Trivia: Laurence Olivier -- Sir Laurence after 1947, Lord Laurence after 1970 -- has been variously lauded as the greatest Shakespearean interpreter of the 20th century, the greatest classical actor of the era, and the greatest actor of his generation. Although his career took a rather desperate turn toward the end when he seemed willing to appear in almost anything, the bulk of Olivier's 60-year career stands as a sterling example of extraordinary craftsmanship. Olivier was the son of an Anglican minister, who, despite his well-documented severity, was an unabashed theater lover, enthusiastically encouraging young Olivier to give acting a try. The boy made his first public appearance at age nine, playing Brutus in an All Saint's production of Julius Caesar. No member of the audience was more impressed than actress Dame Sybil Thorndike, who knew then and there that Olivier had what it took. Much has been made of the fact that the 15-year-old Olivier played Katherine in a St. Edward's School production of The Taming of the Shrew; there was, however, nothing unusual at the time for males to play females in all-boy schools. (For that matter, the original Shakespeare productions in the 16th and 17th centuries were strictly stag.) Besides, Olivier was already well versed in playing female roles, having previously played Maria in Twelfth Night. Two years after The Taming of the Shrew, he enrolled at the Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, where one of his instructors was Claude Rains. Olivier made his professional London debut the same year in The Suliot Officer, and joined the Birmingham Repertory in 1926; by the time Olivier was 20, he was playing leads. His subsequent West End stage triumphs included Journey's End and Private Lives. In 1929, he made his film debut in the German-produced A Temporary Widow. He married actress Jill Esmond in 1930, and moved with her to America when Private Lives opened on Broadway. Signed to a Hollywood contract by RKO in 1931, Olivier was promoted as "the new Ronald Colman," but he failed to make much of an impression onscreen. By the time Greta Garbo insisted that he be replaced by John Gilbert in her upcoming Queen Christina (1933), Olivier was disenchanted with the movies and vowed to remain on-stage. He graduated to full-fledged stardom in 1935, when he was cast as Romeo in John Gielgud's London production of Romeo and Juliet. (He also played Mercutio on the nights Gielgud assumed the leading role himself.) It was around this time that Olivier reportedly became fascinated with the works of Sigmund Freud, which led to his applying a "psychological" approach to all future stage and screen characters. Whatever the reason, Olivier's already superb performances improved dramatically, and, before long, he was being judged on his own merits by London critics, and not merely compared (often disparagingly) to Gielgud or Ralph Richardson. It was in collaboration with his friend Richardson that Olivier directed his first play in 1936, which was also the year he made his first Shakespearean film, playing Orlando in Paul Czinner's production of As You Like It. Now a popular movie leading man, Olivier starred in such pictures as Fire Over England (1937), 21 Days (1938), The Divorce of Lady X (1938), and Q Planes (1939). He returned to Hollywood in 1939 to star as Heathcliff in Samuel Goldwyn's glossy (and financially successful) production of Wuthering Heights, earning the first of 11 Oscar nominations. He followed this with leading roles in Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940),Pride and Prejudice (1940), and Alexander Korda's That Hamilton Woman (1941), co-starring in the latter with his second wife, Vivien Leigh. Returning to England during World War II, Olivier served as a parachute officer in the Royal Navy. Since he was stationed at home, so to speak, he was also able to serve as co-director (with Ralph Richardson) of the Old Vic. His most conspicuous contribution to the war effort was his joyously jingoistic film production of Henry V (1944), for which he served as producer, director, and star. Like all his future film directorial efforts, Henry V pulled off the difficult trick of retaining its theatricality without ever sacrificing its cinematic values. Henry V won Olivier an honorary Oscar, not to mention major prizes from several other corners of the world. Knighthood was bestowed upon him in 1947, and he served up another celluloid Shakespeare the same year, producing, directing and starring in Hamlet. This time he won two Oscars: one for his performance, the other for the film itself. The '50s was a transitional decade for Olivier: While he had his share of successes -- his movie singing debut in The Beggar's Opera (1953), his 1955 adaptation of Richard III -- he also suffered a great many setbacks, both personal (his disintegrating relationship with Vivien Leigh) and professional (1957's The Prince and the Showgirl, which failed despite the seemingly unbeatable combination of Olivier's directing and Marilyn Monroe's star performance). In 1956, Olivier boldly reinvented himself as the seedy, pathetically out-of-step music hall comic Archie Rice in the original stage production of John Osborne's The Entertainer. It was a resounding success, both on-stage and on film, and Olivier reprised his role in a 1960 film version directed by Tony Richardson. Thereafter, Olivier deliberately sought out such challenging, image-busting roles as the ruthless, bisexual Crassus in Spartacus (1960) and the fanatical Mahdi in Khartoum (1965). He also achieved a measure of stability in his private life in 1961 when he married actress Joan Plowright. In 1962, he was named the artistic director of Britain's National Theatre, a post he held for ten years. To periodically replenish the National's threadbare bank account, Olivier began accepting roles that were beneath him artistically, but which paid handsomely; in the early '70s, he even hawked Polaroid cameras on television. During this period, he was far more comfortable before the cameras than in the theater, suffering as he was from a mysterious bout of stage fright. He also committed two more directorial efforts to film, Othello (1965) and Dance of Death (1968), both of which were disappointingly stage-bound. In 1970, he became Lord Olivier and assumed a seat in the House of Lords the following year. Four years later, suffering from a life-threatening illness, he made his last stage appearance. From 1974 until his death in 1989, he seemingly took whatever film job was offered him, ostensibly to provide an income for his family, should the worst happen. Some colleagues, like director John Schlesinger, were disillusioned by Olivier's mercenary approach to his work. Others, like Entertainer director Tony Richardson, felt that Olivier was not really a sellout as much as he was what the French call a cabotin -- not exactly a ham: a performer, a vulgarian, someone who lives and dies for acting. Amidst such foredoomed projects as The Jazz Singer (1980) and Inchon (1981), Olivier was still capable of great things, as shown by his work in such TV productions as 1983's Mister Halpern and Mister Johnson and, in 1984, King Lear and Voyage Round My Father. In 1979, he was once more honored at Academy Awards time, receiving an honorary Oscar "for the full body of his work." His last appearance was in the 1988 film War Requiem.

Trivia: A blonde German leading lady, her stage career began in Zurich in 1919, then she put in appearances all over Europe and on Broadway, gaining an international reputation as one of the finest actresses of her time; she became a favorite of celebrated German stage director Max Reinhardt. Bergner's film career began in Germany in 1923, leading to great success there in fey gamine roles until Hitler's rise to power in 1933; then she and her husband, German film director Dr. Paul Czinner (who directed most of her films to that point), moved to England, where she continued her stage and screen work. Her performance as Rosalind in As You Like It (1936), directed by Czinner, was the raison d'etre for the movie -- Bergner having done it successfully on-stage in Germany -- but her German accent and mannered acting were considered detriments to what was otherwise a potentially fine film. In his 1986 autobiography A Life In Movies, director Michael Powell revealed that Bergner was originally cast in his 1941 film 49th Parallel in the role of Anna, the young Hutterite girl, and contrived to be brought to Canada to shoot the exteriors and long shots of her scenes (the other British-based stars used doubles for their Canadian scenes). But while in Canada, she slipped across the border into the United States and refused to return to England to shoot her scenes -- as a result, the role was re-cast with Glynis Johns, and became something of a breakthrough for her, while Bergner didn't return to movies until 1952.After the war she took up an international stage career again and occasionally appeared in German films. Bergner was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for her work in Escape Me Never (1935), which was also a stage vehicle of hers. She appeared in only one Hollywood production, the unsuccessful Paris Calling (1941) with Randolph Scott; her last film was the German The Pentecost Outing (1979).

Trivia: Distinguished British actor Henry Ainley first worked as a bank accountant. In 1900, he debuted on the London stage and went on to become one of British theatre's most prominent actors. In 1914, he became one of the first stage actors to appear in film. Soon after his feature film debut,Ainley became a star. He is the father of actor Richard Ainley.

Trivia: The son of British stage star Henry Ainley, Richard Ainley made his own theatrical debut in 1928. At first he billed himself as Richard Riddle, presumably to avoid accusations of nepotism. He made his first film appearance in 1936, playing Sylvius in Paul Czinner's production of As You Like It (his father also appeared in the film as the Grand Duke). Signed to a Hollywood contract by Warner Bros. in 1940, he spent most of the war years playing stereotypical "Brits," usually gentlemen of leisure. Richard Ainley ended his movie career in 1949 to concentrate on his stage work.

Trivia: British actor Felix Aylmer may not be popularly known in the United States, but his was one of the longest and most prestigious careers in the 20th-century British theatre. Aylmer's first stage work was done with another theatrical giant, Sir Seymour Hicks, in 1911. Two years later, Aylmer was engaged by the then-new Birmingham Repertory, premiering as Orsino ("If music be the food of love...") in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. After World War I service, Aylmer established himself as one of the foremost interpreters of the works of George Bernard Shaw; he also concentrated on the London productions of such American plays as Abraham Lincoln and Robert E. Lee (no partisanship here!) Aylmer made his Broadway bow in a production of Galsworthy's Loyalties, periodically returning to the states in such plays as Flashing Stream, wherein he played First Lord of the Admiralty Walter Hornsby, which some regard as his finest performance. Like most British actors, Aylmer acted in plays to feed his soul and films to pay his bills. His motion picture debut was in Escape (1930), after which he averaged a picture a year. Aylmer was seen by American audiences in such internationally popular films as The Citadel (1938), Henry V (1944), Hamlet (1948), Quo Vadis (1951) and Separate Tables (1958). The actor was something of a hero to his fellow actors for his efforts in their behalf during his long tenure as president of British Equity, the performers' trade union; in 1965 Aylmer was knighted for his accomplishments. Active until his eighties, Sir Felix Aylmer made one of his last film appearances as the Judge in The Chalk Garden (1964), a role he'd originated on stage eight years earlier.

Trivia: Character actor Aubrey Mather launched his stage career in 1905, touring the British provinces until his 1909 London debut in Brewster's Millions. Ten years later, Mather made his first Broadway appearance in Luck of the Navy. In British films from 1931, he essayed such supporting roles as Corin in As You Like It. Moving to Hollywood in 1940, he worked with regularity at 20th Century-Fox, playing roles like Colonel Dent in Jane Eyre (1943), the Scotland Yard chief inspector in The Lodger (1944), and, best of all, mild-mannered Nazi spy Mr. Fortune in Careful Soft Shoulders (1942). Other assignments included Professor Peagram, one of the "seven dwarfs" in Goldwyn's Ball of Fire (1941), and James Forsyte in That Forsyte Woman (1949). Like his fellow Britons Arthur Treacher and Charles Coleman, Aubrey Mather is fondly remembered for his butler roles, notably Merriman in the British The Importance of Being Earnest (1952).

Trivia: Born in Ireland and educated in Switzerland, Austin Trevor fought for the British during WWI, then made his stage debut in America. In films from the early talkie era onward, Trevor gained a fan following with his appearances as Agatha Christie's dapper Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot in Alibi (1930) and Lord Edgeware Dies (1931). He also played A.E.W. Mason's Inspector Hanaud (a character very much in the Poirot mold) in the 1930 version of Mystery at the Villa Rose. Trevor's gift for foreign dialects kept him busy during the war years and after: In 1947, he played Vronsky in the Vivien Leigh version of Anna Karenina. On TV, he played Fowler in the sci-fi serial Quatermass 2. Austin Trevor remained active until 1966.

Trivia: Bantam-weight Scotsman John Laurie abandoned a career in architecture when he first stepped on stage in 1921. Laurie spent most of the next five decades playing surly, snappish types: the taciturn farmer who betrays fugitive Robert Donat in Hitchcock's The 39 Steps (1935), the repugnant Blind Pew in Disney's Treasure Island (1950) et. al. A friend and favorite of Laurence Olivier, Laurie showed up in all three of Olivier's major Shakespearean films. He played Captain Jamie in Henry V (1944), Francisco ("For this relief, much thanks") in Hamlet (1948) and Lord Lovel in Richard III (1955). Intriguingly, Olivier and Laurie portrayed the same historical character in two entirely different films. Both portrayed the Mahdi, scourge of General "Chinese" Gordon: Laurie essayed the part in The Four Feathers (1939), while Olivier played the role in Khartoum (1965). Millions of TV fans worldwide have enjoyed Laurie in the role of Fraser on the BBC sitcom Dad's Army. One of John Laurie's few starring assignments was in the 1935 film Edge of the World, set on the remote Shetland isle of Foula; 40 years later, a frail-looking Laurie was one of the participants in director Michael Powell's "reunion" documentary Return to the Edge of the World (1978).

Trivia: A handsome British actor/singer, Stuart Robertson was the brother of one of British cinema's great divas, Anna Neagle. In Hollywood from 1940, Robertson was Freddie the bandleader in Neagle's Irene and played both Stillwater pere et fils in No, No Nanette (1940), again opposite his famous sister. After playing the typical British soldier in such films as River's End (1940), Confirm and Deny (1941), and the nearly all-British Forever and a Day (1943), Robertson served in the Canadian navy before returning to England after V-E Day to become a producer/director with Imperadio Pictures.

Trivia: British actor Peter Bull made his stage debut in 1933 at age 21, his film debut one year later (The Silent Voice [1934]) and his Broadway bow the next year. He was brought to Hollywood for a small role in Marie Antoinette (1938), which costarred his lifelong friend and fellow Briton Robert Morley. In films, the corpulent Bull was often cast as unpleasant prosecuting attorneys, hard-hearted businessmen or officious government men (including the memorable camera-happy Russian ambassador de Sadasky in Dr. Strangelove [1963]); on stage, he enjoyed a wider variety of roles, and at one time ran his own repertory company. His career was put in abeyance for war service, during which he won the Distinguish Service Cross. Outside of his theatrical work, Bull was well known for his interest in astrology, and even better known for his fascination with teddy bears. He owned perhaps the world's largest and most valuable collection of teddies, and wrote several witty, informative books on the subject (one of his bears appeared prominently in the internationally popular TV serial Brideshead Revisited). Peter Bull died shortly after finishing his role in the movie Yellowbeard (1984), which also represented the last screen work of another prominent British performer, Marty Feldman.