Great actors

“Acting is a question of absorbing other people’s personalities

and adding some of your own experience.”

P aul Newman (1925-2008)

Sir laurence olivier

Sir Laurence Olivier (1907-1989) was an English actor, director and producer. Olivier was the greatest actor in the English-speaking world of the 20th century. He is world famous for his outstanding artistic achievement in the theatre and cinema. He directed stage productions that are considered the most difficult ones in the world repertoire. He created more than 120 stage images. Olivier played a wide variety of roles on stage and screen from Greek tragedies, Shakespeare and comedies to modern American and British drama. Olivier had two Oscar awards (for Best Actor and Best Picture for the film “Hamlet” 1948).

He was constantly changing because he wanted to keep the audience awake. He followed the advice given many years ago by Feodor Chaliapin to an actor: “Never do what the audience expects you to do”. Major in acting Laurence Olivier considered: thorough knowledge of the play in which he was performing, artistic imagination, physical, intellectual and spiritual strength and an ability to identify with a role. He could not understand other actors who in the middle of their monologues about passion, power, death were wondering what they would like to have for supper. Olivier said: “If I am going to play a part, first of all, I ask myself what kind of man my character is, and what there is about him that might excite people. And if I could not imagine the entire man, the whole mind of the character, if I didn’t feel I am that man whom I am going to play, I wouldn’t be able to play; I wouldn’t have made an actor.”

With such a particular approach to acting it is no wonder that Olivier created many unforgettable characters, among them – Hamlet, Macbeth, Richard III, Doctor Astrov, Julius Caesar and others.

To display the character vividly, to make us feel what is happening, using different modulations of the voice, using particular but natural gestures, changing pace and expression, conveying emotion is a very difficult task for an actor. Olivier copes with it splendidly. His ability to take on the essence of the role is the key to his magic on the stage.

In 1999, the American Film Institute named Sir Laurence Olivier among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time, at number 14 on the list.

(From “Portrait of the Shakespeare Country” by J.C. Trewin)

Words & Expressions:

thorough knowledge – полное (совершенное) знание

to identify (with) – перевоплощаться

passion – страсть

to excite – волновать

an entire man – человек целиком, весь человек

made an actor – получился (вышел) актер

a particular approach – особенный подход

pace – походка

to cope (with) – справляться с

splendidly – великолепно, блестяще

magic – волшебство

to take on the essence of a role – перевоплощаться

Questions:

1. How many roles did L. Olivier play?

2. What role did he win Oscar award for?

3. What advice did Feodor Chaliapin give to the actor?

4. What was Olivier’s acting approach?

5. What characters did Olivier create?

6. What is the main task for an actor?