Laurence Olivier Ranked
A ranking of Laurence Olivier's film performances.
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- DirectorLaurence OlivierStarsLaurence OlivierRobert NewtonLeslie BanksIn the midst of the Hundred Years' War, the young King Henry V of England embarks on the conquest of France in 1415.
- DirectorLaurence OlivierStarsLaurence OlivierJean SimmonsJohn LauriePrince Hamlet struggles over whether or not he should kill his uncle, whom he suspects has murdered his father, the former king.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsMerle OberonLaurence OlivierDavid NivenA servant in the house of Wuthering Heights tells a traveler the unfortunate tale of lovers Cathy and Heathcliff.
- DirectorTony RichardsonStarsLaurence OlivierBrenda de BanzieRoger LiveseyArchie Rice, an old-time British music hall performer sinking into final defeat, schemes to stay in show business.
- DirectorStuart BurgeStarsLaurence OlivierFrank FinlayRobert LangGeneral Othello's marriage is destroyed when vengeful Ensign Iago convinces him that his new wife has been unfaithful.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsLaurence OlivierJoan FontaineGeorge SandersA self-conscious woman juggles adjusting to her new role as an aristocrat's wife and avoiding being intimidated by his first wife's spectral presence.
- DirectorJohn SchlesingerStarsDustin HoffmanLaurence OlivierRoy ScheiderAfter the shocking murder of his older brother, a New York history student finds himself inexplicably hounded by shadowy government agents on the trail of a Nazi war criminal who is trying to retrieve smuggled diamonds.
- DirectorRobert Z. LeonardStarsGreer GarsonLaurence OlivierMary BolandThe arrival of wealthy bachelors in town causes an uproar when families with single daughters aggressively seek engagements, including the Bennet family, with five eligible daughters.
- DirectorLaurence OlivierStarsLaurence OlivierCedric HardwickeNicholas HannenShakespeare's powerful tale of the wicked deformed King and his conquests, both on the battlefield and in the boudoir.
- DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczStarsLaurence OlivierMichael CaineAlec CawthorneA man who loves games and theater invites his wife's lover to meet him, setting up a battle of wits with potentially deadly results.
- DirectorAlexander KordaStarsVivien LeighLaurence OlivierAlan MowbrayThe story of courtesan and dance-hall girl Emma Hamilton, including her relationships with Sir William Hamilton and Admiral Horatio Nelson and her rise and fall, set during the Napoleonic Wars.
- DirectorMichael AndersonStarsAnthony QuinnLaurence OlivierOskar WernerAfter spending decades in a Siberian Gulag labor camp, Roman Catholic priest Kiril Lakota is set free by Russian leader Piotr Ilyich Kamenev at the height of the Cold War.
- DirectorPaul CzinnerStarsElisabeth BergnerLaurence OlivierSophie StewartA Duke usurps his brother's land and power, banishing him and his entourage into the forest of Arden. The banished Duke's daughter, Rosalind, remains with her cousin Celia. She has fallen in love with Orlando, but he has his own tyrannical brother with whom to contend, so he joins those in the forest.
- DirectorFranklin J. SchaffnerStarsMichael JaystonJanet SuzmanRoderic NobleTsar Nicholas II, the inept last monarch of Russia, insensitive to the needs of his people, is overthrown and exiled to Siberia with his family.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsLaurence OlivierJennifer JonesMiriam HopkinsA young girl from a provincial town learns the bitter reality of a big city and great love.
- DirectorStanley KubrickAnthony MannStarsKirk DouglasLaurence OlivierJean SimmonsThe slave Spartacus survives brutal training as a gladiator and leads a violent revolt against the decadent Roman Republic, as the ambitious Crassus seeks to gain power by crushing the uprising.
- DirectorWilliam K. HowardStarsLaurence OlivierFlora RobsonVivien LeighDuring the reign of Elizabeth I, a young man's fervent devotion to the crown and to his sweetheart, a lady-in-waiting, lead him to battle for England's victory over the Spanish Armada in 1588.
- DirectorHerbert RossStarsAlan ArkinVanessa RedgraveRobert DuvallTo treat his friend's cocaine induced delusions, Watson lures Sherlock Holmes to Sigmund Freud.
- DirectorTim WhelanStarsMerle OberonLaurence OlivierBinnie BarnesDivorce lawyer Everard Logan thinks the woman who spent the night in his hotel room is the erring wife of his new client.
- DirectorMichael PowellStarsLeslie HowardLaurence OlivierRichard GeorgeA World War II U-boat crew are stranded in northern Canada. To avoid internment, they must make their way to the border and get into the still-neutral U.S.
- DirectorFranklin J. SchaffnerStarsGregory PeckLaurence OlivierJames MasonA Nazi hunter in Paraguay discovers a sinister and bizarre plot to rekindle the Third Reich.
- DirectorRichard AttenboroughStarsWendy AllnuttColin FarrellMalcolm McFeeThe working-class Smiths change their initially sunny views on World War I after the three boys of the family witness the harsh reality of trench warfare.
- DirectorLaurence OlivierStarsMarilyn MonroeLaurence OlivierRichard WattisAn American showgirl becomes entangled in political intrigue when the Prince Regent of a foreign country attempts to seduce her.
- DirectorRichard AttenboroughStarsSean ConneryRyan O'NealMichael CaineOperation Market Garden, September 1944: The Allies attempt to capture several strategically important bridges in the Netherlands in the hope of breaking the German lines.
- DirectorBasil DeanStarsVivien LeighLeslie BanksLaurence OlivierAfter Larry accidentally kills his lover Wanda's estranged blackmailing husband, someone else is arrested for the crime. Larry and Wanda nervously await the verdict: if the innocent suspect is found guilty then Larry will give himself up.
- DirectorGeorge Roy HillStarsLaurence OlivierDiane LaneThelonious BernardAn American teenager living in Paris meets and falls in love with a local.
- DirectorPeter BrookStarsLaurence OlivierHugh GriffithGeorge RoseWhen the composer of an opera about a swashbuckling, wenching highwayman meets his hero's real-life counterpart, he's disappointed with his lack of dash.
- DirectorOtto PremingerStarsKeir DulleaCarol LynleyLaurence OlivierA woman reports that her young daughter is missing, but there seems to be no evidence that she ever existed.
- DirectorLaurence OlivierJohn SichelStarsJeanne WattsJoan PlowrightLouise PurnellNearly a thousand miles away from their beloved Moscow, Chekhov's Three Sisters live in virtual exile. Olga, a schoolmistress, attempts to support her siblings and the home that is the sole legacy of their late father.
- DirectorAnthony AsquithStarsLaurence OlivierPenelope Dudley-WardMarjorie FieldingIvan Kouznetsoff, a Russian engineer, recounts during World War II his stay in England prior to the war working on a new propeller for ice-breaking ships. Naive about British people, and convinced by hearsay that they are shallow and hypocritical, Ivan is both bemused and amused by them. He is blunt in his opinions about Britons, and at first this puts off his hosts, including the lovely Ann Tisdall, whose grandfather runs the shipbuilding firm that will make use of Ivan's propeller. The longer Ivan stays, however, the more he comes to understand the humor, warmth, strength, and conviction of the British people, and the more they come to see him as a friend, rather than merely a suspicious Russian. As a romantic bond grows between Ivan and Ann, a cultural bond begins to grow as well, particularly as the war begins, and Russia is attacked by Germany.
- DirectorJohn BadhamStarsFrank LangellaLaurence OlivierDonald PleasenceIn 1913, the charming, seductive and sinister vampire Count Dracula travels to England in search of an immortal bride.
- DirectorBasil DeardenEliot ElisofonStarsCharlton HestonLaurence OlivierRichard JohnsonIn the Sudan, in 1884 to 1885, Egyptian forces led by British General Charles "Chinese" Gordon (Charlton Heston) defend Khartoum against an invading Muslim Army led by a religious fanatic, Mohammed Ahmed el Mahdi (Sir Laurence Olivier).
- DirectorTim WhelanArthur B. WoodsStarsLaurence OlivierRalph RichardsonValerie HobsonA quirky British Secret Service Agent named Major Hammond tries to discover who is using a secret weapon to steal experimental planes.
- DirectorGuy HamiltonStarsMichael CaineTrevor HowardHarry AndrewsIn 1940, the British Royal Air Force fights a desperate battle to prevent the Luftwaffe from gaining air superiority over the English Channel as a prelude to a possible Axis invasion of the U.K.
- DirectorRoger DonaldsonStarsMel GibsonAnthony HopkinsLaurence OlivierFed up with their Captain's harsh discipline, a sailing ship's crew decides to take action.
- DirectorJules DassinStarsMelina MercouriMikis TheodorakisRénos MandisA recreation of how the Greek military junta that started in 1967 tragically affected university students.
- DirectorVictor HanburyJohn StaffordStarsGertrude LawrenceLaurence OlivierJill EsmondA misunderstanding leads two professional co-respondents to think each one is a client seeking a divorce.
- DirectorVictor SchertzingerStarsAdolphe MenjouLili DamitaLaurence OlivierBritish Army Captain Geoff Roberts carries on an affair with Alva, the wife of the cruel Victor Sangrito. Sangrito, however, is well aware of the affair, as he uses his beautiful wife to lure men into romance with her, then blackmailing them to save their careers. When Roberts falls into Sangrito's trap, he pays the blackmail and leaves for India, hoping to forget Alva, whom he loved, but now believes betrayed him. After some time in India, he is joined by his young friend and bosom companion Lieutenant Ned Nichols. Nichols, too, is in love with the same woman back in England. Though the two friends nearly come to blows over Alva, they eventually realize that she has been false to them both, and that their friendship far outweighs their feelings for a mendacious woman. But when the two are invalided home, they encounter Alva again, and learn that she may not have betrayed them after all.
- DirectorDerek JarmanStarsNathaniel ParkerTilda SwintonLaurence OlivierA movie with no spoken dialogue, it is set against the music and lyrics of Benjamin Britten's "War Requiem" which includes poetry by World War I soldier Wilfred Owen reflecting the horrors of war. There is no linear story or dialogue. It's imagery reflects Owen's story, that of other soldiers, and a nurse during World War I. It also includes actual footage of contemporary wars, including World War II, Vietnam, and Angola.
- DirectorRobert MiltonStarsAnn HardingLaurence OlivierZasu PittsA struggling writer divorces his wife to pursue his career without interference, but they meet in Europe years later after she has remarried.
- DirectorGuy HamiltonAlexander MackendrickStarsBurt LancasterKirk DouglasLaurence OlivierThe black sheep of a family and the local minister discover their true vocations during the Revolutionary War.
- DirectorTerence YoungStarsMichael CaineLaurence OlivierSusan GeorgeAn MI6 defector has his appearance altered by the K.G.B. and is sent back to Britain to retrieve top-secret documents.
- DirectorAlexander EswayZoltan KordaJohn Monk SaundersStarsFrederick CulleyLaurence OlivierFranklin DyallThis documentary traces man's attempts to fly from ancient times through the 1930s.
- DirectorGustav UcickyStarsLilian HarveyLaurence OlivierAthole StewartA woman pretends her artist husband has died in a drowning accident, so that his paintings will finally find buyers.
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsElissa LandiLionel BarrymoreLaurence OlivierA young Russian girl is forced into a life of prostitution in Czarist Russia, and she and a British journalist find their lives endangered when she reveals to him information regarding the social crimes rampant in her country.
- DirectorPeter R. HuntStarsScott GlennBarbara CarreraEdward FoxA group of mercenaries is hired to spring Rudolf Hess from Spandau Prison in Berlin.
- DirectorJohn BoultingStarsRobert DonatMaria SchellRenée AshersonA chronicle of the life of William Friese-Greene, a British inventor and early pioneer in cinema.
- DirectorAlexis GranowskyStarsAnnabellaHarry BaurGermaine DermozDuring the First World War, the Russian officer Captain Ivan Ignatoff falls in love with his nurse, Natasha Kovrin. But she is subject to an upcoming marriage of family convenience to Brioukow, a wealthy industrialist of peasant stock. Brioukow is unjustifiably jealous, since Natasha has not betrayed him. He forces Ignatoff into his debt as a means of humiliating him. When Ignatoff's new friend, Madame Sabline, offers to pay his debt, preventing his ruin, Ignatoff comes quickly to realize that Madame Sabline has an ulterior motive, one that could prove dangerous to more lives than just Ignatoff's.
- DirectorDavid GilesStarsLaurence OlivierGeraldine McEwanCarolyn JonesA filmed record of Laurence Olivier's farewell theatrical performance as the canny, psychotic captain of the August Strindberg play.
- DirectorDaniel PetrieStarsLaurence OlivierRobert DuvallKatharine RossThe aging, retired founder of an auto giant comes out of retirement to try to develop a safe, fuel-efficient car.
- DirectorRichard FleischerSidney J. FurieStarsLaurence OlivierNeil DiamondLucie ArnazThe son of a Jewish Cantor must defy the traditions of his religious father in order to pursue his dream of being a popular singer.
- DirectorMario ZampiStarsTerry-ThomasGeorge ColeBrenda de BanzieIn this spoof on crime films, four would-be criminals manage to botch every job they plan. When they try to rob wealthy Billy Gordon (Terry-Thomas) they fail again. But the gang decides to kidnap his daughter.
- DirectorTerence YoungStarsLaurence OlivierJacqueline BissetBen GazzaraDuring the Korean War, General Douglas MacArthur masterminds the amphibious invasion of Inchon in September 1950.