Famous theatrical person - Essay Example

553027A Talented and Strong Stage Actor: Sir Laurence Olivier Sir Laurence Olivier (1907-1989) began his acting career on stage, as do so many actors who become famous in film. He was just an adolescent when he appeared on stage in his first role, as the female lead in the Shakespeare play The Taming of the Shrew (online 2011). Unlike many actors who have a limited stage experience before moving on to films, Olivier’s stage career was extensive, and continued even after he appeared in films.

He was devoted to the theatre, and he one of the 20th century icons who actually worked to keep theatre at the forefront of public interest. His first film role was in 1939, so he had a good decade of stage work to his credit before that first film role. Olivier was tall, dark, and handsome; all of the ingredients that attracted women to him throughout his stage and acting career. He was incredibly talented, and took on roles that challenged his range of abilities, such as that very early experience of playing the female lead in The Taming of the Shrew.

Shakespeare was a vehicle for his stage career, and it was only natural that it overflowed into his film career. “He directed and starred in a film adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry V, a role that earned him his first Academy Award (online 2011).” But he was devoted to the theatre, and spent a lot of money that he earned making films to revive and reinvigorate interest in theatre stage productions (online 2011). In 1963, “he became producer-director of the National Theatre Company, to raise money for this company, he accepted virtually all movie roles offered to him, from the 1960s-1970s he appeared in over 30 films (online 2011).

” One can only imagine Olivier’s love for theatre, but it was a devotion that stayed with him throughout his life. He was the first actor to “be elevated to peerage (online 2011).” And, when he died in 1989 following a long struggle with cancer, he was the “second actor to be buried in Poet’s Corner at Westminster Abbey (online 2011).” He left behind a legacy of stage and film credits that speak to his hard and diligent work on stage and in film, and through his stage work he established a high standard in stage performance, and probably no actor since him has worked as hard to keep theatre stage alive and vibrant as Olivier did.

Theatre and stage must have been his first love, because his personal life and marriages were troubled experiences that he gave up on, but he never gave up on his love for the stage. He had the emotional depth that is a vital ingredient in a stage artist, and once said, “Living is strife and torment, disappointment and love and sacrifice, golden sunsets and black storms. I said that some time ago, and today I do not think I would add one word (online 2011).” A man who sees life this way has the full range of emotional breadth to offer as an actor.

There are many talented film actors today, and it would be fun and entertaining to see any of them devote his self or herself as passionately and devotedly to the art of theatre performance. While many actors begin on stage, they quickly transfer their time and skills to the more lucrative film roles; but eventually nearly all who began on stage, return to stage. Performing before a live audience is a completely different experience than acting in front of a camera; and Olivier developed stage fright at one point in his career, but he was as clever as ever in disguising his malady, and his audiences were never the wiser for it.

He was a great actor, a 20 century icon, who proved himself equally great as a producer and director, but his devotion to theatre performing was unequaled, and he earned and rightly deserved his place in Poet’s Corner at Westminster Abbey. Works Cited Biographies of Famous Stage Actors, Sir Laurence Olivier, found online at http://ahsmail.uwaterloo.ca/~clintner/biographies_of_famous_stage_acto.htm, retrieved 14 July 2011. Think Exist.Com, Sir Laurence Olivier Quotes, found online at http://thinkexist.

com/quotes/laurence_olivier,_sir/, retrieved 14 July 2011. Works Cited Gerard Butler Dot Net, found online at http://www.gerardbutler.net/career-achievements/, retrieved July 14, 2011. Fandango, Gerard Butler Biography, found online at http://www.fandango.com/gerardbutler/biography/p240591, retrieved July 14, 2011.