, but is now generally deemed archaic. However, it remains in use in the theatre, often incorporated into the name of a theatre group or company (such as the East West Players).

History

The first recorded case of an actor performing took place in 534 BC (though the changes in calendar over the years make it hard to determine exactly) when the Greek performer Thespis stepped on to the stage at the ''Theatre Dionysus'' and became the first known person to speak words as a character in a play or story. Prior to Thespis' act, stories were only known to be told in song and dance and in third person narrative. In honour of Thespis, actors are commonly called ''Thespians''. Theatrical legend to this day maintains that Thespis exists as a mischievous spirit, and disasters in the theatre are sometimes blamed on his ghostly intervention.

Actors were traditionally not people of high status, and in the Early Middle Ages travelling acting troupes were often viewed with distrust. In many parts of Europe, actors could not even receive a Christian burial, and traditional beliefs of the region and time period held that this left any actor forever condemned. However, this negative perception was largely reversed in the 19th and 20th centuries as acting has become an honoured and popular profession and art.

Techniques

Method acting

Method acting is a technique developed from the acting 'system' created in the early 20th century by Konstantin Stanislavski in his work at the Moscow Art Theatre and its studios. The Group Theatre first popularised the Method in the 1930s; it was subsequently advanced and developed in new directions by Stella Adler, Sanford Meisner, Uta Hagen, Lee Strasberg (at the Actors Studio in the 1940s and 50s), and others. In Stanislavski's system', the actor analyzes the character in order to play him or her with psychological realism and emotional authenticity. Using the Method, an actor may recall emotions or reactions from his or her own life and use them to identify with the character being portrayed.

Method actors are often characterized as immersing themselves so totally in their characters that they continue to portray them even off-stage or off-camera for the duration of the project. However, this is a popular misconception. While some actors do employ this approach, it is generally not taught as part of the Method. Stella Adler, who was a member of the Group Theatre, along with Strasberg, emphasised a different approach of using creative imagination.

Method acting offers a systematic form of actor training in which the actor's sensory, psychological, and emotional abilities are developed; it revolutionized theatre in the United States.

Presentational and representational acting

Presentational acting refers to a relationship between actor and audience, whether by direct address or indirectly by specific use of language, looks, gestures or other signs indicating that the character or actor is aware of the audience's presence. (Shakespeare's use of punning and wordplay, for example, often has this function of indirect contact.)

In representational acting, "actors want to make us 'believe' they are the character; they pretend." The illusion of the fourth wall with the audience as voyeurs is striven for.

As opposite gender

In the past, only men could become actors in some societies. In the ancient Greece and Rome and the medieval world, it was considered disgraceful for a woman to go on the stage, and this belief persisted until the 17th century, when in Venice it was broken. In the time of William Shakespeare, women's roles were generally played by men or boys.

When an eighteen year Puritan prohibition of drama was lifted after the English Restoration of 1660, women began to appear on stage in England. Margaret Hughes is credited by some as the first professional actress on the English stage. This prohibition ended during the reign of Charles II in part due to the fact that he enjoyed watching actresses on stage. The first occurrence of the term ''actress'' was in 1700 according to the OED and is ascribed to Dryden.

In Japan, men (onnagata) took over the female roles in kabuki theatre when women were banned from performing on stage during the Edo period. This convention has continued to the present. However, some forms of Chinese drama have women playing all the roles.

In modern times, women sometimes play the roles of prepubescent boys. The stage role of Peter Pan, for example, is traditionally played by a woman, as are most principal boys in British pantomime. Opera has several "breeches roles" traditionally sung by women, usually mezzo-sopranos. Examples are Hansel in ''Hänsel und Gretel'', Cherubino in ''The Marriage of Figaro'' and Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier.

Women in male roles are uncommon in film with the notable exceptions of the films ''The Year of Living Dangerously'' and ''I'm Not There''. In the former film Linda Hunt played the pivotal role of Billy Kwan, for which she received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. In the latter film Cate Blanchett portrayed Jude Quinn, a representation of Bob Dylan in the sixties, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Having an actor dress as the opposite sex for comic effect is also a long-standing tradition in comic theatre and film. Most of Shakespeare's comedies include instances of overt cross-dressing, such as Francis Flute in ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''. The movie ''A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum'' stars Jack Gilford dressing as a young bride. Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon famously posed as women to escape gangsters in the Billy Wilder film ''Some Like It Hot''. Cross-dressing for comic effect was a frequently used device in most of the thirty Carry On films. Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams have each appeared in a hit comedy film (''Tootsie'' and ''Mrs. Doubtfire'', respectively) in which they played most scenes dressed as a woman.

Occasionally, the issue is further complicated, for example, by a woman playing a woman acting as a man pretending to be a woman, like Julie Andrews in ''Victor/Victoria'', or Gwyneth Paltrow in ''Shakespeare in Love''. In ''It's Pat: The Movie'', filmwatchers never learn the gender of the androgynous main characters Pat and Chris (played by Julia Sweeney and Dave Foley).

A few roles in modern films, plays and musicals are played by a member of the opposite sex (rather than a character cross-dressing), such as the character Edna Turnblad in ''Hairspray''—played by Divine in the original film, Harvey Fierstein in the Broadway musical, and John Travolta in the 2007 movie musical. Linda Hunt won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for playing Billy Kwan in ''The Year of Living Dangerously''. Felicity Huffman was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for playing Bree Osbourne (a man in the process of becoming a woman) in ''Transamerica''.

Acting awards

Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars, for American film

AFI Awards for Australian film

Berlinale German film festival in Berlin (Golden and Silver Bear)

British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award for film and television; also known as BAFTA

Cannes Film Festival Awards

César Awards for French film

Emmy Awards for American television

FAMAS Awards for Filipino cinema

Filmfare Awards honors excellence in the Indian Film Industry (Bollywood) – limited to Hindi language films only

Filmfare Awards South honors excellence in the Indian Film Industry (South Indian) – limited to Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada language films only

Genie Awards for Canadian film

Gemini Awards for Canadian television

Golden Globe Awards for American film and television

Golden Raspberry Awards Worst in American film

Goya Awards for Spanish film

IIFA Awards International Indian Film Academy Awards, for Bollywood

IFTA's for the Irish Film and Television

Star Screen Awards honors excellence in the Indian Film Industry.

Indian National Film Awards for the Indian cinema

Kerala State Film Awards in India for the Malayalam cinema

Laurence Olivier Awards for the theatre

Lux Style Awards for Pakistan film

Nandi Awards in India for Telugu cinema

Nigar Awards also for Pakistani film

San Sebastián International Film Festival Spanish film festival Celebrated in San Sebastián

Sarah Siddons Award for female actress in Chicago Theatre

Screen Actors Guild Awards for American actors in film and television

Tony Awards for the theatre (specifically, Broadway theatre)

Volpi Cups at the Venice Film Festival

See also

Acting

Bit part

Body double

Cameo appearance

Casting (performing arts)

Cast member

Celebrity

Character actor

Charisma

Child actor

Drama school

Dramatis personæ

Ensemble cast

Extra (actor)

GOTE

Improvisational theatre

Leading actor

Lists of actors

Master of Fine Arts

Matinee idol

Method acting

Meisner technique

Mime

Movie star

Movie studio

Pornographic actor

Practical Aesthetics

Pre-production

Presentational acting and Representational acting

Q Score

Stunt work

Supporting actor

Thespis

Understudy

Vaudeville

Viewpoints

Voice Actor

References

Sources

Csapo, Eric, and William J. Slater. 1994. ''The Context of Ancient Drama.'' Ann Arbor: The U of Michigan P. ISBN 0-472-08275-2.

Elam, Keir. 1980. ''The Semiotics of Theatre and Drama''. New Accents Ser. London and New York: Methuen. ISBN 0-416-72060-9.

Weimann, Robert. 1978. ''Shakespeare and the Popular Tradition in the Theater: Studies in the Social Dimension of Dramatic Form and Function.'' Ed. Robert Schwartz. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-3506-2.

Further reading

''An Actor's Work'' by Constantin Stanislavski

''A Dream of Passion: The Development of the Method'' by Lee Strasberg (Plume Books, ISBN 0-452-26198-8, 1990)

''Sanford Meisner on Acting'' by Sanford Meisner (Vintage, ISBN 0-394-75059-4, 1987)

''Letters to a Young Actor'' by Robert Brustein (Basic Books, ISBN 0-465-00806-2, 2005).

''The Empty Space'' by Peter Brook

''The Technique of Acting'' by Stella Adler

External links

Actors' Equity Association (AEA): a union representing U. S. theatre actors and stage managers.

American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA): a union representing U. S. television and radio actors and broadcasters (on-air journalists, etc.).

British Actors' Equity: a trade union representing UK artists, including actors, singers, dancers, choreographers, stage managers, theatre directors and designers, variety and circus artists, television and radio presenters, walk-on and supporting artists, stunt performers and directors and theatre fight directors.

Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance: an Australian/New Zealand trade union representing everyone in the media, entertainment, sports, and arts industries.

Screen Actors Guild (SAG): a union representing U. S. film and TV actors.

Category:Entertainment occupations Category:Acting Category:Theatrical professions Category:Television terminology

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Coordinates	55°45′06″N37°37′04″N
honorific prefix	The Right Honourable
name	The Lord Olivier
honorific suffix	OM
birth date	May 22, 1907
birth place	Dorking, Surrey,United Kingdom
death date	July 11, 1989
death place	Steyning, West Sussex,United Kingdom
years active	1926–88
occupation	Actor, director, producer, screenwriter
spouse	Jill Esmond (1930–40; divorced)Vivien Leigh (1940–60; divorced)Joan Plowright (1961–89; his death)
children	2 sons, 2 daughters
relatives	Sydney Olivier (uncle, deceased)Noel Olivier (cousin, deceased)
website	http://www.laurenceolivier.com/ }}

Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier of Brighton, OM (; 22 May 1907 11 July 1989) was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright.

Olivier played a wide variety of roles on stage and screen from Greek tragedy, Shakespeare and Restoration comedy to modern American and British drama. He was the first artistic director of the National Theatre of Great Britain and its main stage is named in his honour. He is regarded by some to be the greatest actor of the 20th century, in the same category as David Garrick, Richard Burbage, Edmund Kean and Henry Irving in their own centuries. Olivier's AMPAS acknowledgments are considerable: fourteen Oscar nominations, with two awards (for Best Actor and Best Picture for the 1948 film ''Hamlet''), and two honorary awards including a statuette and certificate. He was also awarded five Emmy awards from the nine nominations he received. Additionally, he was a three-time Golden Globe and BAFTA winner.

Olivier's career as a stage and film actor spanned more than six decades and included a wide variety of roles, from the title role in Shakespeare's ''Othello'' and Sir Toby Belch in ''Twelfth Night'' to the sadistic Nazi dentist Christian Szell in ''Marathon Man'' and the kindly but determined Nazi-hunter in ''The Boys from Brazil.'' A High church clergyman's son who found fame on the West End stage, Olivier became determined early on to master Shakespeare, and eventually came to be regarded as one of the foremost Shakespeare interpreters of the 20th century. He continued to act until the year before his death in 1989. Olivier played more than 120 stage roles: Richard III, Macbeth, Romeo, Hamlet, Othello, Uncle Vanya, and Archie Rice in ''The Entertainer''. He appeared in nearly sixty films, including William Wyler's ''Wuthering Heights'', Alfred Hitchcock's ''Rebecca'', Stanley Kubrick's ''Spartacus'', Otto Preminger's ''Bunny Lake Is Missing'', Richard Attenborough's ''Oh! What a Lovely War'', and ''A Bridge Too Far'', Joseph L. Mankiewicz's ''Sleuth'', John Schlesinger's ''Marathon Man'', Daniel Petrie's ''The Betsy'', Desmond Davis' ''Clash of the Titans'', and his own ''Henry V'', ''Hamlet'', and ''Richard III''. He also preserved his ''Othello'' on film, with its stage cast virtually intact. For television, he starred in ''The Moon and Sixpence'', ''John Gabriel Borkman'', ''Long Day's Journey into Night'', ''Brideshead Revisited'', ''The Merchant of Venice'', ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'', and ''King Lear'', among others.

In 1999, the American Film Institute named Olivier among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time, at number 14 on the list.

Early life

Olivier was born on 22 May 1907 in Dorking, Surrey, England. He was raised in a severe, strict, and religious household, ruled over by his father, Gerard Kerr Olivier (1869–1939), a High Anglican priest whose father was Henry Arnold Olivier, a rector. Olivier took solace in the care of his mother, Agnes Louis (née Crookenden; 1871–1920, and herself the younger sister of High Anglican vicar George Pelham Crookenden), and was grief-stricken when she died (at 48) when he was only 12. Gerard Dacres "Dickie" (1904–1958) and Sybille (1901–1989) were his two older siblings. His uncle was Sydney Olivier, 1st Baron Olivier, a career civil servant and Fabian who ended up as a Governor of Jamaica and as Secretary of State for India in the first government of Ramsay MacDonald.

In 1918 his father became the new church minister at St. Mary's Church, Letchworth, Hertfordshire and the family lived at the Old Rectory, now part of St Christopher School. He was educated at the choir school of All Saints', Margaret Street, London. He played Brutus in his school's production of "Julius Caesar" at the age of 9, where Ellen Terry noted he was "already a great actor". At 13 he went to St Edward's School, Oxford again appearing in school drama productions: he was a "bold" Katherine in ''The Taming of the Shrew'' (selected for a schools' drama festival at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford) and Puck in ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', played "very well, to everyone's disgust", as Olivier noted in his diary. After his brother, Dickie, left for India, it was his father who decided that Laurence—or "Kim", as the family called him—would become an actor.

Early career

Olivier, 17 years old, attended the Central School of Speech and Drama, tutored by Elsie Fogerty. In 1926, he joined The Birmingham Repertory Company. At first he was given only minor tasks at the theatre, such as bell-ringing; however, his roles eventually became more significant, and in 1927 he was playing Hamlet and Macbeth. In 1928, he was cast to play Captain Stanhope in the Apollo theatre's first production of ''Journey's End'', a play which would expand his career. He always insisted that his acting was pure technique, and he was contemptuous of contemporaries who adopted method acting popularised by Lee Strasberg. Olivier married Jill Esmond, a rising young actress, on 25 July 1930; their only son, Simon Tarquin was born on 21 August 1936. Olivier was, however, from the beginning not happy in his first marriage. Repressed, as he came to see it, by his religious upbringing, Olivier recounted in his autobiography the disappointments of his wedding night, culminating in his failure to perform sexually. He temporarily renounced religion and soon came to resent his wife, though the marriage would last for ten years. Despite this supposed resentment, Olivier remained in congenial contact with Esmond until his death (as documented by their son Tarquin in his book ''My Father Laurence Olivier''), accompanying her to Tarquin’s wedding in January 1965.

He made his film debut in ''The Temporary Widow'' and played his first leading role on film in ''The Yellow Ticket''; however, he held the film in little regard. His stage breakthrough was in Noël Coward's ''Private Lives'' in 1930, followed by Shakespeare's ''Romeo and Juliet'' in 1935, alternating the roles of Romeo and Mercutio with John Gielgud. Olivier did not agree with Gielgud's style of acting Shakespeare and was irritated by the fact that Gielgud was getting better reviews than he was. His tension towards Gielgud came to a head in 1940, when Olivier approached London impresario Binkie Beaumont about financing him in a repertory of the four great Shakespearean tragedies of ''Hamlet'', ''Othello'', ''Macbeth'' and ''King Lear''. However, Beaumont would only agree to the plan if Olivier and Gielgud alternated in the roles of Hamlet/Laertes, Othello/Iago, Macbeth/Macduff, and Lear/Gloucester and that Gielgud direct at least one of the productions, a proposition Olivier bluntly declined.

In 1939, Olivier starred in a production of ''No Time for Comedy'', by S.N. Behrman in a Katharine Cornell with them both in leading roles. It was his first prominent role on Broadway.

The engagement as Romeo resulted in an invitation by Lilian Baylis to be the star at the Old Vic in 1937/38. Olivier's tenure had mixed artistic results, with his performances as Hamlet and Iago drawing a negative response from critics and his first attempt at Macbeth receiving mixed reviews. But his appearances as Henry V, Coriolanus, and Sir Toby Belch in ''Twelfth Night'' were triumphs, and his popularity with Old Vic audiences left Olivier as one of the major Shakespearean actors in England by the season's end.

Olivier continued to hold his scorn for film, and though he constantly worked for Alexander Korda, he still felt most at home on the stage. He made his first Shakespeare film, ''As You Like It'', with Paul Czinner, however, Olivier disliked it, thinking that Shakespeare did not work well on film.

Laurence Olivier saw Vivien Leigh in ''The Mask of Virtue'' in 1936, and a friendship developed after he congratulated her on her performance. While playing lovers in the film ''Fire Over England'' (1937), Olivier and Leigh developed a strong attraction, and after filming was completed, they began an affair. Leigh played Ophelia to Olivier's Hamlet in an Old Vic Theatre production, and Olivier later recalled an incident during which her mood rapidly changed as she was quietly preparing to go on-stage. Without apparent provocation, she began screaming at him, before suddenly becoming silent and staring into space. She was able to perform without mishap, and by the following day, she had returned to normal with no recollection of the event. It was the first time Olivier witnessed such behaviour from her.

The move to Hollywood

Olivier travelled to Hollywood to begin filming ''Wuthering Heights'' as Heathcliff. Leigh followed soon after, partly to be with him, but also to pursue her dream of playing Scarlett O'Hara in ''Gone with the Wind'' (1939). Olivier found the filming of ''Wuthering Heights'' to be difficult but it proved to be a turning point for him, both in his success in the United States, which had eluded him until then, but also in his attitude to film, which he had regarded as an inferior medium to theatre. The film's producer, Samuel Goldwyn was highly dissatisfied with Olivier's overstated performance after several weeks of filming and threatened to dismiss him. Olivier had grown to regard the film's female lead, Merle Oberon, as an amateur; however, when he stated his opinion to Goldwyn, he was reminded that Oberon was the star of the film and already a well-known name in American cinema. Olivier was told that he was dispensable and that he was required to be more tolerant of Oberon. Olivier recalled that he took Goldwyn's words to heart, but after some consideration realised that he was correct; he began to moderate his performance to fit the more intimate film medium and began to appreciate the possibilities it offered.

The film was a hit and Olivier was praised for his performance, with a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actor. Leigh won the Academy Award for Best Actress for ''Gone with the Wind'', and the couple suddenly found themselves to be major celebrities throughout the world. They wanted to marry, but at first both Leigh's husband and Olivier's wife at the time, Jill Esmond, refused to divorce them. Finally divorced, they were married in simple ceremony on 31 August 1940 with only Katharine Hepburn and Garson Kanin as witnesses. Olivier's American film career flourished with highly regarded performances in ''Rebecca'' and ''Pride and Prejudice'' (both 1940).

Olivier and Leigh starred in a theatre production of ''Romeo and Juliet'' in New York City. It was an extravagant production, but a commercial failure. Brooks Atkinson for ''The New York Times'' wrote, "Although Miss Leigh and Mr Olivier are handsome young people they hardly act their parts at all." The couple had invested almost their entire savings into the project, and its failure was a financial disaster for them.

They filmed ''That Hamilton Woman'' (1941) with Olivier as Horatio Nelson and Leigh as Emma Hamilton. With Britain engaged in World War II, the Oliviers returned to England, and in 1944 tuberculosis was diagnosed in Leigh's left lung, but after spending several weeks in hospital, she appeared to be cured. In the spring, she was filming ''Caesar and Cleopatra'' (1945) when she discovered she was pregnant, but suffered a miscarriage. She fell into a deep depression which reached its nadir when she turned on Olivier, verbally and physically attacking him until she fell to the floor sobbing. This was the first of many major breakdowns related to manic-depression, or bipolar mood disorder. Olivier came to recognise the symptoms of an impending episode—several days of hyperactivity followed by a period of depression and an explosive breakdown, after which Leigh would have no memory of the event, but would be acutely embarrassed and remorseful.

War

When World War II broke out, Olivier intended to join the Royal Air Force, but was still contractually obliged to other parties. He apparently disliked actors such as Charles Laughton and Cedric Hardwicke, who would hold charity cricket matches to help the war effort. Olivier took flying lessons, and racked up over 200 hours. After two years of service, he rose to the rank of Lieutenant Olivier RNVR, as a pilot in the Fleet Air Arm but was never called to see action.

In 1944 he and fellow actor Ralph Richardson were released from their naval commitments to form a new Old Vic Theatre Company at the New Theatre (later the Albery, now the Noël Coward Theatre) with a nightly repertory of three plays, initially Henrik Ibsen's ''Peer Gynt'', Bernard Shaw's ''Arms and the Man'' and Shakespeare's ''Richard III'', rehearsed over 10 weeks to the accompaniment of German V1 'doodlebugs'. The enterprise, with John Burrell as manager, eventually extended to five acclaimed seasons ending in 1949, after a prestigious 1948 tour of Australia and New Zealand.

The second New Theatre season opened with Olivier playing both Harry Hotspur and Justice Shallow to Richardson's Falstaff in ''Henry IV'', ''Parts 1 and 2'', in what is now seen as a high point of English classical theatre. The magic continued with one of Olivier's most famous endeavours, the double bill of Sophocles' ''Oedipus'' and Sheridan's ''The Critic'', with Olivier's transition from Greek tragedy to high comedy in a single evening becoming a thing of legend. He followed this triumph with one of his favourite roles, Astrov in ''Uncle Vanya''.

Kenneth Tynan was to write (in ''He Who Plays the King'', 1950): "The Old Vic was now at its height: the watershed had been reached and one of those rare moments in the theatre had arrived when drama paused, took stock of all that it had learnt since Irving, and then produced a monument in celebration. It is surprising when one considers it, that English acting should have reached up and seized a laurel crown in the middle of a war."

In 1944, Olivier filmed ''Henry V'', which—in view of the patriotic nature of the story of the English victory—was viewed as a psychological contribution to the British war effort.

In 1945 Olivier and Richardson were made honorary Lieutenants with ENSA, and did a six-week tour of Europe for the army, performing ''Arms and the Man'', ''Peer Gynt'' and ''Richard III'' for the troops, followed by a visit to the Comédie-Française in Paris, the first time a foreign company had been invited to play on its famous stage. When Olivier returned to London the populace noticed a change in him. Olivier's only explanation was: "Maybe it's just that I've got older."

A 2007 biography of Olivier, ''Lord Larry: The Secret Life of Laurence Olivier'' by Michael Munn, claims that Olivier was recruited to be an undercover agent inside the United States for the British government by film producer and MI5 operative Alexander Korda on the instructions of Winston Churchill. Munn's main source was Hollywood producer Jesse Lasky, who believed that "Larry...was drumming up support, and doing it with the British Government's sanction".

According to an article in ''The Telegraph'', David Niven, a good friend of Olivier's, is said to have told Michael Munn, "What was dangerous for his country was that (Olivier) could have been accused of being an agent. So this was a danger for Larry because he could have been arrested. And what was worse, if German agents had realised what Larry was doing, they would, I am sure, have gone after him."

Post-war years

In 1947 Olivier was made a Knight Bachelor and by 1948 he was on the Board of Directors for the Old Vic Theatre, and he and Leigh embarked on a tour of Australia and New Zealand to raise funds for the theatre. During their six-month tour, Olivier performed ''Richard III'' and also performed with Leigh in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's''The School for Scandal'' and Thornton Wilder's ''The Skin of Our Teeth''. The tour was an outstanding success, and although Leigh was plagued with insomnia and allowed her understudy to replace her for a week while she was ill, she generally withstood the demands placed upon her, with Olivier noting her ability to "charm the press". Members of the company later recalled several quarrels between the couple, with the most dramatic of these occurring in Christchurch when Leigh refused to go on stage. Olivier slapped her face, and Leigh slapped him in return and swore at him before she made her way to the stage. By the end of the tour, both were exhausted and ill, and Olivier told a journalist, "You may not know it, but you are talking to a couple of walking corpses." Later he would comment that he "lost Vivien" in Australia. The success of the tour encouraged the Oliviers to make their first West End appearance together, performing the same works with one addition, ''Antigone'', included at Leigh's insistence because she wished to play a role in a tragedy.

Leigh next sought the role of Blanche DuBois in the West End stage production of Tennessee Williams's ''A Streetcar Named Desire'', and was cast after Williams and the play's producer, Irene Mayer Selznick, saw her in ''The School for Scandal'' and ''Antigone'', and Olivier was contracted to direct. Leigh would go on to star as Blanche in the 1951 film version of ''A Streetcar Named Desire'', earning her second Academy Award for Best Actress.

In 1951, Leigh and Olivier performed two plays about Cleopatra, William Shakespeare's ''Antony and Cleopatra'' and George Bernard Shaw's ''Caesar and Cleopatra'', alternating the play each night and winning good reviews. They took the productions to New York, where they performed a season at the Ziegfeld Theatre into 1952. The reviews there were also mostly positive, but the critic Kenneth Tynan angered them when he suggested that Leigh's was a mediocre talent which forced Olivier to compromise his own. Tynan's diatribe almost precipitated another collapse; Leigh, terrified of failure and intent on achieving greatness, dwelt on his comments, while ignoring the positive reviews of other critics.

In January 1953, Leigh travelled to Ceylon to film ''Elephant Walk'' with Peter Finch. Shortly after filming commenced, she suffered a breakdown, and Paramount Pictures replaced her with Elizabeth Taylor. Olivier returned her to their home in England, where between periods of incoherence, Leigh told him that she was in love with Finch, and had been having an affair with him. She gradually recovered over a period of several months. As a result of this episode, many of the Oliviers' friends learned of her problems. David Niven said she had been "quite, quite mad", and in his diary, Noël Coward expressed surprise that "things had been bad and getting worse since 1948 or thereabouts."

Leigh recovered sufficiently to play ''The Sleeping Prince'' with Olivier in 1953, and in 1955 they performed a season at Stratford-upon-Avon in Shakespeare's ''Twelfth Night'', ''Macbeth'' and ''Titus Andronicus''. They played to capacity houses and attracted generally good reviews, Leigh's health seemingly stable. Noël Coward was enjoying success with the play ''South Sea Bubble'', with Leigh in the lead role, but she became pregnant and withdrew from the production. Several weeks later, she miscarried and entered a period of depression that lasted for months. She joined Olivier for a European tour with ''Titus Andronicus'', but the tour was marred by Leigh's frequent outbursts against Olivier and other members of the company. After their return to London, her former husband Leigh Holman, who continued to exert a strong influence over her, stayed with the Oliviers and helped calm her.

In 1958, considering her marriage to be over, Leigh began a relationship with the actor Jack Merivale, who knew of Leigh's medical condition and assured Olivier he would care for her. She achieved a success in 1959 with the Noël Coward comedy ''Look After Lulu'', with ''The Times'' critic describing her as "beautiful, delectably cool and matter of fact, she is mistress of every situation."

In December 1960 she and Olivier divorced, and Olivier married the actress Joan Plowright, with whom he later had three children: Richard Kerr (b. 1961), Tamsin Agnes Margaret (b. 1963), and Julie-Kate (b. 1966).

In his autobiography he discussed the years of problems they had experienced because of Leigh's illness, writing, "Throughout her possession by that uncannily evil monster, manic depression, with its deadly ever-tightening spirals, she retained her own individual canniness—an ability to disguise her true mental condition from almost all except me, for whom she could hardly be expected to take the trouble."

Shakespeare trilogy

After gaining widespread popularity in the film medium, Olivier was approached by several investors (namely Filippo Del Giudice, Alexander Korda and J. Arthur Rank), to create several Shakespearean films, based on stage productions of each respective play. Olivier tried his hand at directing, and as a result, created three highly successful films: ''Henry V'', ''Hamlet'', and ''Richard III''.

''Henry V''

During the Second World War, Olivier made his directorial debut with a film of Shakespeare's ''Henry V''. At first, he did not believe he was up to the task, instead trying to offer it to William Wyler, Carol Reed, and Terence Young. The film was shot in Ireland (because it was a neutral country), with the Irish plains serving for the fields of Agincourt and the Irish army providing extras for the battle scenes. During the shooting of one of the battle scenes, a horse collided with a camera that Olivier was operating. Olivier had had his eye to the viewfinder; and, when the horse crashed into his position, the camera smashed into him, cutting his lip and leaving a scar that would be visible in later roles.

The film opened to rave reviews; it was the first widely successful Shakespeare film, and was considered a work of art. The film received Oscar nominations for Best Picture and Best Actor, but the Academy, in Olivier's opinion, did not feel comfortable in giving out all of their major awards to a foreigner, so they gave him a special Honorary Award. Olivier disregarded the award as a "fob-off".

''Hamlet''

Olivier followed up on his success with an adaptation of ''Hamlet''. He had played this role more often than he had Henry, and was more familiar with the melancholy Dane. However, Olivier was not particularly comfortable with the introverted role of Hamlet, as opposed to the extroverts that he was famous for portraying. The running time of ''Hamlet'' (1948) was not allowed to exceed 153 minutes, and as a result Olivier cut almost half of Shakespeare's text, excising Rosencrantz and Guildernstern completely. He was severely criticised for doing so by purists, most notably Ethel Barrymore; Barrymore stated that the adaptation was not nearly as faithful to the original text as her brother John's stage production from 1922. Ironically, Ethel presented the Best Picture Oscar that year—and was visibly shaken when she read,"Hamlet".

The film became another resounding critical and commercial success in Britain and abroad, winning Olivier Best Picture and Best Actor at the 1948 Academy Awards. It was the first British film to win Best Picture, and Olivier's only Best Actor win, a category for which he would be nominated five more times before his death. Olivier also became the first person to direct himself in an Oscar-winning performance, a feat not repeated until Roberto Benigni directed himself to Best Actor of 1998 for ''Life Is Beautiful''. Also, Olivier remains the only actor to receive an Oscar for a Shakespearean role. Olivier, however, did not win the Best Director Oscar that year.

''Richard III''

Olivier's third major Shakespeare project as director and star was ''Richard III.'' Alexander Korda initially approached Olivier to reprise on film the role he had played to acclaim at the Old Vic in the 1940s. This role had been lauded as Olivier's greatest (rivalled only by his 1955 stage production of ''Macbeth'' and his performance as the music hall performer Archie Rice in ''The Entertainer''), and is arguably his greatest screen performance. During the filming of the battle scenes in Spain, one of the archers actually shot Olivier in the ankle, causing him to limp. Fortunately, the limp was required for the part, so Olivier had already been limping for the parts of the film already shot.

The film was critically well received (Olivier would be nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award for the fifth time). Korda sold the rights to the American television network NBC, and the film became the first to be aired on television and released in theatres simultaneously. Many deduce that from the enormous ratings that the NBC transmissions received, more people saw ''Richard III'' in that single showing than all the people who had seen it on stage in the play's history.

''The Entertainer''

After World War II, apart from his Shakespeare trilogy, Olivier had made only sporadic film appearances. In the second half of the 1950s, British theatre was changing with the rise of the "Angry Young Men". John Osborne, author of ''Look Back in Anger'', wrote a play for Olivier entitled ''The Entertainer'', centred on a washed-up stage comedian called Archie Rice, which opened at the Royal Court on 10 April 1957. As Olivier later stated, "I am Archie Rice. I am not Hamlet."

During rehearsals of ''The Entertainer'', Olivier met Joan Plowright, who took over the role of Jean Rice from Dorothy Tutin when Tony Richardson's Royal Court production transferred to the Palace Theatre in September 1957. Later, in 1960, Tony Richardson also directed the screen version with Olivier and Plowright repeating their stage roles. Olivier received his fifth Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for ''The Entertainer.''

Olivier married Plowright on St. Patrick's Day, 1961.

National Theatre

Olivier was one of the founders, and the inaugural director, of the National Theatre. He became first NT Director at the Old Vic before the South Bank building was constructed with his opening production of ''Hamlet'' in October 1963.

During his directorship he appeared in twelve plays (taking over roles in three) and directed nine, enjoying particularly remarkable personal successes for his performances in ''Othello'' (1964), ''The Dance of Death'' (1967) and ''Long Day's Journey into Night'' (1971). Reportedly, some felt that his tenure as the director of the NT was marred by his jealousy towards other performers when he manoeuvred to block famous names like John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson from appearing there, although young actors like Michael Gambon, Robert Lang, Maggie Smith, Sheila Reid, Christopher Timothy, Alan Bates, Frank Finlay, Derek Jacobi and Anthony Hopkins (both of whom understudied Olivier) made their names there during the period. Olivier's career at the National ended, in his view, in betrayal when the theatre's governorship decided to replace him with Peter Hall in 1973 without consulting him on the choice and not informing him of the decision until several months after it had been made.

''Othello''

Olivier underwent a transformation, requiring extensive study and heavy weightlifting, to get the physique needed for the Moor of Venice. It is said that he bellowed at a herd of cows for an hour to get the deep voice that was required. John Dexter's 1964 stage production of the play was filmed in 1965, securing Olivier his sixth Oscar nomination for Best Actor. The production was a huge public success as it also was with most of the critics. Franco Zeffirelli said of Olivier's acting: "It's an anthology of everything that has been discovered about acting in the past three centuries." Even so, it has not gone without criticism: in 1997, director Jonathan Miller called it "a condescending view of an Afro Caribbean person".

''Three Sisters''

Olivier's final film as director was the 1970 film ''Three Sisters'', based on the Chekhov play of the same name, and his 1967 National Theatre production. It was, in Olivier's opinion, his best work as director. The film was co-directed by John Sichel.

In addition, his most fondly remembered National Theatre performances at the Old Vic were as Astrov in his own production of Chekhov's ''Uncle Vanya'', seen first in 1962 at the Chichester Festival Theatre, of which he was the founding director; his Captain Brazen in William Gaskill's December 1963 staging of George Farquhar's ''The Recruiting Officer''; Shylock in Jonathan Miller's 1970 revival of ''The Merchant of Venice''; and his definitive portrayal of James Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's ''Long Day's Journey Into Night'', produced in December 1971 by Michael Blakemore. These last two were later restaged for television, and telecast both in England and in the United States.

He played a droll supporting role as the ancient Antonio in Franco Zeffirelli's 1973 production of Eduardo De Filippo's ''Saturday, Sunday, Monday'', with his wife Joan Plowright in the starring role of Rosa. His final stage appearance, on 21 March 1974, was as the fiery Glaswegian, John Tagg, in John Dexter's production of Trevor Griffiths's ''The Party''.

The only appearance he made on the stage of the new Olivier Theatre was at the royal opening of the new National Theatre building on 25 October 1976.

Later career

Olivier immersed himself even more completely in his work during his later years, reportedly as a way of distracting himself from the guilt he felt at having left his second wife Vivien Leigh. He began appearing more frequently in films, usually in character parts rather than the leading romantic roles of his early career, and received Academy Award nominations for ''Sleuth'' (1972), ''Marathon Man'' (1976; Supporting Actor) and ''The Boys from Brazil'' (1978). Having been recently forced out of his role as director of the Royal National Theatre, he worried that his family would not be sufficiently provided for in the event of his death, and consequently chose to do many of his later TV special and film appearances on a "pay cheque" basis. He later freely admitted that he was not proud of most of these credits, and noted that he particularly despised the 1982 film ''Inchon'', in which he played the role of General Douglas MacArthur.

In 1966, Olivier portrayed the Mahdi (Mahommed Ahmed), opposite Charlton Heston as General Gordon in the film ''Khartoum''. The next year, he underwent radiation treatment for prostate cancer and was also hospitalised with pneumonia. For the remainder of his life, he would suffer from many different health problems, including bronchitis, amnesia and pleurisy. In 1974, at age 67, he was found to have dermatomyositis, a degenerative muscle disorder, and nearly died the following year, but he battled through the next decade.

In 1968, he starred as Piotr Ilyich Kamenev, the Soviet Premier, in the movie version of ''The Shoes of the Fisherman'' along with Anthony Quinn, Leo McKern, John Gielgud, and Oskar Werner. The movie was nominated for two Academy awards, and was produced during the height of the Cold War. One of Olivier's enduring achievements involved neither stage nor screen. From October 1973 in the UK, Thames Television began to transmit ''The World at War'', a 26-part documentary on the Second World War, narrated by Olivier.

His last decade did contain three notable roles for television. In 1981 he appeared in ''Brideshead Revisited'', the final episode of which revolved entirely around Olivier's character Lord Marchmain, patriarch of the Flyte family, as he came home to die. The next year Olivier was cast in the much-praised television adaptation of John Mortimer's stage play ''A Voyage Round My Father'', in the role of Clifford Mortimer, the author's blind father. In 1975 he appeared as an aging British barrister, opposite Katharine Hepburn, in a British TV production of ''Love Among the Ruins''. Finally, in 1983 Olivier played his last great Shakespearean role, King Lear, for Granada Television. For ''Voyage'', Olivier received a BAFTA nomination, but for the final episode of ''Brideshead Revisited'' and for King Lear he won Emmys in the Best Supporting Actor and Best Actor categories, respectively.

When presenting the Best Picture Oscar at the Academy Awards for 1984 (held 25 March 1985), he absent-mindedly presented it by simply stepping up to the microphone and saying ''Amadeus''. He had grown forgetful, and had forgotten to read out the nominees first.

One of Olivier's last feature films was ''Wild Geese II'' (1985), in which, aged 77, he played Rudolf Hess in the sequel to ''The Wild Geese'' (1978). According to the biography ''Olivier'' by Francis Becket (Haus Publishing, 2005), Hess's son Wolf Rüdiger Hess said Olivier's portrayal of his father was "uncannily accurate". In 1986, Olivier appeared as the pre-filmed holographic narrator of the West End production of the multimedia Dave Clark rock musical ''Time''.

On 31 May 1987 the National Theatre put on a 80th birthday tribute pageant, with Olivier, and his family in attendance. It was held in the National’s Olivier theatre with Alec McCowen as Richard Burbage, Edward Petherbridge as David Garrick, Ben Kingsley as Edmund Kean and Anthony Sher as Henry Irving. Peter Hall as Shakespeare, Peggy Ashcroft as Lillian Baylis, Maureen Lipman, Albert Finney, Julia McKenzie and Imelda Staunton.

In 1988 Olivier gave his final performance, aged 81, as a wheelchair-bound old soldier in Derek Jarman's film ''War Requiem'' (1989).

Family and death

Olivier died at his home in Steyning, West Sussex, England, from renal failure on 11 July 1989. He was survived by his son Tarquin from his first marriage, as well as his wife Joan Plowright and their three children. He was cremated and his ashes interred in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey, London. Olivier is one of only a few actors, along with David Garrick, Henry Irving, Ben Jonson and Sybil Thorndike to have been accorded this honour. Olivier is buried alongside some of the people he portrayed in theatre and film, for example King Henry V, General John Burgoyne and Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding.

Fifteen years after his death, Olivier once again received star billing in a film. Through the use of computer graphics, footage of him as a young man was integrated into the 2004 film ''Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow'' in which Olivier "played" the villain.

Sexuality

Since Olivier's death, multiple biographers have produced books about him, several of which include the claim that Olivier was bisexual. Biographer Donald Spoto claimed that Danny Kaye and Olivier were lovers. Joan Plowright, Olivier's widow, denies the affair with Kaye in her memoir. Terry Coleman's authorised biography of Olivier suggests a relationship between Olivier and an older actor, Henry Ainley, based on correspondence from Ainley to Olivier although the book disputes that there is any evidence linking Olivier sexually to Kaye. Olivier's son Tarquin disputed these rumours as 'unforgivable garbage' and sought to suppress them.

In her 2001 autobiography, Joan Plowright wrote, "Larry tended to shower almost everyone he knew with endearments and demonstrative terms of address. In the same way as the macho Sean Kenny had to put up with ‘Shawnie, darling’, and our son Richard had to endure 'Dickie-Wickie' for a short time, there is a published letter addressing his supposed arch-enemy, Peter Hall, as 'My dear Peterkins'. And Larry could say, 'I adored Danny Kaye', in exactly the same way as he said, 'I adored old Ralphie', without anyone suspecting Ralph Richardson of harbouring carnal desires for his own sex. — No man, alive or dead, has ever claimed to have slept with Larry, though the kiss-and-tell merchants of the female sex have tumbled over themselves to boast of a night or two, here or there."

In August 2006, on the radio program ''Desert Island Discs'', Plowright responded to the allegations of Olivier's mistresses and homosexual affairs, and if Plowright felt the need to defend her husband's memory by stating:

And then, referring separately to Olivier's battle with his "demons" which reached a peak in the long years of illness leading up to his death Plowright stated that:

Honours

Olivier was created a Knight Bachelor on 12 June 1947 in the King's Birthday Honours, and created a life peer on 13 June 1970 in the Queen's Birthday Honours as Baron Olivier, of Brighton in the County of Sussex, the first actor to be accorded this distinction. He was admitted to the Order of Merit in 1981. The Laurence Olivier Awards, organised by The Society of London Theatre, were renamed in his honour in 1984.

Though he was a knight, a life peer, and one of the most respected personalities in the industry, Olivier insisted he be addressed as "Larry", which he made clear he preferred to "Sir Laurence" or "Lord Olivier".

Centenary

On 22 May 2007, to mark the centenary of Olivier's birth, Network Media and ITV released DVD libraries of his work: Network Media—''The Laurence Olivier Centenary Collection'' (10 discs):

''Henry V'' (1944)

''Richard III'' (1955)

''King Lear'' (1983)

''The Ebony Tower'' (1984)

''Long Day's Journey Into Night'' (1973)

''The Merchant of Venice'' (1973)

''Laurence Olivier Presents'' (complete)

''The South Bank Show: Laurence Olivier, A Life'' (1982) featuring interviews with Olivier, John Gielgud and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.

ITV—''Laurence Olivier Shakespeare Collection'' (7 discs):

''King Lear'' (1983)

''Henry V'' (1944)

''Hamlet'' (1948)

''As You Like It'' (1936)

''Richard III'' (1955)

''The Merchant of Venice'' (1973)

ITV – ''The Laurence Olivier "Icon" Collection'' (10 discs):

''Henry V'' (1944)

''Richard III'' (1955)

''Hamlet'' (1948)

''21 Days'' (1940)

''That Hamilton Woman'' (1941)

''49th Parallel'' (1941)

''The Demi-Paradise'' (1943)

''The Boys from Brazil'' (1978)

''A Little Romance'' (1979)

''The Jazz Singer'' (1980)

''Clash of the Titans'' (1981 film)

Both DVD sets include a Michael Parkinson interview with Olivier from the 1970s.

In September 2007, the National Theatre marked the centenary of his birth with a Centenary Celebration. This told the story of Olivier's working life through film and stage extracts, letters, reminiscence and readings; the participants included Eileen Atkins, Claire Bloom, Anna Carteret, Derek Jacobi, Anne-Marie Duff, Lindsay Duncan, Charles Kay, Clive Merrison, Edward Petherbridge, Joan Plowright, Ronald Pickup, Michael Pennington, Rory Kinnear, Samuel West, Antony Sher, Billie Whitelaw and Richard Attenborough. It was directed by Nicholas Hytner. Prior to the evening celebration, a new statue of Olivier as Hamlet, created by the sculptor Angela Conner and funded by private subscription, was unveiled on the South Bank, next to the National's Theatre Square.

Awards and nominations

Theatre credits and filmography

See also

AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars

References

Works cited

Further reading

Hall, Lyn, editor (1989). ''Olivier at Work: The National Years''. Nick Hern Books/National Theatre. ISBN 1-85459-037-5

External links

}}

Category:1907 births Category:1989 deaths Category:20th-century actors Category:Academy Honorary Award recipients Category:Actors awarded British knighthoods Category:Alumni of the Central School of Speech and Drama Category:Artistic directors Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor Category:Best Actor Academy Award winners Category:Best British Actor BAFTA Award winners Category:Best Drama Actor Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Burials at Westminster Abbey Category:Deaths from renal failure Category:Emmy Award winners Category:English Anglicans Category:English film actors Category:English film directors Category:English stage actors Category:English television actors Category:English theatre directors Category:Fleet Air Arm aviators Category:Knights Bachelor Category:Bisexual actors Category:Life peers Category:Members of the Order of Merit Category:Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Category:Old St Edwards Category:People from Dorking Category:Royal National Theatre Company members Category:Royal Navy personnel of World War II Category:Shakespearean actors

an:Laurence Olivier zh-min-nan:Laurence Olivier bg:Лорънс Оливие ca:Laurence Olivier cs:Laurence Olivier cy:Laurence Olivier da:Laurence Olivier de:Laurence Olivier el:Λόρενς Ολίβιε es:Laurence Olivier eo:Laurence Olivier eu:Laurence Olivier fa:لارنس الیویه fr:Laurence Olivier ga:Laurence Olivier gd:Laurence Olivier ko:로런스 올리비에 hr:Laurence Olivier id:Laurence Olivier it:Laurence Olivier he:לורנס אוליבייה la:Laurentius Olivier hu:Laurence Olivier nl:Laurence Olivier ja:ローレンス・オリヴィエ no:Laurence Olivier pl:Laurence Olivier pt:Laurence Olivier ro:Laurence Olivier ru:Оливье, Лоуренс simple:Laurence Olivier sk:Laurence Olivier sr:Лоренс Оливије sh:Laurence Olivier fi:Laurence Olivier sv:Laurence Olivier tl:Laurence Olivier th:ลอเรนซ์ โอลิเวียร์ tr:Laurence Olivier uk:Лоуренс Олів'є vi:Laurence Olivier yo:Laurence Olivier zh:劳伦斯·奥利维尔

Coordinates	55°45′06″N37°37′04″N
name	Binnie Barnes
birth name	Gittel Enoyce Barnes
birth date	May 25, 1903
birth place	Islington, London, England
death date	July 27, 1998
death place	Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
othername	Gertrude Maude Barnes
years active	1923–73
occupation	Actress
spouse	(his death) 3 children }}

Gittel Enoyce "Binnie" Barnes (25 May 1903 – 27 July 1998), later known as Gertrude Maude Barnes, was an English actress. She was born in Islington to a Jewish father and an Italian mother and was brought up Jewish, although she converted to Catholicism later in life.

She began her acting career in films in 1923, appearing in a short film made by Lee De Forest in his Phonofilm sound-on-film process. Her film career continued in Great Britain, then later in Hollywood, until 1973, when she appeared in the comedy ''40 Carats''. This was her last acting role. Her most famous film may have been ''The Private Life of Henry VIII'' (1933), starring Charles Laughton in the title role, with Barnes as Katherine Howard, Henry's misfortunate fifth wife.

Family

She was married, secondly, to film producer Mike Frankovich, a Roman Catholic, for whom she converted to Catholicism and later became a naturalized United States citizen. The couple adopted three children.

Death

She died of natural causes at the age of 95 in Beverly Hills, California, in 1998, survived by her three children, including production manager, Mike Frankovich, Jr. and producer Peter Frankovich. She was interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale.

Partial filmography

''Down Our Street'' (1932)

''Murder at Covent Garden'' (1932)

''Counsel's Opinion'' (1933)

''The Private Life of Henry VIII'' (1933)

''The Silver Spoon'' (1934)

''The Private Life of Don Juan'' (1934)

''Diamond Jim'' (1935)

''Rendezvous'' (1935)

''La Fiesta de Santa Barbara'' (1935)

''The Last of the Mohicans'' (1936)

''Three Smart Girls'' (1936)

''Small Town Girl'' (1936)

''Broadway Melody of 1938'' (1938)

''The Divorce of Lady X'' (1938)

''The Adventures of Marco Polo'' (1938)

''Tropic Holiday'' (1938)

''The Three Musketeers'' (1939)

''Wife, Husband and Friend'' (1939)

''Man About Town'' (1939)

''Frontier Marshal'' (1939)

'''Til We Meet Again'' (1940)

''Skylark'' (1941)

''In Old California'' (1942)

''The Man from Down Under'' (1943)

''Barbary Coast Gent'' (1944)

''It's in the Bag'' (1945)

''The Spanish Main'' (1945)

''The Time of Their Lives'' (1946)

''If Winter Comes'' (1947)

''Decameron Nights'' (1953)

''Malaga'' (1954)

''The Trouble with Angels'' (1966)

''Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows'' (1969)

''40 Carats'' (1973)

References

External links

Photographs and literature

Category:1903 births Category:1998 deaths Category:American film actors Category:American television actors Category:English film actors Category:English television actors Category:English emigrants to the United States Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Category:People from Islington Category:20th-century actors Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism from Judaism Category:Disease-related deaths in California

de:Binnie Barnes es:Binnie Barnes fr:Binnie Barnes it:Binnie Barnes ru:Бинни Барнс

Coordinates	55°45′06″N37°37′04″N
name	Dadasaheb Phalke
birth date	April 30, 1870
death date	February 16, 1944 (aged 73)
filmfareawards	}}

Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, popularly known as Dadasaheb Phalke (Marathi: दादासाहेब फाळके ) (30 April 1870 - 16 February 1944) was an Indian producer-director-screenwriter, known as ''the father of Indian cinema''. Starting with his debut film, ''Raja Harishchandra'' 1913, now known as India's first full-length feature, he made 95 movies and 26 short films in his career span of 19 years, till 1937, including his most noted works: Mohini Bhasmasur (1913), Satyavan Savitri (1914), Lanka Dahan (1917), Shri Krishna Janma (1918) and Kaliya Mardan (1919).

The Dadasaheb Phalke Award for lifetime contribution to cinema, was instituted in his honor, by Government of India in 1969, and is the most prestigious and coveted award in Indian Cinema.

Biography

Early life and education

Dhundiraj Govind Phalke was born on 30 April 1870 at Trimbakeshwar, 30 km from Nasik, Maharashtra, India, where his father was an accomplished Sanskrit scholar.

He joined Sir J. J. School of Art, Mumbai in 1885. After passing from J.J. School in 1890, Phalke went to the Kala Bhavan in Baroda, where he studied sculpture, engineering, drawing, painting and photography.

Early career

He began his career as a small town photographer in Godhra but had to leave business after the death of his first wife and child in an outbreak of the bubonic plague. He soon met the German magician Carl Hertz, one of the 40 magicians employed by the Lumiere Brothers.

Soon after, he had the opportunity to work with the Archeological Survey of India as a draftsman. However, restless with his job and its constraints, he turned to the business of printing. He specialized in lithography and oleograph, and worked for painter Raja Ravi Varma. Phalke later started his own printing press, made his first trip abroad to Germany, to learn about the latest technology and machinery.

Film

However, following a dispute with his partners about the running of the press, he gave up printing and turned his attention to moving pictures, after watching a silent film, ''The Life of Christ'' and envisioning Indian gods on the screen. Phalke made his first film, ''Raja Harishchandra'', in 1912; it was first shown publicly on 3 May 1913 at Mumbai's Coronation Cinema, effectively marking the beginning of the Indian film industry. Around one year before, Ramchandra Gopal (known as Dadasaheb Torne) had filmed a stage drama called ''Pundalik'' and shown it in the same theater. However, the credit for making the first Indian feature film is attributed to Dadasaheb Phalke.

Once again, Phalke proved successful in his new art, and proceeded to make several silent films, shorts, documentary feature, educational, comic, tapping all the potential of this new medium. However, film, having proved its financial viability, soon attracted businessmen who favored money over aesthetics.

Hindustan Films

Phalke formed a film company, Hindustan Films in partnership with five businessmen from Mumbai, in the hope that by having the financial aspect of his profession handled by experts in the field, he would be free to pursue the creative aspect. He set up a model studio and trained technicians, actors, but very soon, he ran into insurmountable problems with his partners. In 1920, Phalke resigned from Hindustan company, made his first announcement of retirement from cinema, and he wrote 'Rangbhoomi', an acclaimed play. Lacking his imaginative genius, the Hindustan company ran into deep financial loss, and he was finally persuaded to return. However, Phalke felt constrained by the business, and, after directing a few films for the company, he withdrew.

Sound film

But then the times changed and Phalke fell victim to the emerging technology of sound film. Unable to cope with the talkies, the man who had fathered the Indian film industry became obsolete. His last silent movie ''“Setubandhan”'' was released in 1932, which later released by dubbing voice. During 1936-38, he produced his last film ''Gangavataran'' (1937), before retiring to Nashik, where he died on 16 February 1944.

Selected filmography

''Raja Harishchandra'' (1913)

''Shri Krishna Janma'' (1918)

''Kaliya Mardan'' (1919)

''Setu Bandhan'' (1932)

''Gangavataran'' (1937)

In popular culture

In 2009, Marathi film ''Harishchandrachi Factory'', depicting the struggle of Dadasaheb Phalke in making ''Raja Harishchandra'' in 1913, India's first feature film, directed by theater-veteran Paresh Mokashi was selected as India's official entry to Academy Award in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

Further reading

''Dadasaheb Phalke, the Father of Indian Cinema'', by Bapu Vatave, National Book Trust, 2004. ISBN 81-237-4319-X.

References

External links

List of Silent films made in India

Dadasaheb Phalke @ SPICE

Website on Dada Saheb Phalke

Category:Indian film directors Category:Hindi-language film directors Category:Marathi film directors Category:Marathi cinema Category:Indian film producers Category:1870 births Category:1944 deaths Category:Sir J. J. School of Art alumni Category:People from Vadodara Category:People from Nashik

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Coordinates	55°45′06″N37°37′04″N
birth name	Andrew Russell Garfield
occupation	Actor
birth date	August 20, 1983
birth place	Los Angeles
years active	2004–present }}

Andrew Russell Garfield (born August 20, 1983) is an American-English actor who has appeared in radio, theatre, film, and television. His early roles include the films ''Lions for Lambs'', ''The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus'', and ''Boy A'', which garnered him the 2007 BAFTA Television Award for "Best Actor".

Garfield achieved wider recognition and critical acclaim for his role in the 2010 Academy Award-winning film ''The Social Network'', for which he received two BAFTA nominations and a Golden Globe nomination. He has been cast as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the franchise's reboot, ''The Amazing Spider-Man''. Garfield is a dual citizen of the U.S. and the UK

Early life

Garfield was born in Los Angeles, to an English mother from Essex and an American father from California. His family moved to England when he was three years old. Garfield is Jewish and was raised in a "middle class home". His parents ran a small interior design business; his father, Richard, later became head coach of the Guildford City Swimming Club, and his mother is a teaching assistant at a nursery school. He also has an older brother who is a doctor. Garfield was raised in Surrey, England and was a gymnast during his early years. He attended Priory Preparatory School in Banstead and later City of London Freemen's School in nearby Ashtead, before training at the Central School of Speech and Drama, from which he graduated in 2004.

Career

Garfield started taking acting classes in Guildford when he was fifteen, and appeared in a youth theatre production of ''Bugsy Malone''. He also joined a small youth theatre workshop group in Epsom, and began working primarily as a stage actor. In 2004, he won a MEN Theatre Award for his performance in ''Kes'' at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre (where he also played Romeo the year after), and won the outstanding newcomer award at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2006.

Garfield made his British television debut in 2005, appearing in the Channel 4 teenage drama ''Sugar Rush''. In October 2007, he was named one of ''Variety'''s "10 Actors to Watch", and in November 2007, appeared in the ensemble drama ''Lions for Lambs'', playing an American university student. Also that month, he starred in the Channel 4 drama ''Boy A'', for which he won the 2008 BAFTA for Best Actor. In 2008, he had a minor role in the film ''The Other Boleyn Girl'', and was named one of the shooting stars at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Garfield appeared in ''Vogue'''s December 2009 issue, modeling alongside Lily Cole, in a photographed retelling of ''Hansel and Gretel''. Also that year, Garfield had a supporting role in the Terry Gilliam film ''The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus'' and the ''Red Riding'' television trilogy. In 2010 he co-starred in the British film based on the novel by Japanese-born British author Kazuo Ishiguro, ''Never Let Me Go'', as well as in David Fincher's ''The Social Network'', alongside Brenda Song, Justin Timberlake and Jesse Eisenberg, about the founders of Facebook. For the film, he received two BAFTA award nominations (for "Best Actor in a Supporting Role" and the "BAFTA Rising Star"). On December 14, 2010, ''The Social Network'' received six nominations for the 68th annual Golden Globe Awards, four of which it won, including Best Motion Picture-Drama, on January 16, 2011. Garfield was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role.

On August 5, 2010, Garfield appeared briefly as Terry Gilliam's assistant in the Arcade Fire webcast pre-show at Madison Square Garden. On September 12, 2010, he co-presented at the 2010 MTV VMAs with Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Timberlake.

Garfield has been chosen to play Spider-Man opposite Emma Stone in Marc Webb's Spider-Man reboot. Filming began in December 2010, and the film is scheduled for a July 3, 2012 release date.

Filmography

Title	Year	Role	Notes
''Lions for Lambs''	2007	Todd Hayes
! scope="row"	2007	Jack Burridge / Eric Wilson	British Academy Television Award for Best Actor
''''	2008	Francis Weston	Credit only
''''	2009	Anton
! scope="row"	2010	Tommy
''''	2010	Eduardo Saverin	}}Nominated – Teen Choice Awards for Choice Movie Scene Stealer Male
! scope="row"	2010	Sheldon	Short film
''''	2012		''Post Production''

Television credits

{|class="wikitable" border="2" cellpadding="4" background: #f9f9f9; |- align="center" ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Title ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes |- |rowspan="2"| 2005 | ''Swinging'' |Various roles | |- | ''Sugar Rush'' |Tom | |- |2006 | ''Simon Schama's Power of Art: Caravaggio'' |Boy | |- |rowspan="4"| 2007 | ''Doctor Who'' |Frank | Episode: "Daleks in Manhattan"Episode: "Evolution of the Daleks" |- | ''Freezing'' |Kit | |- | ''Bash'' | | |- | ''Trial & Retribution XI: Closure'' |Martin Douglas | |- | 2009 | ''Red Riding'' |Eddie Dunford | |}

Stage credits

{|class="wikitable" border="2" cellpadding="4" background: #f9f9f9; |- align="center" ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Title ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes |- |rowspan="2"| 2004 | ''Mercy'' |Deccy |Soho Theatre |- | ''Kes'' |Billy |Manchester Royal Exchange |- |rowspan="2"| 2005 | ''The Laramie Project'' |various characters |Sound Theatre |- | ''Romeo & Juliet'' |Romeo |Manchester Royal Exchange |- |rowspan="3"| 2006 | ''Beautiful Thing'' |Jamie |Sound Theatre |- | ''Burn / Chatroom / Citizenship'' |Birdman/Jim/Stephen |Royal National Theatre |- | ''The Overwhelming'' |Geoffrey |UK tour |- |2012 | ''Death of a Salesman'' |Biff Loman |Broadway Revival |}

Radio credits

{|class="wikitable" border="2" cellpadding="4" background: #f9f9f9; |- align="center" ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Title ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes |- |rowspan="2"| 2005 | ''Church'' |Robert | |- | ''Caesar'' |Antinous |radio series; guest role |}

References

External links

Category:1983 births Category:Actors from Los Angeles, California Category:Alumni of the Central School of Speech and Drama Category:American film actors Category:American Jews Category:American male models Category:American people of English descent Category:American radio actors Category:American stage actors Category:American television actors Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:English film actors Category:English gymnasts Category:English Jews Category:English male models Category:English radio actors Category:English stage actors Category:English television actors Category:Jewish actors Category:Living people Category:Royal National Theatre Company members Category:Shakespearean actors Category:People educated at City of London Freemen's School

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