Laurence Olivier was an Oscar-winning thespian best remembered for his psychologically intense Shakespeare adaptations, both as an actor and a director. Yet his filmography extends well past the Bard’s work. Let’s take a look back at 15 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.
Born in 1907 in Surrey, England, Olivier first came to prominence on the British stage. A series of acclaimed theatrical performances, most notably in Noel Coward‘s “Private Lives,” caught the attention of filmmakers both in the UK and the US.
He earned his first Oscar nomination as Best Actor for William Wyler‘s “Wuthering Heights” (1939), competing the very next year for Alfred Hitchcock‘s “Rebecca” (1940). Having firmly established himself as a formidable talent in front of the camera, he stepped behind it to great success with “Henry V” (1944, released in the US in 1946), the first of three films he would direct and star in based on the works of William Shakespeare. The Academy rewarded him with an Honorary Oscar for his achievement, and he contended once again in Best Actor.
Olivier hit the Oscar jackpot with his second Shakespeare adaptation, “Hamlet” (1948), which became the first British film to win Best Picture. He took home the Best Actor prize for his moody performance as the gloomy Prince of Denmark, and competed in Best Director.
Olivier would return to the Oscar race six more times: five in lead (“Richard III” in 1956, “The Entertainer” in 1960, “Othello” in 1965, “Sleuth” in 1972, and “The Boys from Brazil” in 1978), once in supporting (“Marathon Man” in 1976). He was given a second Honorary award for his career in 1979.
On the TV side, Olivier won Emmys for his performances in “The Moon and Sixpence” (1959), “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” (1973), “Love Among the Ruins” (1975), “Brideshead Revisited” (1981), and “King Lear” (1983). He earned a Tony nomination for the original stage production of “The Entertainer” in 1958.
Olivier won BAFTAs for his performances in “Richard III” and “Oh! What a Lovely War” (1969) and received their Academy Fellowship in 1976. He won Golden Globes for “Hamlet” and “Marathon Man,” as well as the Cecil B. DeMille award in 1983.
Tour our photo gallery of Olivier’s 15 greatest films, including some of the titles listed above, as well as “49th Parallel” (1941), “That Hamilton Woman” (1941), “Spartacus” (1960) and more.
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15. THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL (1978)
Image Credit: ITV/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner. Screenplay by Heywood Gould, based on the novel by Ira Levin. Starring Gregory Peck, Laurence Olivier, James Mason, Uta Hagen, Steve Guttenberg, Denholm Elliott, Rosemary Harris.
“The Boys from Brazil” is a first-rate potboiler, a melodramatic thriller that takes its inspiration from some real life monsters. Olivier plays Ezra Lieberman, an aging Nazi hunter who stumbles upon a plot to reignite the Third Reich. Gregory Peck is Dr. Joseph Mengele, the notoriously demented Auschwitz doctor who conducted horrific experiments on concentration camp Jews. The actors chew the scenery like it’s candy, including James Mason as Mengele’s principle contact, Eduard Seibert. The film brought Olivier an Oscar nomination as Best Actor (the last of his career), which he lost to Jon Voight (“Coming Home”). He did receive an Honorary Award that year for his life’s work, so at least he didn’t go home completely empty-handed.
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14. OTHELLO (1965)
Image Credit: Br Itishhome/Warner Bros/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Stuart Burge. Based on the play by William Shakespeare. Starring Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, Joyce Redman, Frank Finlay, Derek Jacobi, Michael Gambon.
One has to wonder what exactly Olivier was thinking when he made “Othello.” Sure, there was a long tradition of white actors donning blackface to play the tortured Moor at the heart of Shakespeare’s classic play. But even by 1965, after which the Civil Rights Act had been passed and Sidney Poitier had won an Oscar, attitudes had changed so much that watching Olivier in the role felt like a modern day minstrel show. He nonetheless earned an Oscar nomination as Best Actor for playing the famed warrior who is driven mad with jealously when his disloyal lieutenant (Frank Finlay) convinces him that his wife (Maggie Smith) is unfaithful. (He lost to Lee Marvin in “Cat Ballou”).
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13. THE DEVIL’S DISCIPLES (1959)
Image Credit: Hecht-Hill-Lancaster/Bryna/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Guy Hamilton. Screenplay by John Dighton and Roland Kibbee, based on the play by George Bernard Shaw. Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Janette Scott, Eva Le Gallienne, Harry Andrews, Basil Sidney, George Rose, Neil McCallum, Mervyn Johns, David Horne.
George Bernard Shaw’s satirical play provides Olivier, Burt Lancaster, and Kirk Douglas with some of their juiciest roles. Set in a small New England town during the Revolutionary War, “The Devil’s Disciples” centers on a roguish apostate (Douglas) whose father is hanged by the British for being a rebel. He steals the body to give it a proper burial, much to the dismay of a peaceful reverend (Lancaster) who gets called into action. Olivier plays General John Burgoyne, a sly, cutting English officer (and real life figure in the American Revolution). The role brought him a BAFTA nomination, although the Academy ignored him.
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12. THE ENTERTAINER (1960)
Image Credit: Woodfall/British Lion/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Tony Richardson. Screenplay by John Osborne and Nigel Kneale, based on the play by Osborne. Starring Laurence Olivier, Brenda de Banzie, Roger Livesey, Joan Plowright, Daniel Massey.
Olivier recreates his Tony-nominated stage role in this grim, penetrating character study about an aging music hall performer who refuses to acknowledge his own failure as an artist. A third-rate talent his entire life, he rails against his family and friends, hoping to cling to the spotlight for as long as he can. But there’s nothing third-rate about Olivier’s performance, which is filled with all the pain and anguish of a man who failed to live up to his own vision of himself. The film version brought him yet another Oscar nomination as Best Actor, which he lost to Burt Lancaster (“Elmer Gantry”).
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11. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (1940)
Image Credit: Mgm/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Robert Z. Leonard. Screenplay by Aldous Huxley and Jane Murfin, based on the novel by Jane Austen and the stage adaptation by Helen Jerome. Starring Greer Garson, Laurence Olivier, Mary Boland, Edna May Oliver, Maureen O’Sullivan, Ann Rutherford, Frieda Inescort, Bruce Lester.
“Pride and Prejudice” is emblematic of the kinds of high end literary adaptations MGM would churn out multiple times a year, complete with grand sets, glamorous costumes, and English accents. Based on the novel by Jane Austin (as well as a famous stage version), it centers on the Bennetts, an English family of landed gentry with five unmarried daughters. Mrs. Bennett (Mary Boland) is eager to marry off her eldest children, Jane (Maureen O’Sullivan) and Elizabeth (Greer Garson), to the wealthy bachelors Mr. Bingley (Bruce Lester) and Mr. Darcy (Olivier). Yet, as the title indicates, pride and prejudice may threaten their happy unions. An Oscar winner for its superb art direction.
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10. THAT HAMILTON WOMAN (1941)
Image Credit: Korda/United Artists/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Alexander Korda. Written by Walter Reisch and R. C. Sherriff. Starring Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier, Alan Mowbray, Sara Allgood, Gladys Cooper, Henry Wilcoxon, Halliwell Hobbes.
Olivier only made three films with his wife, Vivien Leigh, none better than this exquisite romantic drama from Alexander Korda. Set during the Napoleonic Wars, “That Hamilton Woman” recounts the true story of British Royal Navy officer Lord Horatio Nelson’s (Olivier) scandalous affair with the beautiful dance hall girl Emma Lady Hamilton (Leigh). It’s almost heartbreaking to see this real life couple so young and in love, considering the tragic fate that would befall them both on-camera and off. Incidentally, this lavish production was Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s favorite movie (he apparently viewed it over 80 times!).
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9. 49TH PARALLEL (1941)
Image Credit: ITV/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Michael Powell. Story and screenplay Emeric Pressburger, scenario by Rodney Ackland and Pressburger. Starring Leslie Howard, Laurence Olivier, Raymond Massey, Anton Walbrook, Eric Portman.
Originally conceived as anti-Nazi propaganda for the British war effort, this early effort from the filmmaking duo of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger centers on a WWII U-boat crew who are stranded in Canada. Desperate to avoid internment, they make their way to the still-neutral United States border, with their numbers slowly dwindling as they’re either captured or killed. Olivier costars as Johnnie, a French-Canadian trapper who is among the members. A rousing entertainment that is at turns thrilling, funny, and moving. Released in the US in 1942, it earned three Oscar nominations including Best Picture, winning for Pressburger’s original story.
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8. SLEUTH (1972)
Image Credit: 20th Century Fox/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Screenplay by Anthony Shaffer, based on his play. Starring Laurence Olivier, Michael Caine, Alec Cawthorne.
The plot of “Sleuth” unfolds in such a delightfully surprising way that it would be downright criminal to reveal anything. Based on Anthony Shaffer’s long-running play, the film centers on a British mystery writer (Olivier) who invites his wife’s lover (Michael Caine) to his vast mansion for a series of games that could turn deadly. Rather than opening the drama up, director Joseph L. Mankiewicz uses the intimate nature of the piece to great effect. Mankiewicz, Olivier and Caine earned Oscar nominations, with the two stars splitting the vote in Best Actor (the prize went to Marlon Brando in “The Godfather”). Caine later took on the Olivier role in Kenneth Branagh’s 2007 remake costarring Jude Law.
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7. WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1939)
Image Credit: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock Directed by William Wyler. Screenplay by Charles MacArthur and Ben Hecht, based on the novel by Emily Bronte. Starring Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier, David Niven, Flora Robson, Donald Crisp, Geraldine Fitzgerald.
Literary purists were appalled by this adaptation of Emily Bronte’s novel, which only depicts 16 of its 34 chapters, slashing an entire crop of characters from the narrative. Yet director William Wyler perfectly captures the gloomy, tragic mood of the book, thanks in large part to Gregg Toland’s atmospheric black-and-white cinematography (which won the Oscar). Olivier and Merle Oberon perfectly embody Heathcliff and Cathy, the doomed couple at the story’s center. The film does an expert job recreating Victorian England (with Thousand Oaks, CA, standing in for those windy hills), while the operatic performances make our hearts swoon. “Wuthering Heights” earned seven additional Oscar bids, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Olivier (he lost to Robert Donat in “Goodbye, Mr. Chips”).
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6. SPARTACUS (1960)
Image Credit: Bryna/Universal/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Stanley Kubrick. Screenplay by Dalton Trumbo, based on the novel by Howard Fast. Starring Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov, John Gavin, Tony Curtis.
“Spartacus” is one of the grand epics of cinema, and a personal project for Kirk Douglas, who spearheaded this film about a slave who leads a revolt against the tyrannical Roman Republic. He ensured that blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo would be given credit for his work, and brought on Stanley Kubrick after firing Anthony Mann within the first week of production. Though certain aspects have dated, the film is surprisingly modern in its view of politics and sexuality (“I like both snails and oysters,” says Olivier as Roman senator Marcus Licinius Crassus to slave Tony Curtis as the two share a bath in a famous deleted scene later restored in 1991). Peter Ustinov won Best Supporting Actor for his delicious performance as a gladiator manager, and prizes were also handed out for its cinematography, art direction, and costumes. Olivier competed at the Golden Globes as Best Drama Actor, but he was snubbed at the Academy (he competed instead for “The Entertainer” that same year).
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5. RICHARD III (1955)
Image Credit: Romulus Films/Park Circus/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Laurence Olivier. Based on the play by William Shakespeare. Starring Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, Claire Bloom, Cedric Hardwicke, John Gielgud, Laurence Naismith, Norman Wooland.
“Richard III” was the third and final cinematic Shakespeare adaptation Olivier directed (following “Henry V” and the Oscar-winning “Hamlet”), and it once again displays his unique talent for translating the Bard’s work to the screen. He casts himself as the deformed, diabolical Richard, Duke of Gloucester, whose military skills have helped make his brother, Edward (Cedric Hardwicke), King of England. But Richard desires the throne for himself, and achieves it through manipulation and murder. Olivier won a BAFTA and competed at the Oscars as Best Actor for his captivating performance, which makes our skin crawl with fiendish delight (since the film was released in the US in 1956, he contended at the Oscars that year, losing to Yul Brynner in “The King and I”).
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4. REBECCA (1940)
Image Credit: Selznick/United Artists/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Screenplay by Robert E. Sherwood and Joan Harrison, adaptation by Philip MacDonald and Michael Hogan, based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier. Starring Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Judith Anderson.
The only Alfred Hitchcock film to win the Oscar as Best Picture was this moody and atmospheric adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s bestseller. His first American feature (produced by David O. Selznick) stars Joan Fontaine as an unnamed woman who marries the charismatic aristocrat Maxim de Winter (Olivier). All is well until she moves into her new home, a gothic mansion haunted by the memories of Mr. de Winter’s late wife, Rebecca. Judith Anderson is chillingly brilliant as the creepy Mrs. Danvers, a housekeeper devoted to her departed mistress. Despite receiving 11 nominations, including Best Director for Hitchcock and acting bids for Olivier, Fontaine and Anderson, the film walked away with only two prizes: Best Picture and Best Black-and-White Cinematography. (Olivier lost his Best Actor bid to James Stewart in “The Philadelphia Story.”)
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3. HENRY V (1944)
Image Credit: ITV/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Laurence Olivier. Based on the play by William Shakespeare. Starring Laurence Olivier, Renee Asherson, Robert Newman, Leslie Banks.
Olivier made his big screen directorial debut with this massively ambitious Shakespeare adaptation, the first of three films we would helm based on the playwright’s work. He also stars in the title role of King Henry V of England, who leads a forceful conquest of France during the Hundred Years War. Made in the midst of WWII (Olivier got out of his service in the Royal Navy to make this movie), “Henry V” draws parallels between the onscreen conflict and the one going on at the time, making it a rousing entertainment for a nation under duress. The Battle at Agincourt remains particularly impressive. Released in the UK in 1944, it made its way to American audience in 1946, qualifying it for Oscar consideration. Olivier earned an Honorary prize for his overall achievement and competed in Best Picture and Best Actor (he lost the former prize to “The Best Years of Our Lives” and the latter to that film’s leading man, Fredric March).
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2. MARATHON MAN (1976)
Image Credit: Paramount/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by John Schlesinger. Screenplay by William Goldman, based on his novel. Starring Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier, Roy Scheider, William Devane, Marthe Keller.
Going to the dentist has never been more terrifying than in John Schlesinger’s gripping political thriller. “Marathon Man” centers on a graduate student/long-distance runner (Dustin Hoffman) whose brother (Roy Scheider), a government agent, unwittingly draws him into a complex conspiracy involving Dr. Christian Szell (Olivier), a Nazi war criminal now working as a periodontist. There are few scenes as terrifying as the one where Olivier uses his dental instruments to torture the inside of Hoffman’s mouth, all while benignly asking, “Is it safe?” (If nothing will encourage you to floss, the fear of pissing off Dr. Szell will.) The role brought Olivier a Golden Globe victory and an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor (he lost at the Academy to Jason Robards in “All the President’s Men”).
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1. HAMLET (1948)
Image Credit: ITV/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Laurence Olivier. Based on the play by William Shakespeare. Starring Laurence Olivier, Leslie Banks, Basil Sydney, Eileen Herlie, Norman Wooland, Felix Aylmer, Peter Cushing, Stanley Holloway, Terence Morgan, Jean Simmons, Anthony Quayle, Esmond Knight, Russell Thorndike.
Though it’s been oft-adapted to great success on the big screen and small, Olivier’s Oscar-winning version remains the definitive telling of Shakespeare’s most beloved play. While purists will scorn his cutting of the four hour play into a two-and-a-half hour movie, cineastes will rejoice in the gloomy atmosphere he creates as a director and the psychological intensity he commands as an actor. He plays the sorrowful Prince of Denmark, who struggles with the decision of whether or not to kill his uncle, King Claudius (Basil Sydney), for murdering his father, the former king. “Hamlet” was the first British film to win the Oscar as Best Picture, claiming additional prizes for Olivier in lead actor, costumes, and art direction. Olivier also competed in Best Director, losing to John Huston (“The Treasure of the Sierra Madre”).
