Laurence Olivier Autograph Magazine Page

Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, (Born: 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director.  His family had no theatrical connections, but Olivier’s father, a clergyman, decided that his son should become an actor. After attending a drama school in London, Olivier learned his craft in a succession of acting jobs during the late 1920s. In 1930 he had his first important West End success in Noël Coward’s Private Lives, and he appeared in his first film. Olivier’s honours included a knighthood (1947), a life peerage (1970) and the Order of Merit (1981). For his on-screen work he received four Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, five Emmy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards. The National Theatre’s largest auditorium is named in his honour, and he is commemorated in the Laurence Olivier Awards, given annually by the Society of London Theatre.  After being ill for the last 22 years of his life, Olivier died of kidney failure on 11 July 1989 aged 82 at his home near Steyning, West Sussex. His cremation was held three days later;  his ashes were buried in Poets’ Corner of Westminster Abbey during a memorial service in October that year.