Surrey Hometown Celebrates Olivier's CentenaryDate: 14 May 2007
Celebrations marking 100 years since the birth of stage and screen icon Laurence Olivier (pictured) take place this week in Dorking, Surrey, where Olivier was born on 22 May 1907.
The Laurence Olivier Centenary Festival runs 15 to 30 May 2007 and will feature screenings of seven Olivier films at Dorking Halls. A free exhibition of photographs, playbills and memorabilia will run simultaneously at Denbies Wine Estate.
1948’s Hamlet will screen at 8pm on 16 May with Henry V (15 May), Richard III (24 May) and Othello (29 May) plus the 1939 adaptation of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights (22 May), which features Olivier as Heathcliff.
A discussion led by Olivier’s eldest son, Tarquin, will precede Wuthering Heights from 7.30pm, and the Theatre Museum’s Frances Hughes will host a lecture about Olivier’s life and works before the screening of Rebecca from 6.30pm on 20 May. Rebecca, which co-stars Joan Fontaine, will also screen at The Theatre in Leatherhead on 21 May at 2pm and 7.30pm.
Olivier (1907-1989) is Britain’s most famous and respected actor of the twentieth century and was made a Lord after helped to co-found the National Theatre. He brought life to more than 120 stage roles, including the Shakespearean greats, and starred in films that resulted in 12 acting, producing and directing Academy Award nominations.
His glamorous affair with Vivien Leigh and public battle with cancer without ceasing work endeared him to a public that holds him in highest regard to this day.
During the event, organisers will be collecting donations to fund the sculpting of an Olivier bust for Dorking Halls.
For further details and bookings, call 01306 88 1717.
- by Malcolm Rock
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