Want to know the best Laurence Olivier movies? How about the worst Laurence Olivier movies? Curious about Laurence Olivier box office grosses or which Laurence Olivier movie picked up the most Oscar nominations? Need to know which Laurence Olivier movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which got the worst reviews? Well, you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
One of our goals here at Ultimate Movie Rankings is to do a career movie page on every member of the American Film Institute’s Top 50 Greatest Screen Legends list. Another one of our goals is to knock out all the requests on our Request Hotline. So when I saw that Laurence Olivier had four requests for a movie page and that he is ranked as the 14th greatest screen legend on the AFI list…..we knew it was time to finally do an Olivier movie page. Laurence Olivier (1907-1989) was an Oscar® winning English actor. Although he gained his fame by dominating the British stage….he still managed to appear in over 50 movies in 6 different decades.
His IMDb page shows 86 acting credits from 1930-1989. This page will rank Laurence Olivier movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television appearances, shorts, documentaries, movies not released in North America and some of his early 1930s movies were not included in the rankings.
Laurence Olivier Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Laurence Olivier Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies any way you want.
- Sort Laurence Olivier movies by co-stars of their movies.
- Sort Laurence Olivier movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost
- Sort Laurence Olivier movies by domestic yearly box office rank
- Sort Laurence Olivier movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations each Laurence Olivier movie received and by many Oscar® wins each Laurence Olivier movie won
- Sort Laurence Olivier movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
- Use the search and sort button to make this page very interactive.
Possibly Interesting Facts About Laurence Olivier
1. Laurence Kerr Olivier was born in Steyning, West Sussex, England.
2. Laurence Olivier’s road to stardom Cliff Notes style….As a teenager, Olivier studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama. He then joined the Birmingham Repertory Theatre and gained notoriety for his stage work. After appearing in a couple of minor movies he got a contract with RKO and headed to Hollywood. When his RKO movies and Perfect Understanding with Gloria Swanson were box office disasters he headed back to the British stage. In 1938 Hollywood came calling again. This time things went much better for Olivier as 1939’s Wuthering Heights and 1940’s Rebecca were box office and critical successes and earned Olivier his first two Oscar® nominations. Olivier would remain a star until his passing in 1989.
3. Laurence Olivier was nominated for 10 acting Oscars® and 1 directing Oscar®. He won the Best Actor Oscar® for 1948’s Hamlet. He also received two Honorary Oscars® in 1947 and 1979.
4. Laurence Olivier is one of five actors or actresses to get 10 or more acting Oscar® nominations. Olivier and Bette Davis got 10 nominations. Jack Nicholson and Katharine Hepburn got 12 nominations and Meryl Streep has 126 nominations….ok she only has 19 but it seems like she gets one every year.
5. Laurence Olivier also received 5 Golden Globe® nominations….winning twice, 9 Emmy® nominations…winning 5 times, 10 BAFTA nominations…winning twice and won two Razzie® awards….though he probably did not want those Razzies®.
6. Laurence Olivier was married three times in her life. His first marriage to Jill Esmond lasted from 1930 to 1940…they had one child. His second and most famous marriage was to Vivien Leigh…it lasted from 1940 to 1961. His final marriage was to Joan Plowright from 1961 to his death in 1989…they had three children. While researching this page I came across an excellent website that looks at Olivier and Vivien Leigh…. I highly recommend that you check this site out.
7. Roles Laurence Olivier turned down or was seriously considered for: Lawrence of Arabia (Peter O’Toole role), Lolita (James Mason role), The Godfather (Marlon Brando role), Cleopatra (Rex Harrison role) Being There (Melvyn Douglas role) and I Confess (Montgomery Clift role).
8. Laurence Olivier was knighted in 1947, made life peer in 1970, awarded the Order of Merit in 1981.
9. Some thoughts on Olivier. Charlton Heston on Sir Larry….”I consider him, in common with my colleagues, the finest actor alive.” Spencer Tracy on Larry….”he is the greatest of them all”.
10. Some tidbits from Laurence Olivier’s memorial service. Olivier’s trophies were carried in a procession: Douglas Fairbanks Jr. carried the insignia of Olivier’s Order of Merit, Michael Caine bore his Oscar® for lifetime achievement, Maggie Smith a silver model of the Chichester theatre, Paul Scofield a silver model of the National, Derek Jacobi the crown worn in Richard III (1955), Peter O’Toole the script used in Hamlet (1948), Ian McKellen the laurel wreath worn in the stage production of “Coriolanus”, Dorothy Tutin the crown worn for King Lear (1983), and Frank Finlay the sword presented to Olivier by John Gielgud, once worn by the 18-century actor Edmund Kean.
Check out Laurence Olivier’s movie career compared to current and classic stars on our Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time page. If you want a deeper look at Olivier’s number one movie then this Rebecca movie page by Steve Lensman is an outstanding source of information.
And finally…sadly we could not find box office information on these 4 Olivier movies. 1931’s The Yellow Ticket which has critic/audience rating of 63.75%, 1931’s Potipher’s Wife with a critic/audience rating of 61.75%, 1933’s No Funny Business with a critic/audience rating of 55.25% and 1935’s I Stand Condemned with a critic/audience rating of 37.00%.
AFI’s Top 25 Screen Legend Actors….with links to my movie pages on the Screen Legend
Check Out Steve Lensman’s Laurence Olivier Movie Ranking Page
For comments….all you need is a name and a comment….please ignore the rest.
Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences. Golden Globe®, Emmy® and Razzies® are registered trademarks.
Hi
There’s no doubt about it that Olivier was the most celebrated actor of his generation. Oscars, knighthoods, honours galore. But as much as I respect his talent, I could never really warm to the man. Maybe because he played quite unsympathetic type characters. Take Rebecca, 1940. A great film but I thought he came across as the most unsympathetic romantic lead I’d ever seen. Ronald Coleman would have been a better choice for the part of Dewinters.
Wuthering Heights in 1939, he played the Heatcliff, again very unsympathetic hero.
But one film I did really enjoy was The Marathon Man, where he was the old Nazi coming out of hiding. The scene of him drilling Dustin Hoffman’s teeth has haunted me ever since and every time I go to the dentist I can hear the screams of poor Dustin.
In 1979, he was given the honorary Oscar, his acceptance speech was probably the most eloquent ever. It’s on youtube and well worth a watch. When he died there was massive coverage in the British Press but it was more for his theatre work rather than his films.
Hey Chris….I see your logic about Olivier….I thought he made a good de winter…but Coleman would have been good too. I have the same memory of Marathon Man….I actually rewatched that one recently and was surprised how short that scene was compared to my memory of that scene.g I can only imagine that scene if it was directed by Quentin Tarantino today. I will have to check out that Oscar speech….especially since one of my favorites Cary Grant gave him the Oscar…..as always…thanks for stopping by.
It probably depends on ones age when you see a movie. Lady Hamilton will always be my favorite because I saw it so young. Went right to the EB and looked up Nelson. Best looking, to me, in that and in WH.
Hey Kathie…..That Hamilton Woman is on high on my list of movies to watch. I have the same memory with Cary Grant . In that case it was Bringing Up Baby. I saw that movie and became a Grant fan for life. Thanks for stopping by and commenting….both are greatly appreciated.
Hi, Bruce.
Glad to see see Sir Laurence Olivier’s page completed. 🙂
Another tidbit you probably found out about Olivier in his stage work that isn’t mentioned here is that the British Theatre award is called the Olivier.
Gregory Peck took on his role in The Boys from Brazil because he wanted to work with Olivier. That’s why Peck played an odd role for him.
I am a fan of Shakespeare – both as a reader and as an audience member (although some plays I prefer over others), but I haven’t seen all of Olivier’s play roles. I read how you are not a fan of WS.
Steve is right that I am a fan of Rebecca. Too bad the director doesn’t get the best picture award.
Do I beat Steve’s total or does he beat me? Well, I think Steve has more WS films than I do, so I’m not sure. I read the entries you and he made before going through the movie rankings, so I’ll see. I do beat your total. I understand that your total has a lot to do with his costar Caine. That’s how I end up seeing a lot of films in genres you wouldn’t expect me to watch-because of a specific actor.
I’ve seen most of their films together.
Well, the top film Rebecca is the highest film I have seen. It was one of 4 Hitchcock made under the banner of Selznick he brought the director to Hollywood. I own a box set of these four (though Paradine Case is nothing like a Hitch film).
The lowest ranking film I have seen is The Shoes of the Fisherman.
I have seen the all of the top 5
I have seen 8 of the top 10
I have seen 13 of the top 15
I have seen 14 of the top 20
I have seen 18 of the top 25
Overall, I have seen 23 films.
So, no, I do not not beat Steve’s total of 27. I come in 2nd. I’d have a bigger total if I had access.
My favourite films of his tend to have a mystery aspect to them (not surprising). My top 5 films are:
Rebecca
Sleuth
Marathon Man
Wuthering Heights
Hamlet
As for your favourite non-Caine film of LO, I’ve seen Spartacus several times.
Cheers,
Flora Breen Robison
Hey Flora. Glad you liked this Sir Larry page. I am surprised you did not take down Steve in the tally count. Glad I did not make a wager on that…..so Steve is first, you are second and I am in last…..well me being last was expected.
I recently re watched Boys From Brazil…the final showdown between the two screen legends is fun to watch. I guess him wanting to work with Sir Larry explains his bad guy role in that one.
Rebecca is one of the highest rated movies in my database…..13th out of 23000 movies….so I was not surprised when this one got the top spot.
Glad to see Sleuthing your Top 5……that is a fun movie to watch. I have managed to avoid seeing Wuthering Heights…but I like the rest of your Top 5 too. As always thanks for your thoughts on my latest movie page. Only 2 AFI actors left to do.
Only 2 actors left, but quite a lot of ladies….
That Hamilton Woman is on TCM in about an hour…
Flora
Hey Flora….yep I have more work to do when it comes to the actresses…..but I have Mae West almost done…..so she is about to come off the board.
I wish I had seen your message about That Hamilton Woman before this morning…because I would have checked that one out. Thanks for the update.
Interesting information on his life and career. I have seen quite a lot of his movies. I remember him playing the father in The Jazz Singer with Neil Diamond. He was a very good actor. Thanks for this page. He played in many interesting movies. ANOTHER GOOD JOB!
Hey BERN1960….for some reason I thought you were going to mention The Jazz Singer. I wonder how many times you have seen that movie? As always thanks for stopping by and thanks for commenting and complimenting.
Great Work, Bruce. Sir Larry was a giant on the stage but had a lot more misses on the big screen (money making misses). I agree with you on his Shakespearean films, they can be a bit
“yawnish”.
Loved the stats & facts.
Hey Søren….glad you liked my Sir Larry page. Even glader that somebody besides me finds the Shakespeare films “yawnish””. Sorry it took so long to get your request done.