Ranking Laurence Olivier's Oscar nominations
Friday, October 9, 2020 at 10:00PM 
The Supporting Actress Smackdown of 1965 will be up on Sunday afternoon so here's an extra list before we get there. Before each event, I like to watch every nominated movie, even those I have already seen. Because of that, I found myself with the unenviable penance of revisiting 1965's Othello. Many of you surely did the same, exposing yourself to one of Sir Laurence Olivier's most problematic star turns, a Blackface version of Othello. I figured if I was going to force myself to watch this dirge, I should something productive with it. Hence, this write-up, in which that famous thespian's ten acting Oscar nominations are ranked...
10. THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL (1978)
As a wizened old Nazi hunter, Olivier delivers what has to be one of the worst performances ever nominated for a Best Actor Oscar. Pardon the hyperbole, but this is a disaster at every level, condensing all the actor's worst traits and impulses in a messy miasma of incompetence that's so bad it verges on hilarity. With a preposterous Germanic accent, more appropriate for a shoddy cartoon than a prestige flick, Olivier overacts the house down.
He hams it up every chance he gets, bulging his eyes to accentuate important pieces of information and delivering his lines in a sing-song cadence that always manages to leave me open-mouthed in horror. How could this celebrated actor deliver…this? And how could AMPAS see fit to honor him with a nomination? At least, they didn't throw more gold at Olivier's costar, Gregory Peck, who's as bad as the English actor but not nearly as fun.
9. OTHELLO (1965)
As someone who adores the great works of William Shakespeare, it has always confounded me why Laurence Olivier is considered, by so many, to be the paragon of Shakespearean acting. He's a very psychologically opaque actor, seldom capable of delineating silent meanings beneath the surface level of performance. That, combined with a propensity to over articulate the dialogue, makes for a very declamatory sort of thespian whose Shakespearean turns often comes off as pageantry recitation.
That can work, but it depends on the role and, more importantly, on the staging. Othello, which is closer to canned theater than most big-screen adaptations of Shakespeare, is stiff and stripped down. It's also myopically focused on the actors, most of which don't calibrate their performances to the intimacy of the movie camera. Olivier is the worst of them, delivering a shameful bit of Blackface that doesn't even have the decency of being an admirable rendition of the role. His Othello is embalmed in florid gesture and reticulated delivery, sometimes impressive as oration though never as a fleshed-out character.
8. REBECCA (1940)
First things first – Olivier looks devastatingly gorgeous in Rebecca. It's not difficult to understand why Joan Fontaine's nameless protagonist would fall for his suave handsomeness. The reverse, however, is a bit of an unsolved mystery. Constantly shouting at his young bride and talking down to her in paternalistic tones, Maxim de Winter never shows any kind of genuine affection. Her presence irritates him and whatever love he professes to feel exists only in his hollow words.
Olivier was famously furious at Fontaine's casting since he wanted his wife, Vivien Leigh, to be his costar. That dislike suffuses the performance, overshadowing any notes of dissonant softness the actor might have added to his work. Like all beautiful people in Daphne du Maurier's novels, Maxim de Winter needs to be a confusing presence, someone whose true character is always out of reach. Unfortunately, apart from his insincere promises of love, Olivier's Byronic anti-hero is too one-note. His performance is far from bad and it works fine for the picture, but it's easy to imagine someone, even Olivier, doing a better job with the material.
7. WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1939)
Just as Shakespeare's writing is dear to my heart, so is Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. Because of that, I have high expectations of its cinematic adaptations while also being keenly aware that the book's structure makes it incredibly difficult to transfer to the screen. Olivier's Heathcliff is suitably brooding, but he never convinces as the younger version of the character. It's especially difficult to believe his uncouth ways when everything about the actor's presence rings an aristocratic sound.
This Heathcliff never quite feels like he wants to run through the moors with Cathy, seeming more at home in Victorian parlors. That being said, Olivier's quite good in the second half of his performance, painting the character as a rotten soul overtaken by the cruel need for revenge. While the screenplay softens Heathcliff quite a bit, Olivier brings to the film some of the willful hatred that's so present in Brontë's writing. Overall, it's a sometimes flat performance that still impresses in key moments.
6. HAMLET (1948)
In Shakespeare's canon, Hamlet is the most internal of protagonists. The entirety of the role is a long meditation on self-doubt and self-destruction, revenge as a disease of the soul, and cruelty as cancer that grows out of grief. There are many other interpretations of the text proving just how complex and multifaceted Hamlet can be. Any actor willing to tackle the role deserves a modicum of respect and Olivier is no different.
Heavily influenced by Orson Welles, Expressionism, and the psychoanalytical readings of Shakespeare that were popular at the time, Olivier devised what can be described as a Freudian Hamlet. I find much to love in his directing, but one shouldn't undervalue the performance. There are issues, mostly that Olivier acts too confident and decisive for such an ambivalent character, his exteriorization of Hamlet's internal struggle a bit labored.
However, I can't help but admire the plasticity of Olivier's onscreen moodiness, how he negotiates with the stylized form, and concocts the filigreed portrait of an unrestful spirit. AMPAS surely admired him too, for they awarded Olivier with his sole Best Actor Oscar. Hamlet also won Best Picture and the thespian was nominated for Best Director.
5. SLEUTH (1972)
Sleuth is the sort of film that works better as an acting exercise than as cinema. Fittingly, both Michael Caine and Laurence Olivier tear through the material with gusto, having what looks like loathes of fun along the way. Their joy is infectious, even as their characters brutalize each other in increasingly ridiculous games of treachery and two-faced scheming. Olivier chews the scenery with purposeful shamelessness, playing a writer with too much imagination and too little sense.
It's broad and not very complex, an explosion of mannerisms and archness. Of course, demanding complexity from this text is a fool's errand and Sir Larry appears to be aware of that. For once, he's a ham and it works beautifully. At the end of this movie, I almost feel like aplauding the screen.
4. MARATHON MAN (1976)
Stillness isn't something usually associated with Sir Laurence Olivier as a performer, but his take on cinema's most fearful dentist is characterized by a chilling lack of motion. Both in walk and gesture, his Dr. Christian Szell is like a statue of crystalized cruelty, methodical in everything, from the act of dental torture to the way his face contorts in masks of congested hatred. It's superbly understated work that drains any hint of human warmth from this Nazi monster, chilling and unnerving.
Olivier's nomination for Marathon Man was his only one in the Best Supporting Actor category and, by my account, he would have made a better victor than Jason Robards.
3. HENRY V (1944)
Olivier's take on Henry V is one of the most inspired Shakespeare adaptations ever made. Instead of going against the material's inherent theatricality, he embraces it, turning the picture into a pageantry presentation that does double work as a dramatic reenactment of Elizabethan playacting and a piece of World War II propaganda. It's not in the least like the canned Othello of '65, but an exploration of film's power as a time machine and as emotional galvanizer.
All that's got more to do with Olivier's talent as a director than as an actor, but, just as his skill behind the camera is undeniable, so is the virtuosity with which he tackles the role of Henry V. What exaggeration is there, fits into the fabric of the film and Olivier knows when to hold back. He never tries to make this monarch into a human being, playing him as a national icon, a legend, a myth. He also holds back when needed, letting his imperious persona illustrate the regality of the role instead of forcing it with needless mannerisms.
2. RICHARD III (1955)
A lot of Shakespearean films suffer from a self-seriousness that is anathema to the work of the Bard. Centuries of literary canonization are probably to blame for most of the stone-faced airless renderings of his texts. Olivier's Richard III comes close to committing the same mistake, taxidermizing the history play with lush designs and perfunctory staging. However, the cast steers the film away from such misfortunes, adding a note of quasi camp to the proceedings. In other words, the actors make it fun, Olivier most of all.
Similarly to how his Henry V avoided psychological realism, so does Richard III benefit from the thespian's talent for stylization and his abandonment of naturalism. With a pronounced hunch and beaky nose, clipped stentorian speech, and snarky line delivery, Olivier's Richard is a mellifluous alien in medieval garb, so repulsive one can't help but love to hate him. Moreover, the actor savors each word, tasting the malice with his tongue in the same fashion a wine connoisseur might appreciate a prime vintage. He's wickedness made flesh.
1. THE ENTERTAINER (1960)
For this whole piece, we've explored the wondrous, sometimes perilous, artifice of Laurence Olivier's acting. He was immensely talented though not particularly skillful at evoking complex humanity, working better when there were levels of abstraction to play with. The Entertainer is the exception that proves the rule. Adapted from the stage, where Olivier originated the lead role, this Tony Richardson picture portrays a dysfunctional family of music hall performers. Olivier's Archie is a third-rate talent and part of that sad clan.
As ambitious as he is amoral, the man's a selfish cretin whose hunger for fame manifests as ravenous despair. There's a brittle mania to his showboating, a need to cover a vulnerable and horrid soul with heaps of stage makeup and insincere grins. It's a devastating portrayal of corrosive gloom, of unfulfilled need, and of performance as a façade to hide the truth of a crying clown. As much as I admire Burt Lancaster's frenetic Elmer Gantry, Olivier gets my vote for Best Actor of 1960.
How would you rank Sir Laurence Olivier's ten nominations?
Reader Comments (31)
I think my favorite Olivier performance is in Marathon Man. I feel like it's a cliche to like the villainous performance best, but there it is.
I love Rebecca, but not because of Olivier. He probably gives only the fifth best performance in the film.
The Entertainer
Henry V
Rebecca
Marathon Man
Wuthering Heights
Hamlet
Richard III
Sleuth
The Boys from Brazil
Othello
I gotta say, I adore him as Maxim de Winter and Heathcliff.
Is Laurence Olivier an actor "not particularly skillful at evoking complex humanity" now?
The guy is the main british actor of all time. He was a legend of screen and stage.
But Claudio must know better.
C'mon. This is ridiculous. This write-up totally lacks some historical perspective.
Wuthering Heights
The Entertainer
Marathon Man
Sleuth
Richard III
Henry V
Hamlet
Rebecca
Othello
The Boys from Brazil
He's probably better in The Entertainer but I love this version of Wuthering Heights.
He is a visual knockout in Rebecca but he's been better elsewhere.
Totally on board with the Henry V nomination; a Best Director nod wouldn't have been out of place either.
Catcall if you will, but i like him in "Boys from Brazil" as well. Yes, Peck flounders from beginning to end. But I enjoy almost everything else in the film - including Jerry Goldsmith's ominously lilting score and the amount of deliciously effective showboating Uta Hagen packs into her single scene.
I think the man made a pretty impressive Mr. Darcy in "Pride and Prejudice". But my favorite Olivier performance remains his tragic tour de force in William Wyler's "Carrie". Its failure to win even a nomination remains - to me - one of Oscar's most flagrant omissions.
I like Olivier, he was the opposite to American acting. Not better, just different.
1.The entertainer
2.Marathon man
3.Hamlet
4.Henry V
5.Sleuth
6.Wuthering heights
7.Rebecca
8.Henry III
9.The boys from Brazil
10.Othello
Also I think he was "almost there" for Carrie (1952)
My mother would be rolling in her grave, Cláudio. I remember once she told me, "if they actually gave the Oscar to the best actor," Laurence Olivier would win one every year he made a movie. I guess that's proof my mom was a sexual being. She had pictures of him as Heathcliff in her scrapbook. I, on the other hand, wondered what he meant by "bean gatchew" in THE JAZZ SINGER. Someone told me later he was saying, "being a Jew."
Marathon Man
Henry V
Richard III
The Entertainer
Rebecca
Hamlet
Sleuth
Wuthering Heights
The Boys from Brazil
Othello
I am not a big fan of Olivier on screen. I've a lot of his films and mostly I'm made to feel uncomfortable because it's clear his theatrical performance style is not translating to the screen. Marathon Man is easily my favourite and is the only time I'd fight to give him the academy award (at least amoung the list of men nominated.)
Yeah, how was he not nominated for Carrie? A competitive year for sure, but still...
I think he’s a joke and his acting has not aged well.
I believe that, behind the artifice, there's a lot of layers in most of his Oscar nominated performances.
My favorite Olivier performance is barrister Sir Arthur Granville-Jones opposite Katharine Hepburn in the 1975 television film Love Among the Ruins.
Cash -- He was good at being villainous. As said in the piece, I love is mellifluous Richard III. I'm also a REBECCA fan and am fearfully awaiting the new adaptation.
Jon From -- This is my opinion, intrinsically subjective as it is. In no way, am I saying that I know better, simply expressing my feelings on this actor whose status is legendary but doesn't innoculate him from criticism. For me, he was often brilliant at exteriorizing strong emotions but seemed flat when a role demanded countercurrents of feeling to the main barrage of intensity. That's not necessarily bad, it just depends on the role and directing.
While it's true that he was mostly praised by his contemporaries, there were critics, even back then, questioning some of his choices as a performer, Bosley Crowther regarding his Othello for example. I apologize if my writing on Olivier sounds flippant in its dismissal, but I tried to articulate my thoughts and be truthful when describing my reaction to the performances.
I even changed my mind about some of his work. Before revisiting these films as research for this piece, I was ready to negatively criticize his turn in SLEUTH, but a re-watch changed my mind and helped me see value in Olivier's self-amused grandeur. It works wonderfully for the character and his fun as a performer is infectious.
Again, I apologize if my writing came off as ridiculous. I'm never trying to offend anyone with my work or out to denigrate a legendary actor.
Ken -- I won't catcall. In fact, I'm happy other people appreciate his star turn there as I don't wish anyone else to suffer through it as I have, twice.
Regarding his Mr. Darcy, I also am an admirer of his work in PRIDE & PREJUDICE. Personally, I'd have nominated him for that instead of REBECCA.
Cafg, Working stiff and others -- I have CARRIE on DVD, though I never watched it. I'll consider doing an Almost There piece about Olivier's performance in it since there seems to be a lot of love for it. Even outside this comment section, I have heard good things about it, including from people who, like me, aren't big fans of Olivier.
Dan Humphrey -- He was easy on the eyes, that's for sure.
Eoin Daly -- Considering the other nominees in each year, I'd have given him the Oscar in 1956, 1960, and 1976.
DI -- Glad to read a dissenting opinion. Again, I must apologize if my writing sounded too dismissing.
James -- I've only seen clips of that TV movie, but I did enjoy what I saw from him and Hepburn. Olivier, at the very least, looks like he's having a lot of fun.
I never knew he was such a divisive actor.
I'd agree he's terrible in Boys from Brazil but Peck I thought was solid if unspectacular.
Hamming it up in a good way in Sleuth.
Perfect for Rebecca
I find him best also in The Entertainer.
Love Among the Ruins. His best performance by far.
This has got me thinking a lot about Olivier. It also made me realise I still haven't seen three of his nominated performances: Wuthering Heights, The Entertainer and Sleuth (the one I'm most looking forward to).
Of the rest, here is my ranking:
1. Henry V
2. Marathon Man
3. Richard III
4. Rebecca
5. Hamlet
6. The Boys from Brazil
7. Othello
Of the above, I like the first six a lot. I agree with Ken that a Directing nod wouldn't have gone amiss for Henry V. It was a terrific year at the Oscars that year, including in that category (I love that they nominated Siodmak for The Killers) but the imagination shown in Olivier's directing of Henry V is up there. He really gets that play, its artifice, its realism, its soaring flights of fancy and its sombre undertow.
I second what others have said about his work in Marathon Man. And I think his ability is displayed nowhere better than in the torture scene. The number of ways he asks "Is is safe?" is an acting masterclass in line delivery - and its genius is that it never feels like an acting masterclass: he is severely in character throughout.
Cláudio's critique of Olivier's acting is by no means the only such critique I've heard. Yes, Olivier is as legend - and was a legend in his lifetime; I remember growing up in the UK in the 1980s and knowing, even at a young age, that there was this actor called Laurence Olivier - indeed, Lord Olivier - who was considered the greatest. But no one's reputation is beyond scrutiny - and Olivier could sometimes be a bit too showy or technical for the camera lens. I know someone who saw him as Othello in that National Theatre production from which the film was derived. Hugely problematic blackface aside, I understand that Olivier was spectacular on stage, in his physicality and in his delivery, as the Moor, of Shakespeare's words. But on film, the construction of the performance is so up-front, the character can't quite get through. (A small word for the Smackdown: I can't wait to see what people make of Joyce Redman, who I think is fantastic in the film.)
Overall, I think Olivier's reputation stands a hugely committed actor who always strived to deliver great work and who was always compelling to watch.
Thanks Cláudio. I agree with your rankings.
When he's good he's very good, but most often he is horrid.... overwrought and hammy.
Except for two or three films Olivier is to avoided.
He was really cruel to his female costars. His poor wife too. He tortured Marilyn and then came out looking like a fool because she completely stole that movie.
OMG I haaaated The Entertainer, although it was nice to see the beautiful and talented Alan Bates in his first movie role.
I know I'm late to this but I just wanted to say that I quite like Olivier in REBECCA. I guess I appreciate his "less is more" approach, or maybe when it comes to him, I always appreciate a bit of subtlety. At least in this movie I don't feel he's doing his usual "look what I can do" schtick.
And I've always been surprised that he wasn't nominated for his comic turn in A LITTLE ROMANCE. Maybe the Academy overcompensated the year before, but in this movie all of his fakey accents, and too much style worked quite well for a con-man, comic relief kind of role.
I wonder if, in 30 years or so, I'll live to hear that Meryl Streep was an overrated actress too...
I hope not.
@Owen-I have to agree with you. I think he's overrated. There's moments where he's great but he can go overboard and just be all "look at me, I'm acting..." I cite The Jazz Singer as an example of why he's overrated.... "I-I-I HAVE... NO.... SON!!!!" He could've just dialed it down. No wonder people said that Marilyn Monroe was a better actor than Olivier and from the scenes I saw in The Prince and the Showgirl. They were right.
01. Richard III
02. Wuthering Heights
03. The Entertainer
04. Hamlet
05. Henry V
06. Rebecca
07. Othello
08. Sleuth
09. Marathon Man
10. Boys from Brazil.
Did not realize he played a Nazi AND a Nazi hunter.
Jon From
The main reason Olivier is being criticized is that the acting style had changed and had become naturalistic a long time before he died. So detractors existed even then. It doesn't seem that acting can evolve in any way now. Also Meryl is a much better, much more cinematic actress than Sir Laurence.
VR, AI and digital clones are going to change the nature of acting in this century. I shudder to think how.
"Hamlet" not being #1 is shameful. It's the definitive version of Shakespeare's masterpiece, and it's the only film that illuminated his masterwork correctly. It's as if Olivier is illuminating the text extemporaneously as he goes along. Brilliant, brilliant performance! Highly deserved Best Actor Oscar and Best Picture!
I feel that Hitchcock got exactly the performance he wanted from Olivier and that it's a little sad that almost always any fault with the role and how it's played is layed one hundred percent at his feet.
Wasn't Hitchcock notoriously hands OFF when it came to directing actors? There are lots of stories. He barely gave Doris Day any direction at all, according to the actress later in life, and when she got worried that he hated her work and said something, he said she was fine and basically only gave direction to actors is they were doing it WRONG. Olivier is giving a typical Olivier performance in REBECCA. It's a hard film to teach these days. I've had students literally laugh at his acting in the film when I've screened it. Of course, it was fine for the time, I guess. Way pre-Method. Back then you got points for perfect elocution.
Supposedly Olivier struggled with movie acting in the beginning. He couldn't figure out how to adapt his style from the stage and a live audience to the camera. (Apparently Katharine Hepburn rolled her eyes when she heard that.) That may be why his acting is so stylized. I like many of his nominated performances and I do like him in Rebecca a lot. I am not a Shakespeare fan but his Henry V is glorious. Apparently he approached his friend Michael Powell to direct and Powell suggested he direct it himself. Speaking of Powell, I love Olivier in The 49th Parallel. He is so over the top with the accent but somehow he gets away with it when most could not.
Ironic, since it took her a while to figure it out herself.