Olivier Quotes

I always loved how people like Jon Voight and Laurence Olivier shocked you every time they came on-screen. They were so different each time. That's what I hope to do with acting - be the chameleon and not get stuck in a type. (Julia Stiles)
I worked with Lawrence Olivier some years ago. He was a great mentor. View quote
Anthony Hopkins
Yes, it's true, I've been called the Laurence Olivier of spoofs. I guess that would make Laurence Olivier the Leslie Nielsen of Shakespeare. View quote
Leslie Nielsen
Acting is all about big hair and funny props... All the great actors knew it. Olivier knew it, Brando knew it. View quote
Harold Ramis
Olivier said that drama is an affair of the heart, or it's nothing, and he was right. View quote
Pam Gems
But as I grew up as a child, falling in love with the theater and Shakespeare, my heroes were Sir Laurence Olivier and Sir John Gielgud. View quote
Patrick Stewart
I've never told anyone this, but I suffer from terrible stage fright. True. You can't tell though, can you? Unbelievable, the panic. I nearly die of fear before I go on stage. Something wicked. I can't eat a thing the day before a gig. It'd make me vomit. Once I come off? I could eat a scampied elephant between two buttered mattresses. But I'm kinda glad about the stage fright. I've read Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud about their terror. And I reckon it's what gets the adrenalin going. View quote
John Lydon
He should have been in the same rank as Laurence Olivier, but he was very wild and had a scandal around him all the time and I think in theater circles that would not be approved of. View quote
Richard Burton
Every speech, for Olivier, is like a mass of marble at which the sculptor chips away until its essential form and meaning are revealed. No matter how ignoble the character he plays, the result is always noble as a work of art. View quote
Kenneth Tynan
I played Othello, but I didn't sit around thinking how Laurence Olivier did it when he played it. That wouldn't do me any good. View quote
Denzel Washington
I started being interested in acting when I heard the voices of Sir Laurence Olivier and Sir John Gielgud and Sir Alec Guinness. I've had the great privilege of working with Sir Derek Jacobi and Sir Anthony Hopkins. These are people who inspire the work that I do. (Kenneth Branagh)
I'm better than Olivier. View quote
Robert Duvall
I think my best work has been in France with great men. It's been my great fortune to work with really great men - with Olivier Assayas, Raoul Ruiz, Jacques Rivette. I am tutored by them. View quote
Emmanuelle Beart
Don't you understand how dramatic it is to be a comic? To be a fool, to get people to laugh at this show-off? Milton Berle could take Laurence Olivier and stick him under the table if he wanted to. And so could I. View quote
Jerry Lewis
A fan once stopped me outside a theatre and gave me as a gift a signed photograph of Sir Laurence Olivier. It was strange, but nice, too. View quote
David Alan Basche
Olivier was another case of a genius, who couldn't understand why anybody would have any trouble doing this, because for him it came so easily. View quote
James Lipton
I figure there are a few actors like Marlon Brando, George C. Scott and Laurence Olivier who have been touched by the hand of God. I'm in the next bunch. View quote
John Forsythe
I swore on screen when I got the Olivier for 'Legally Blonde,' I was so surprised. Awards where the public vote mean a lot. I'm a big Twitter fan and like talking to people who support me. View quote
Sheridan Smith
I wanted to be Laurence Olivier, basically, to be a great classical actor, and also be able to do modern things. View quote
Stacy Keach
Daniel Day-Lewis is one of the greatest actors of our age; he's like Olivier. He's one of those people who can take you into a place where no one else can take you. View quote
Sam Taylor-Wood
Laurence Olivier said in an interview once that when he plays a tragedy he always aims for the funny parts, and the other way around. Because in a comedy you look for what's serious. I think that's true. Sometimes things are really funny if you're absolutely earnest. If you're really serious, it's hilarious. (Christopher Walken)
When I came into the acting profession, it was quite hierarchical. You didn't sit at the same table as the leading actor. Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir John Gielgud... these were very, very intimidating and powerful people. View quote
Helen Mirren
Burton ‘was now the natural successor to Olivier. View quote
Richard Burton