Laurence Olivier's Real Name: Laurence Kerr Olivier

Quick answer: The actor is known professionally as Laurence Olivier. Britannica and a Los Angeles Times report from the Associated Press independently give the fuller form Laurence Kerr Olivier and date his birth to May 22, 1907, in Dorking, Surrey, England. Both date his death to July 11, 1989; they differ on the exact place, as noted below (Britannica; Los Angeles Times).

Real name and early life

Independent publishers support the documented full name Laurence Kerr Olivier. The Times, reprinting the Associated Press, says he was the third child of an Anglican clergyman in Dorking, and that his father encouraged him to try acting. Britannica says he enrolled at the Central School of Dramatic Art in 1924, then began professional work with the Birmingham Repertory Theatre Company from 1926 to 1928, and had acted in British films from 1930.

Career highlights

Britannica traces later international stardom to Samuel Goldwyn's production of Wuthering Heights (1939), followed by Rebecca (1940), directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and by Olivier's portrayal of Henry V (1944). It says he later starred in additional Shakespearean film adaptations, including Hamlet (1948), which won him Academy Awards, and that a wartime cinema project earned him a special Academy Award. The Times independently says his first Academy Award was a special Oscar in 1946 for Henry V, that the second was for his starring role in Hamlet in 1948, and that in 1979 he received an honorary Oscar for the full body of his work. The paper also lists later films including Richard III (1956) and Sleuth (1972), and its headline calls him a triple Oscar winner.

Britannica says work helping to revitalize the Old Vic Theatre later led to his becoming producer-director of the National Theatre company. The Times independently says that in 1971 he was elevated to a peerage as Baron Olivier of Brighton; Britannica calls him the first member of his profession to be elevated to a life peerage.

Death

The Times, filing from London on July 11, 1989, says he died that day at age 82 and mentions the family home near the village of Ashurst, 50 miles south of London. Britannica independently dates the death to July 11, 1989, "near London, England." This page records both wordings rather than collapsing them into one place-name.

Name notes for searchers

People looking up Laurence Olivier, Laurence Kerr Olivier, or Baron Olivier of Brighton are looking for the same English actor. Independent sources support the fuller form used in the title.