10 Actors Who Perfected Roles YEARS Before The Movie
5. Laurence Olivier Played Hamlet On Stage 11 Years Earlier - Hamlet
No actor in history has so effusively expressed their admiration for the works of Shakespeare as the great Laurence Olivier, who across both stage and screen has performed and directed some of the most revered renditions of the Bard's finest plays.
But the undeniable peak of Olivier's cinematic career was his 1948 adaptation of Hamlet, which in addition to being the first British film to win the Best Picture Oscar, also netted Olivier a Best Actor Oscar for playing the titular character, making him the only actor in history to win an Academy Award for a Shakespearean role.
Yet by 1948 Olivier could practically play Hamlet in his sleep, having first played the part on stage 11 years prior in a 1937 production of Hamlet hosted at London's legendary Old Vic Theatre.
Curiously though, early reviews for Olivier's Hamlet were actually rather lukewarm, often comparing him unfavourably to John Gielgud, whose 1930 season playing Hamlet at the Old Vic was universally lauded.
Yet critics be-damned, Olivier forged ahead and, with more than a decade to prepare, delivered what remains the definitive cinematic iteration of the iconic, troubled king.