Laurence Olivier

One of the finest British actors of all time, Olivier provided narration for The World at War.

Olivier's career as a stage and film actor spanned more than six decades and included a wide variety of roles on stage and screen. Famed in his early career for Shakespearean roles, including Othello and Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night, he went on to star in a number of diverse films including Wuthering Heights (1939), Rebecca (1940), Hamlet (1948), Spartacus (1960), Sleuth (1972) and Marathon Man (1976). He was the founding director (1962-73) of the British National Theatre and was hailed by many as the greatest actor of the 20th century.

Knighted in 1947, he was created a life peer in 1970 (the first actor to receive this distinction) and was admitted to the Order of Merit in 1981.