Olivier was a Genius - no ifs, ands, or buts . That said, he was a product of the sequence of great actors who had come before him as a result of renaissance intellectual explosion in Britain. To paraphrase another great Brit - Olivier stood "on the shoulders of giants" that came before him.
Brando was the genius. Olivier was a great architect. Olivier had the discipline to direct, produce and act. Brando couldn’t cope with the pressure of the show biz to do everything. And I think he didn’t have the discipline. I will say that I would have loved to have seen Olivier direct Brando in Othello. Brando would have been a better Othello than Olivier. He would have completely forgotten about Iago.
The clarity of his classy, brilliant mind shines through. His modesty, his generosity are just beautiful to behold. In a world where values have collapsed and discourse has become so vulgar this man shines like a beacon inspiring us to reach for excellence and our better nature where so much profound beauty is waiting to be aroused. I just love listening to him. He represents the very best of the British.
Nice comment, Richard. What you say is absolutely right, and resonates with me. I'm an English actor and playwright, and often wonder who I'm writing for, as the general standard has fallen so much over the last few years, most can't even understand the words I use!! And almost everyone wants the speech to be speeded up.The same with the acting profession. Deplorable. I watched an interview with Orsen Welles on the dick cavett show the other week. Superb. Same with the Vivien leigh interviews. Doesn't exist anymore. And I'm just referring to intelligent , measured conversation. A renaissance is desperately required. All the best for London, Noel
Most films today are not well written. I don't know about Orson Wells, but the other actors mentioned were also stage actors. I think it takes more intelligence to act on stage because it's live. It's like walking a tight rope without a net.
@@hermesnoelthefourthway Noel Alas I only saw your reply to my Olivier comments today! I hope your career as actor and writer are going well in spite of the obstacles you refer to. I agree that watching Vivien Leigh and Orson Welles interviews are jewels in the crown. I watched Welles marvellous speech in Moby Dick last night just to be touched and inspired by his magnificence. Incidentally I got a glimpse in the scene of Sam Kydd whose son Jonathan was a close friend of mine at St Paul's. Every generation laments the decline in values of the succeeding generation. I share your great dismay. I live in Hollywood and have tried to balance a daily life in a culture that is rather repugnant to me with hiding away at home and creating my own reality based on the values and cultural interests I hold dear. Nothing else one can do! But youtube is a great resource for inspiration and treasures such as this interview do make my world a bit brighter. All the very best to you.
@@Richard-hv5hh Hello , Richard , what a great comment yours is. Says it all. Thank you. Yes . There is a major change in attitudes and the way people express themselves from generation to generation . But I've never known anything as severe and dumb downed as the last few generations. It is rather concerning for the few of us left who appreciate elegance , taste , and articulate conversation. I'm in a vastly cultural changed and highly challenged and challenging London at the moment. And my way of dealing with it : I spend most of my time in my apartment. I study the teaching of a mystic writer from the early to mid 20th century named George Gurdjieff. And on the insistence of a lovely lady friend from Cody , Wyoming , I started my own RUclips channel sharing my love of the arts , fine conversation. And my study of the gurdjieff work. I'm grateful to say , doing this has introduced me to some of the loveliest people I've ever met . Mainly American people. It's very beautiful to make connections and establish friendship with kindred spirits. Especially with what is happening to society and culture these days. So , on a positive note , even in this cultural wasteland we can and do find those who are nor part of this and are interested in the finer things in life. We're still here. All the best , Richard , Noel
I know, a vanished world. Loving your name, don't know if you'll ever come across this. Don't if you've read any of the other comments full of horror at the thought If any one ( even back in time) smoking a cigarette or even two). Kenneth Tynan smokes throughout and was of course a genius.
What a feast of Theatre! We r fortunate to watch & listen to Sir Lawrence ! His voice modulation and diction and pauses..Amazing indeed! Shakespeare wud hav been happy to experience him..
An unusually frank interview revealing, in detail, aspects of the working practice and psychology of a masterful acting genius. Larry's acute attention to the idiosyncrasies of human behaviour remains legendary for the profession but equally philosophically for psychologists, ministers and all those concerned with the depths and intricate complexity of human characterisation as projected through the experiences of life and death. R. I. P.
@Gatto Di Ossa NO! I THINK YOUR EGREGIOUS VITRIOL IS SYMPTOMATIC AND SPEAKS VOLUMES ABOUT YOUR OWN PSYCHOLOGICAL DEFICITS RATHER THAN THOSE OF NADIM! PERSONALLY, I FAVOR NADIM'S APPROACH OVER YOUR AD HOMINEM LOONY OUTBURST!
Thanks so much for posting this! I've seen much of it in extracts over the years, but didn't think I'd ever get to see the entire interview. It's the best Olivier interview I've ever come across. I never before heard him speak so specifically, & in such vivid detail about his approach to acting. Lots of people find Ken Tynan hard to take, but he adored Olivier & he really knew the theatre & the man. Talking to him, Olivier is more at ease & therefore much more forthcoming than was his wont. And, as I mentioned, I never heard him converse so eloquently.
We had the Branagh Henry V on tv which was good. The following week we had the Olivier one and you were there with him!! (despite the cardboard sets and being made in WW2)
St Margarets Church is close by Oxford st and is a beautiful place. It had a tiny school cleverly built into the tiny plot. Tynan deserves more credit here. He admired Olivier greatly.
Thank you for a wonderful post. Like a drink of water in the blazing desert. Olivier was my idol. I was criticized for building my characters from the outside in and I would say, "If it's good enuf for Olivier it's good enuf for me."
@@kennethwayne6857 Same with me altho, looking back at some of his Shakespearean roles, he' a little over the top. One oustanding thespian said he was the last of the old guard. When I did a semester study in London, I tried to meet with him, looking up his address in Who's Who. Wrote to his 'club' and London address. I receieved a lovely note from his secretary on Lord Laurence Olivier headed stationary, thanking me for asking after his health and my compliments but told me it would be "impossible to meet with him." Lord only knows what I would have said to him. I did get to meet John Gielgud and get his autograph. I was an aspiring actor too.
@@mattdeans9873 Don't know if I would have had the cheek to do the same. Perhaps, I'd like to think so. As it was, I wrote him a long, rambling letter sometime late in '85. Several months later, I received an autographed photo in an envelope with the same handwriting on front. Still have them of course, and wouldn't sell them for a million. And yes, in some of the Shakespeare roles he's a little over the top and thank God for that. A trip in a time machine to a lost era of acting and I wouldn't have it any other way!
I love the way that whoever wrote the screen adaptation saw fit to conflate all the soliloquies together in the one opening scene! Masterful, because, while preserving all the lovely language and imagery, it leaves the film free of action- eroding asides that visually m of the half the spare forward progress. What works on the stage can impede in the film and vice versa.
@@johnmulligan455 All of the British stage and film actors have always tried to become as great as Sir Laurence and you may not think he is the greatest, but Burton,Hopkins,Daniel day-Lewis and Marlon Brando have taken note and lessons from Olivier to become great actors,but Olivier is the greatest actor that has ever lived!
@@johnmulligan455 is there no room in your list for the present king of the theatre,the prince of plays,the Doge of the dramatic,Steven Toast,perhaps more widely known as Toast of London.his recent rendering of Iago,left audiences wide eyed,speechless and sunk hopelessly in a miasmic expanse of self identifying plasma.thes were the words of the respected Guardian theatre critic Mohammed Kingsley crapper.who using those words and many others tried and was inevitably fated to fail to capture that indefinable indeed almost supernatural quality which suffuses a toasting,this is a term coined by toast afficionados to describe the condition some theatre goers are in,at the conclusion of a toast performance.
John Mulligan agreed Olivier does not touch the greatest actors of all time. We would be here all day as I could list and point out research that backs me up.
I'm somewhat surprised that Laurence Olivier would give Kenneth Tynan the time of day after what the critic used to write about Vivian Leigh. An engrossing interview nonetheless and actually resembles something intelligent!
You would be suprised how much he actually valued ken's opinion. Any real man would not give the time of day to anyone who slights his wife. Shows what was more important to larry.
@@YouzTube99 Supposedly Olivier was peeved about the criticism at first. Until Tynan and Olivier went on to become great friends. Funny thing about it, a number of their friends such as John Mills and John Geilgud thought Tynan's criticism went well above and beyond what was merited. It sounded personal. Who knows if Olivier was okay with it, considering how competetive the couple were. Although I will say I have read where after VL and Olivier's divorce, Tynan was much less critical of VL and actually gave her good reviews for "Ship of Fools" and her work in the play Tovarich which she received a Tony for. Tynan's daughter wrote a book implying that Tynan was infatuated with Olivier and treated VL as a rival. Lol No doubt VL's two Academy Awards and her stage work can stand on its own. VL herself knew that she didn't have the booming voice that Olivier and others had, for being on stage. Interesting tidbit that when Olivier was married to Joan Plowright, and Tynan offered up some rare criticism of Olivier's stagework, Plowright mentioned that Olivier was outraged over it. So I guess it's a matter of whose ox is being gored.
@@terrihilder8217 Thanks for the additional info/insight. I continue to have to remind myself that those who work in the unforgiving glare of a public spotlight may be very different in their personal lives. The American chat show host Dick Cavett lamented that he was never able to get the Larry he knew off camera to stop being Sir Laurence on camera.
Alec Guiness was famously mistrustful of Olivier, saying in his diary: "I greatly admired his extraordinary courage … as a comedian he was superb … technically brilliant … he was a great actor." "Like so many people whose ambition drive them to great eminence, he had a cruel and destructive streak. Side by side with his generosity, he could be unpleasant, possibly even vindictive. Consciously or not, he made attempts to destroy John G [Gielgud], [Michael] Redgrave, [Paul] Scofield and if he had been given the chance, me."
You got that backwards. Vivien Leigh, a beautiful woman and great actress, unfortunately suffered from bipolar disorder. She gave Olivier a very hard time and cheated on him. Olivier stood it for 20 years, then couldn't take it any more and passed her on to someone he was sure would take care of her.
Ok added to my bucket list...to watch everything he's ever done. Sadly, not all his theatre is on film. Tim Dalton's work is on my list too. They are blood brothers imo.
I. M. There are recordings on vinyl I have The National Theatres presentation of Congreve’s Love for Love Laurence Olivier Geraldine McEwan Colin Blakey Lynn Redgrave among others
olivier is wonderful and it is a great interview but tynan isnt of emotion and misses a chance to get good things from olivier of his emotions. after watching the first clip of himself, olivier was inwardly crying and tynan went straight over it. maybe it is a british thing of ignoring emotion and tynan knowingly did it. but tynan missed a chance to go deeper, to go on a more emotional level with olivier. tynan is very interesting, even intriguing, but he's hard, pent up. and can be annoying. Also, tynan was not good to vivien leigh. he was always very critical of her. in a quick interview with her, tynan was maddeningly over-analytical and argumentative with leigh. it is on utube. tynan can be rigid. although tynan greatly respects olivier's acting greatness, maybe tynan is secretly in love with olivier. i hate the way tynan misses alot of things because he keeps staying on his own linear path and interest. olivier mentions some great physical regimine he had to do for the role, and tynan is hardly listening as he already hops to the next question. tynan should have asked what the huge physical regimine was. tynan is a ceaseless chain smoker. that tells alot about him: Tynan suppresses alot of his being. Olivier was incredible in the Entertainer. of course this is an invaluable interview.
''Olivier was inwardly crying...'' because he thought his acting was rubbish and was ashamed of it!... According to his autobiography. And he was divorced from Vivien Leigh by this time and very happily married to Joan Plowright. Also it IS/WAS a British thing to ignore emotion and Olivier certainly would not have gone deeper. It is important to set this interview in its own time 1966 and not superimpose todays ' kiss n tell- all' chatshow entertainment onto a different era. I think it was David Niven who really started the more open style of interviews with the stars in the 1970's. I agree though that this is an invaluable interview. Tynan was bisexual so may have been in love with Olivier....and maybe other stars he knew. That's life!
@@Steve-km3nt Yeah, I have read some things myself about Olivier and wife #3. Actress Sarah Miles has written a biography where she has said that she had an off and on again relationship with Olivier for years when he was married to Joan Plowright. The Olivier estate or Plowright never bothered to sue over it. Wonder why? Certainly not defending Tynan. Also have read where Tynan's daughter said that she thought Tynan was possibly infatuated with Olivier, and considered VL a rival. lol Of course, it's been said that Olivier was possibly bi. Look at the very persistent Danny Kaye rumors. Tynan also really went after Vivien Leigh about her stage work. Of course she didn't have the booming voice that Olivier did. But she was his match in cinema, and then some. However, after VL's and Olivier's divorce, actually I read where Tynan was rather decent to Vivien about her work in 'Ship of Fools' and Tovarich. And Vivien had Jack Merivale in her life. I think he was a lot better for her and more considerate of her than Olivier was.
Maybe a bit beside the point here but I much prefer Kenneth Brannagh's version of the St Crispian Day speech. Olivier's delivery of most things generally seemed to me to fall somewhere between a little to a lot over the top. Occasionally that could be fun, e.g. as dentist to be avoided, in Marathon Man.
Well, if HE didn't then I don't know who did. Olivier chose him personally as play-chooser at The National. Tynan was an extraordinarily descriptive wordsmith and the most influential theatre critic of his generation. He certainly taught me how to review...
It's all surface assumption here. He's stammering and effete and that's enough for such prejudice. Except he was uniquely perceptive on so many theatrical productions and related topics...
Oh get over it. Smoking utterly rocks. Many great men and women smoked loads and produced fabulous work Try and stop being so judgemental, maybe get more het up about homelessness or child poverty. Just a thought.
@@JayJay-xd5lm Smoking does not utterly rock. It's horribly dangerous. I have fled the movies of today to the golden age of Hollywood, mainly black and white movies. I'm amazed at how everyone smokes and all the women wear or want mink coats. I'm glad all that went out of style.
Accidently watched this interview, a great one, but the other guy smoking like a train engine, never seen anyone smoking this much and on camera,...... Horrible
Olivier was a legend...the epicene and self-regarding Tynan is hard to watch, not least because his self-avowed (read his autobiography) obsession to make the theatre stay resolutely with the Left carved out a terrible tradition in which Leftist Woke politics came to govern theatre with a highly prejudiced (and myopic) rod of iron. God knows what good work from ignored playwrights bit the dust - 'pre-cancelled' before it was cancelled, as it were.... I don't think Olivier would have stood for this but he was, by then, too old and too lionised to see what was happening.
Olivier was a Genius - no ifs, ands, or buts . That said, he was a product of the sequence of great actors who had come before him as a result of renaissance intellectual explosion in Britain. To paraphrase another great Brit - Olivier stood "on the shoulders of giants" that came before him.
Brando was the genius. Olivier was a great architect. Olivier had the discipline to direct, produce and act. Brando couldn’t cope with the pressure of the show biz to do everything. And I think he didn’t have the discipline. I will say that I would have loved to have seen Olivier direct Brando in Othello. Brando would have been a better Othello than Olivier. He would have completely forgotten about Iago.
The clarity of his classy, brilliant mind shines through. His modesty, his generosity are just beautiful to behold. In a world where values have collapsed and discourse has become so vulgar this man shines like a beacon inspiring us to reach for excellence and our better nature where so much profound beauty is waiting to be aroused.
I just love listening to him. He represents the very best of the British.
Nice comment, Richard. What you say is absolutely right, and resonates with me. I'm an English actor and playwright, and often wonder who I'm writing for, as the general standard has fallen so much over the last few years, most can't even understand the words I use!! And almost everyone wants the speech to be speeded up.The same with the acting profession. Deplorable. I watched an interview with Orsen Welles on the dick cavett show the other week. Superb. Same with the Vivien leigh interviews. Doesn't exist anymore. And I'm just referring to intelligent , measured conversation. A renaissance is desperately required. All the best for London, Noel
Most films today are not well written. I don't know about Orson Wells, but the other actors mentioned were also stage actors. I think it takes more intelligence to act on stage because it's live. It's like walking a tight rope without a net.
@@hermesnoelthefourthway Noel
Alas I only saw your reply to my Olivier comments today! I hope your career as actor and writer are going well in spite of the obstacles you refer to.
I agree that watching Vivien Leigh and Orson Welles interviews are jewels in the crown. I watched Welles marvellous speech in Moby Dick last night just to be touched and inspired by his magnificence. Incidentally I got a glimpse in the scene of Sam Kydd whose son Jonathan was a close friend of mine at St Paul's.
Every generation laments the decline in values of the succeeding generation. I share your great dismay. I live in Hollywood and have tried to balance a daily life in a culture that is rather repugnant to me with hiding away at home and creating my own reality based on the values and cultural interests I hold dear. Nothing else one can do! But youtube is a great resource for inspiration and treasures such as this interview do make my world a bit brighter.
All the very best to you.
@@Richard-hv5hh Hello , Richard , what a great comment yours is. Says it all. Thank you. Yes . There is a major change in attitudes and the way people express themselves
from generation to generation . But I've never known anything as severe and dumb downed as the last few generations. It is rather concerning for the few of us left who appreciate elegance , taste , and articulate conversation. I'm in a vastly cultural changed and highly challenged and challenging London at the moment. And my way of dealing with it : I spend most of my time in my apartment. I study the teaching of a mystic writer from the early to mid 20th century named George Gurdjieff. And on the insistence of a lovely lady friend from Cody , Wyoming , I started my own RUclips channel sharing my love of the arts , fine conversation. And my study of the gurdjieff work. I'm grateful to say , doing this has introduced me to some of the loveliest people I've ever met . Mainly American people. It's very beautiful to make connections and establish friendship with kindred spirits. Especially with what is happening to society and culture these days.
So , on a positive note , even in this cultural wasteland we can and do find those who are nor part of this and are interested in the finer things in life. We're still here.
All the best , Richard ,
Noel
@@hermesnoelthefourthway
Noel,
Please send me the link to your youtube channel and podcast link. Look forward to meeting you there!
I would listen to Laurence Olivier read a 1,000 page book on tape, if I could. His voice is amazing.
Try to get a hold of his reading of the Bible made in early 1960's. About 8 and a half hours and too short.
A voice you are listening with full attention) My favorite voice of actor.
What a wonderful interview, thank you! It's great to hear Olivier and Tynan talking at length and in detail.
I know, a vanished world. Loving your name, don't know if you'll ever come across this. Don't if you've read any of the other comments full of horror at the thought If any one ( even back in time) smoking a cigarette or even two).
Kenneth Tynan smokes throughout and was of course a genius.
Should of course read 'Dont Know.
Enough already.
What a feast of Theatre!
We r fortunate to watch & listen to Sir Lawrence ! His voice modulation and diction and pauses..Amazing indeed!
Shakespeare wud hav been happy to experience him..
An unusually frank interview revealing, in detail, aspects of the working practice and psychology of a masterful acting genius. Larry's acute attention to the idiosyncrasies of human behaviour remains legendary for the profession but equally philosophically for psychologists, ministers and all those concerned with the depths and intricate complexity of human characterisation as projected through the experiences of life and death. R. I. P.
@Gatto Di Ossa NO! I THINK YOUR EGREGIOUS VITRIOL IS SYMPTOMATIC AND SPEAKS VOLUMES ABOUT YOUR OWN PSYCHOLOGICAL DEFICITS RATHER THAN THOSE OF NADIM!
PERSONALLY, I FAVOR NADIM'S APPROACH OVER YOUR AD HOMINEM LOONY OUTBURST!
The greatest English-speaking actor of the 20th century, interviewed by one of the best English-speaking theater critics of those years --
Not only a brilliant actor but multifaceted. So rare a quality
Brilliant. Days long gone.
I ALWAYS loved his VOICE ........
Thanks so much for posting this! I've seen much of it in extracts over the years, but didn't think I'd ever get to see the entire interview. It's the best Olivier interview I've ever come across. I never before heard him speak so specifically, & in such vivid detail about his approach to acting. Lots of people find Ken Tynan hard to take, but he adored Olivier & he really knew the theatre & the man. Talking to him, Olivier is more at ease & therefore much more forthcoming than was his wont. And, as I mentioned, I never heard him converse so eloquently.
He is truly Remarkable; what a brilliant couple they must have been.. 💜💜
Wow! Bravo! Just amazing. Thank you, for making this available.
We had the Branagh Henry V on tv which was good. The following week we had the Olivier one and you were there with him!! (despite the cardboard sets and being made in WW2)
Awesome thanks Roman an appropiate birthday gift for Larry
St Margarets Church is close by Oxford st and is a beautiful place. It had a tiny school cleverly built into the tiny plot. Tynan deserves more credit here. He admired Olivier greatly.
Thank you for a wonderful post. Like a drink of water in the blazing desert. Olivier was my idol. I was criticized for building my characters from the outside in and I would say, "If it's good enuf for Olivier it's good enuf for me."
Same. Been obsessed with the man at least since 1983 when I was a 17 year old aspiring actor. I've read everything I could get my hands on about him.
@@kennethwayne6857 Same with me altho, looking back at some of his Shakespearean roles, he' a little over the top. One oustanding thespian said he was the last of the old guard. When I did a semester study in London, I tried to meet with him, looking up his address in Who's Who. Wrote to his 'club' and London address. I receieved a lovely note from his secretary on Lord Laurence Olivier headed stationary, thanking me for asking after his health and my compliments but told me it would be "impossible to meet with him." Lord only knows what I would have said to him. I did get to meet John Gielgud and get his autograph. I was an aspiring actor too.
@@mattdeans9873 Don't know if I would have had the cheek to do the same. Perhaps, I'd like to think so. As it was, I wrote him a long, rambling letter sometime late in '85. Several months later, I received an autographed photo in an envelope with the same handwriting on front. Still have them of course, and wouldn't sell them for a million. And yes, in some of the Shakespeare roles he's a little over the top and thank God for that. A trip in a time machine to a lost era of acting and I wouldn't have it any other way!
The Greatest Actor of All Time... Laurence Lord Olivier...
You might be interested to know, Olivier put another actor, Charles Laughton above him. Shows his greatness and modesty.
Fascinating! Thank you for sharing!
Thank you for sharing!
Such intelligent and sweet person. The fact I really like that it is his usually voice and not just acting voice.
i do know about Sir Laurence Olivier when he was 13 years old he never got over the death his mother.
L.O. was a very articulate genius!
I love the way that whoever wrote the screen adaptation saw fit to conflate all the soliloquies together in the one opening scene! Masterful, because, while preserving all the lovely language and imagery, it leaves the film free of action- eroding asides that visually m of the half the spare forward progress. What works on the stage can impede in the film and vice versa.
And I have trouble remembering my own phone number...what a talent!
The Greatest Actor in the World
Wonderful interview.
My favorite age of Sir Laurence 💜
Listen to Peter Sellers version of Hard Days Night ?
Sounds more like Olivier than Olivier ...
7:48 Olivier putting Tynan in his place.
Olivier was and still is the greatest actor in the history of theater and films. Diana Bell 12/23rd,16
@@johnmulligan455 All of the British stage and film actors have always tried to become as great as Sir Laurence and you may not think he is the greatest, but Burton,Hopkins,Daniel day-Lewis and Marlon Brando have taken note and lessons from Olivier to become great actors,but Olivier is the greatest actor that has ever lived!
Maybe theater, but he was not the greatest actor in history in films. He was often too theatrical in film.
If it weren't for the noted thespian Percy Helton, I would agree with you !
@@johnmulligan455 is there no room in your list for the present king of the theatre,the prince of plays,the Doge of the dramatic,Steven Toast,perhaps more widely known as Toast of London.his recent rendering of Iago,left audiences wide eyed,speechless and sunk hopelessly in a miasmic expanse of self identifying plasma.thes were the words of the respected Guardian theatre critic Mohammed Kingsley crapper.who using those words and many others tried and was inevitably fated to fail to capture that indefinable indeed almost supernatural quality which suffuses a toasting,this is a term coined by toast afficionados to describe the condition some theatre goers are in,at the conclusion of a toast performance.
John Mulligan agreed Olivier does not touch the greatest actors of all time. We would be here all day as I could list and point out research that backs me up.
Kenneth Tynan is spot on.
Yes!
Great
Oliver and Burton the best actors ever
I doubt I'd have found writing the essay an enjoyably challenging experience if it wasn't for Tynan...
I'm somewhat surprised that Laurence Olivier would give Kenneth Tynan the time of day after what the critic used to write about Vivian Leigh.
An engrossing interview nonetheless and actually resembles something intelligent!
You would be suprised how much he actually valued ken's opinion. Any real man would not give the time of day to anyone who slights his wife. Shows what was more important to larry.
Not merely 'resembles', but is, this IS intelligence
@Alex Davies
Is it possible Olivier agreed with Tynan's criticism?
@@YouzTube99 Supposedly Olivier was peeved about the criticism at first. Until Tynan and Olivier went on to become great friends.
Funny thing about it, a number of their friends such as John Mills and John Geilgud thought Tynan's criticism went well above and beyond what was merited. It sounded personal. Who knows if Olivier was okay with it, considering how competetive the couple were. Although I will say I have read where after VL and Olivier's divorce, Tynan was much less critical of VL and actually gave her good reviews for "Ship of Fools" and her work in the play Tovarich which she received a Tony for.
Tynan's daughter wrote a book implying that Tynan was infatuated with Olivier and treated VL as a rival. Lol
No doubt VL's two Academy Awards and her stage work can stand on its own. VL herself knew that she didn't have the booming voice that Olivier and others had, for being on stage. Interesting tidbit that when Olivier was married to Joan Plowright, and Tynan offered up some rare criticism of Olivier's stagework, Plowright mentioned that Olivier was outraged over it. So I guess it's a matter of whose ox is being gored.
@@terrihilder8217
Thanks for the additional info/insight.
I continue to have to remind myself that those who work in the unforgiving glare of a public spotlight may be very different in their personal lives.
The American chat show host Dick Cavett lamented that he was never able to get the Larry he knew off camera to stop being Sir Laurence on camera.
Alec Guiness was famously mistrustful of Olivier, saying in his diary: "I greatly admired his extraordinary courage … as a comedian he was superb … technically brilliant … he was a great actor." "Like so many people whose ambition drive them to great eminence, he had a cruel and destructive streak. Side by side with his generosity, he could be unpleasant, possibly even vindictive. Consciously or not, he made attempts to destroy John G [Gielgud], [Michael] Redgrave, [Paul] Scofield and if he had been given the chance, me."
Really. That's not good to hear. He did say that Charles Laughton was a better actor than him.
They were cruel with my Dear Vivien Leigh. My support always with her!
You got that backwards. Vivien Leigh, a beautiful woman and great actress, unfortunately suffered from bipolar disorder. She gave Olivier a very hard time and cheated on him. Olivier stood it for 20 years, then couldn't take it any more and passed her on to someone he was sure would take care of her.
Crispin day speech from Henry V probably more rousing than any speech by Churchill
@Gatto Di Ossa What the hell do YOU know about Churchill?
O. reminds me physically of K. Branagh. Though O. started out anyway with fuller lips.
With Larry, it often veered between a juicy steak done to perfection, and a somewhat stale, dry ham. done to death..
Pretty manic pic of him
He was very posh. As in "...I'm just orf to the lavatory me ducks"
I was half expecting Olivier to say "you never go full retard" when playing Othello.
Ok added to my bucket list...to watch everything he's ever done. Sadly, not all his theatre is on film.
Tim Dalton's work is on my list too. They are blood brothers imo.
I. M. There are recordings on vinyl I have The National Theatres presentation of Congreve’s Love for Love
Laurence Olivier Geraldine McEwan Colin Blakey Lynn Redgrave among others
olivier is wonderful and it is a great interview but tynan isnt of emotion and misses a chance to get good things from olivier of his emotions. after watching the first clip of himself, olivier was inwardly crying and tynan went straight over it. maybe it is a british thing of ignoring emotion and tynan knowingly did it. but tynan missed a chance to go deeper, to go on a more emotional level with olivier. tynan is very interesting, even intriguing, but he's hard, pent up. and can be annoying. Also, tynan was not good to vivien leigh. he was always very critical of her. in a quick interview with her, tynan was maddeningly over-analytical and argumentative with leigh. it is on utube. tynan can be rigid. although tynan greatly respects olivier's acting greatness, maybe tynan is secretly in love with olivier. i hate the way tynan misses alot of things because he keeps staying on his own linear path and interest. olivier mentions some great physical regimine he had to do for the role, and tynan is hardly listening as he already hops to the next question. tynan should have asked what the huge physical regimine was. tynan is a ceaseless chain smoker. that tells alot about him: Tynan suppresses alot of his being. Olivier was incredible in the Entertainer. of course this is an invaluable interview.
''Olivier was inwardly crying...'' because he thought his acting was rubbish and was ashamed of it!... According to his autobiography. And he was divorced from Vivien Leigh by this time and very happily married to Joan Plowright. Also it IS/WAS a British thing to ignore emotion and Olivier certainly would not have gone deeper. It is important to set this interview in its own time 1966 and not superimpose todays ' kiss n tell- all' chatshow entertainment onto a different era. I think it was David Niven who really started the more open style of interviews with the stars in the 1970's. I agree though that this is an invaluable interview. Tynan was bisexual so may have been in love with Olivier....and maybe other stars he knew. That's life!
@@Zebradeen I suspect his marriage to Plowright was not as happy as you believe.
@@Steve-km3nt Yeah, I have read some things myself about Olivier and wife #3. Actress Sarah Miles has written a biography where she has said that she had an off and on again relationship with Olivier for years when he was married to Joan Plowright. The Olivier estate or Plowright never bothered to sue over it. Wonder why? Certainly not defending Tynan. Also have read where Tynan's daughter said that she thought Tynan was possibly infatuated with Olivier, and considered VL a rival. lol Of course, it's been said that Olivier was possibly bi. Look at the very persistent Danny Kaye rumors. Tynan also really went after Vivien Leigh about her stage work. Of course she didn't have the booming voice that Olivier did. But she was his match in cinema, and then some. However, after VL's and Olivier's divorce, actually I read where Tynan was rather decent to Vivien about her work in 'Ship of Fools' and Tovarich.
And Vivien had Jack Merivale in her life. I think he was a lot better for her and more considerate of her than Olivier was.
Pretty obvious that Tynan fancied LO, judging by his reaction to LO’s pinky touching his forehead.
This was 1966. Nobody interviewed like that.
Maybe a bit beside the point here but I much prefer Kenneth Brannagh's version of the St Crispian Day speech. Olivier's delivery of most things generally seemed to me to fall somewhere between a little to a lot over the top. Occasionally that could be fun, e.g. as dentist to be avoided, in Marathon Man.
38:30
That nasty Kenneth, he didn't deserve to interview the great Laurence Olivier, his presence is unwelcome to me
Well, if HE didn't then I don't know who did. Olivier chose him personally as play-chooser at The National. Tynan was an extraordinarily descriptive wordsmith and the most influential theatre critic of his generation. He certainly taught me how to review...
There's a lot of ill will towards Kenneth Tynan here, why is that? I know nothing about him.
It's all surface assumption here. He's stammering and effete and that's enough for such prejudice. Except he was uniquely perceptive on so many theatrical productions and related topics...
@@_Singularity_ He was, even by the standards of an English lecherous elite, depraved, impulsively sadomasochistic, and worst of all, predictable.
Well done, Mark Andresen. I wouldn't have known how to respond to that vacuity. But it did need a response.
1916///
I want to snatch that cigarette. That smoke is annoying.
Oh get over it. Smoking utterly rocks. Many great men and women smoked loads and produced fabulous work
Try and stop being so judgemental, maybe get more het up about homelessness or child poverty. Just a thought.
@@JayJay-xd5lm Smoking does not utterly rock. It's horribly dangerous. I have fled the movies of today to the golden age of Hollywood, mainly black and white movies. I'm amazed at how everyone smokes and all the women wear or want mink coats. I'm glad all that went out of style.
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Smoking whilst interviewing, how strange and awful, even for 1966, a wonderful man and actor.
Really, that's what you took away from it. Everyone smoked in those days.
Accidently watched this interview, a great one, but the other guy smoking like a train engine, never seen anyone smoking this much and on camera,...... Horrible
Welcome to 1966 pal.
Yeah this wasn’t unusual at all in 1966
Hate, hate, hate Tynan and his cruelty to Vivien Leigh. Olivier should have horsewhipped Tynan, but no doubt the idolatry fed his ego.
I much prefer Richard Burton
Thank God those dreadful lisping accents have died back a bit.
Olivier was a legend...the epicene and self-regarding Tynan is hard to watch, not least because his self-avowed (read his autobiography) obsession to make the theatre stay resolutely with the Left carved out a terrible tradition in which Leftist Woke politics came to govern theatre with a highly prejudiced (and myopic) rod of iron. God knows what good work from ignored playwrights bit the dust - 'pre-cancelled' before it was cancelled, as it were.... I don't think Olivier would have stood for this but he was, by then, too old and too lionised to see what was happening.
Better Left than Far Right or horribile dictu, MAGA.