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[May 1958, on playing Macbeth at age 30 and age 48] When you're a young man, Macbeth is a character part. When you're older, it's a straight part.

Laurence Olivier

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Laurence Olivier
Age: 82 †
Born: 1907
Born: May 22
Died: 1989
Died: July 11
Actor
Character Actor
Director
Dramaturge
Film Actor
Film Director
Film Producer
Politician
Screenwriter
Stage Actor
Television Actor
Dorking
Surrey
Baron Olivier of Brighton
The Lord Olivier
Older
Playing
Age
Part
Young
Character
Macbeth
Men
Theatre
Straight

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Life is enthusiasm, zest.
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Have a very good reason for everything you do.
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We have all, at one time or another, been performers, and many of us still are - politicians, playboys, cardinals and kings.
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I'm rather bored by the subject - meaning me. It's a sort of a yoke, but at times you know, a yoke is a kind of comfort. And it's always there.
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I believe that in a great city, or even in a small city or a village, a great theater is the outward and visible sign of an inward and probable culture.
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There is a spirit in us that makes our brass to blare and our cymbals crash-all, of course, supported by the practicalities of trained lung power, throat, heart, guts.
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In spite of a heavy disguise, a few days' growth on my face, dark glasses, a beret and one of William's jackets that fitted me not at all, as I emerged from a hotel in Lecce, a young fisherman pointed me out to his friends and said Lavrenche Olivaire. It was not all that amazing if you're not known in Italy, you're not known anywhere.
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You must have - besides intuition and sensitivity - a cutting edge that allows you to reach what you need. Also, you have to know life - bastards included - and it takes a bit of one to know one, don't you think?
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Lead the audience by the nose to the thought.
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We used to have actresses trying to become stars now we have stars trying to become actresses.
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If he was lost for a moment, he would dive straight back into its honey.
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What is acting but lying and what is good lying but convincing lying?
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Living is strife and torment, disappointment and love and sacrifice, golden sunsets and black storms. I said that some time ago, and today I do not think I would add one word.
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Art is a little bit larger than life - it's an exhalation of life and I think you probably need a little touch of madness.
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Scratch an actor and you'll find an actor.
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Striving for perfection is the greatest stopper there is. You'll be afraid you can't achieve it. It's your excuse to yourself for not doing anything. Instead, strive for excellence, doing your best.
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Autograph-hunting is the most unattractive manifestation of sex-starved curiosity.
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Work is life for me, it is the only point of life - and with it there is almost religious belief that service is everything.
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I believe in the theater I believe in it as the first glamorizer of thought. It restores dramatic dynamics and their relations to life size.
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