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Post by pacinoyes on May 22, 2020 10:13:36 GMT
sirjeremy for mentioning this day's birthday is another thread  We've recently done this for some pretty major actors: Henry Fonda, James Stewart, James Mason. We talked about a rival in the poll Alec Guiness vs. Jack Lemmon too. Well I'd actually go so far as to say Laurence Olivier is a much better actor or at least much more important than all of them. It's pretty difficult to sum him up in any words at all. Not only the Brando of his day - he defines UK acting in the way Brando does American acting - he had to deal with pressures inconceivable to modern actors - nearly 50 years on stage, running the National Theater. I often joke with @tyler that Glenn Close has an "Olivier work ethic" - but no one really does - there literally wasn't a day that he wasn't acting on stage, a film, or TV or contemplating his next role.......... for 50 years. In our GOAT poll I placed him #2 behind Brando and felt guilty about it........he didn't make our top 10 which pretty much invalidates THAT poll entirely  ..........in the Greatest Actor Across Stage/TV/Film thread I don't even bother "rating" him because it would be an insult. I place him ahead of Pacino (current US male leader imo) and Hopkins (current UK male leader imo) but he far outpaces them with stage credits and TV credits (5 Emmy wins!) and in the simplest terms even tops them in Oscar nominations (10 for Olivier, 9 for Pacino, 6 for Hopkins after this year perhaps). His work and his successes within the work is almost impossible to believe if you look at it - I often compare it to Wayne Gretzky's point totals in hockey - and the metric of acting that says "he with the most number of great performances "wins" - is pretty much defined by him alone. Favorite roles? Underrated performances? Interesting stories? One of my favorites - the little seen Dance of Death (1969)
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Post by wallsofjericho on May 22, 2020 10:24:52 GMT
Loved him in Sleuth. Absolute masterclass and my win from the nominees that year. Happy Birthday Sir.
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Post by MsMovieStar on May 22, 2020 11:31:42 GMT
Oh honey, he was dreamy as Heathcliff and hot as Maxim de Winter. He had range... you can tell by just looking at what he's doing with his tongue.
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LaraQ
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English Rose
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Post by LaraQ on May 22, 2020 11:42:09 GMT
Loved him in Sleuth. Absolute masterclass and my win from the nominees that year. Happy Birthday Sir. I watched that for the first time recently,he was fantastic in it.Michael Caine's best ever performance too imo.What a film. |
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Post by pacinoyes on May 22, 2020 17:16:12 GMT
Loved him in Sleuth. Absolute masterclass and my win from the nominees that year. Happy Birthday Sir. There is a line in Sleuth "YOU lecture me on dead worlds and IG-noble minds" - which is maybe the first time I ever saw an actor mock another actor's character in that way (Caine's words repeated back to Caine) and play with the text like that where he put subtext into the scene. The writer didn't do it - it was the actor who did it - the actor "re-wrote" the line in a way ..........that's how imaginative and creative an actor he was with language. I remember I was a little kid when I saw it - and it just blew me away - and it's still one of my favorite line readings ever - if I ever come across Sleuth, I have to watch just for that scene........ .........you remember it because he wasn't just angry and spitting the line out - he was emphasizing the absurdity of the situation that Michael Caine THINKS he's taking his wife and getting away that easy and the jokey manner made everything else - his anger, his pettiness, his position - that much more tangible.  |
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Post by sirjeremy on May 22, 2020 17:17:09 GMT
My all-time favourite male actor who could and did elevate anything he appeared in. His Othello is a great example of a 'big' performance that feels entirely natural and his performance in Bunny Lake is Missing is his most underrated. I wish he'd been nominated for Carrie and Spartacus.
From Olivier by Philip Ziegler:
In rehearsals, Oliver became enraged by Smith’s refusal to accept what he termed "sensible suggestions on playing the role." She complained vociferously of his distance from her onstage, protesting, "I've come all the way from Venice to see you . . . What do you want me to do? Back away in fucking horror?" She complained how poorly she and others were being lit, but that when Olivier made entrances "the light goes up, and we're blinded." At one performance when Olivier was to slap her with a piece of parchment, he was so angry that he punched her in the jaw. She fell to the boards and seemed to lose consciousness. In the wings, the horrified stage manager was about to bring down the curtain when she rose to the occasion and continued. The thunderous applause at her bow almost outweighed his, which really piqued him. Miss Smith never forgave Olivier. They were only to act together one other time. When a producer told her, "He is a great monstre sacré," she replied, "Monstre, yes!"
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Post by Mattsby on May 23, 2020 0:31:40 GMT
His best - he's beyond great in Sleuth, The Entertainer, and The Dance of Death! Most underrated that I've seen is probably The Collection opposite Malcolm McDowell and Alan Bates (whole cast is great, really) - there's a lot of curious insinuation and boiled-over envy in the Olivier perf that he smacks around with.
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Post by pacinoyes on May 23, 2020 0:52:48 GMT
His best - he's beyond great in Sleuth, The Entertainer, and The Dance of Death! Most underrated that I've seen is probably The Collection opposite Malcolm McDowell and Alan Bates (whole cast is great, really) - there's a lot of curious insinuation and boiled-over envy in the Olivier perf that he smacks around with. Have you seen Term of Trial (1962) Matts? in some ways I think it's his most underrated now - he gives a very British performance in a very British role - not unlike what Michael Redgrave or James Mason might do and he's kind of brilliant there .......though it took me 3 viewings before I got around to that opinion and the movie is somewhat formulaic (though not without some interesting dramatic touches). I find myself reflecting back on that period of work work where Shakespeare in cinema was almost completely behind him (just Othello to go) and he had to in a way reinvent himself there in the late 50s/early 60s.
With Simone Signoret: |
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Post by Mattsby on May 23, 2020 1:26:16 GMT
His best - he's beyond great in Sleuth, The Entertainer, and The Dance of Death! Most underrated that I've seen is probably The Collection opposite Malcolm McDowell and Alan Bates (whole cast is great, really) - there's a lot of curious insinuation and boiled-over envy in the Olivier perf that he smacks around with. Have you seen Term of Trial (1962) Matts? in some ways I think it's his most underrated now - he gives a very British performance in a very British role - not unlike what Michael Redgrave or James Mason might do and he's kind of brilliant there .......though it took me 3 viewings before I got around to that opinion and the movie is somewhat formulaic (though not without some interesting dramatic touches). I find myself reflecting back on that period of work work where Shakespeare in cinema was almost completely behind him (just Othello to go) and he had to in a way reinvent himself there in the late 50s/early 60s.
With Simone Signoret:I haven't! Sounds great - a bit like the Browning Version? I have so much left to see from Olivier it ain't even funny - and this year I've been trying to catch up on the Brits in mini streaks (Ralph Richardson, Alan Bates, etc) |
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Post by urbanpatrician on Jul 18, 2020 15:05:54 GMT
Whooooppp, I'm late. Why am I just seeing this thread????
I can't believe I wasn't here to talk about probably my #2 or #3 favorite actor.
Nominations/Wins: (By far the most of all time)
20 Nods/6 Wins
'39: Lead Actor - Wuthering Heights (WIN)
'40: Lead Actor - Rebecca (WIN)
'44: Lead Actor - Henry V
'48: Lead Actor - Hamlet
'52: Lead Actor - Carrie
'55: Lead Actor - Richard III (WIN)
'60: Lead Actor - The Entertainer (WIN)
'60: Supporting Actor - Spartacus
'62: Lead Actor - Term of Trial
'65: Lead Actor - Othello
'65: Supporting Actor - Bunny Lake is Missing
'69: Lead Actor - The Dance of Death
'72: Lead Actor - Sleuth
'73: Lead Actor - The Merchant of Venice (WIN)
'73: Lead Actor - A Long Day's Journey Into the Night
'75: Lead Actor - Love Among the Ruins
'76: Supporting Actor - Marathon Man (WIN)
'76: Lead Actor - Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
'82: Lead Actor - A Voyage Round My Father
'83: Lead Actor - King Lear
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..........in the Greatest Actor Across Stage/TV/Film thread I don't even bother "rating" him because it would be an insult.
