Top 100 Olivier Quotes: Famous Quotes & Sayings About Olivier

#1. I'm better than Olivier.

#2. To be honest, I would like to have worked with Peter Sellers, because when people talk about classic British actors, you talk about Lawrence Olivier, and Peter Sellers was just in the most amazing films.

Daniel Radcliffe

#3. Maybe this was now normal for Olivier. Maybe every now and then he simply wept. Not in pain or sadness. The tears were just overwhelming memories, rendered into water, seeping out.

Louise Penny

#4. Olivier looked at him blankly. But the Chief Inspector had seen that look before. It was, in fact, almost impossible to look blank. Unless the person wanted to. A blank face to the Chief Inspector meant a frantic mind.

Louise Penny

#5. February 5: Laurence Olivier, his agent Cecil Tennant, and playwright Terence Rattigan arrive in New York to discuss with Marilyn a film of The Sleeping Prince, to be produced in London with Olivier and Marilyn in the starring roles.

Carl Rollyson

#6. He's cu-ute." Bree LaRue stumbles sideways, shielding her eyes with one hand. "Aww, look at his hair. And the chin! He's like Laurence Olivier, and a cockatoo. Like if they had a baby?

J.C. Lillis

#7. Suffice it to say, every actor works differently. Laurence Olivier would put on his costume and when the wardrobe was right, he was in character. That sounds superficial, but it's true, and look at the results.

Michael Mann

#8. 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.

John Forsythe

#9. 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.

James Lipton

#10. You know Gabri, he wears his heart on his sleeve.' In fact, there were times Olivier wondered whether Gabri hadn't been born inside out.

Louise Penny

#11. 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.

David Alan Basche

#12. Seed biscuits and milk! I hated Mrs. Mullet's seed biscuits the way Saint Paul hated sin. Perhaps even more so. I wanted to clamber up onto the table, and with a sausage on the end of a fork as my scepter, shout in my best Laurence Olivier voice, 'Will no one rid us of this turbulent pastry cook?

Alan Bradley

#13. You don't have to walk me back. I live down the hall." She smiled up at him.
"My mama didn't raise me like that," Paul said, opening the door.
"Actually, your mama has some sense, and would say, 'She lives twenty feet away,' but suit yourself," Mrs. Olivier said.

Mary Jane Hathaway

#14. 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.

Patrick Stewart

#15. On Laurence Olivier as Hamlet in a 1948 film: Olivier's idea of introspection was to hood his eyes, dentalize his consonants and let the camera circle his blondined head like a sparrow looking for a place to deposit its droppings.

Robert Brustein

#16. 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.

Sheridan Smith

#17. I come from a family of actors. My grandfather was like a Laurence Olivier with the Comedie Francaise. Since I was four I went every week to the Comedie Francaise. My aunt and grandmother were there, but my grandfather was a big star.

Emmanuelle Seigner

#18. How do your poems start out?" "They start as a lump in the throat," she said. "Isn't that normally just a cocktail olive lodged there?" Olivier asked. "Once," Ruth admitted. "Wrote quite a good poem before I coughed it up.

Louise Penny

#19. To have a childhood surrounded by people like Sir Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh sounds glitzy, but for years I wanted to repress it. I couldn't take that kind of power and success.

Michael Korda

#20. Bianca Olivier- Hear me out. Would you eat a hamburger if there was any chance it could punch you in the face?
Lucas Ross- How is a hamburger supposed to punch me in the face?

Claudia Gray

#21. Acting is all about big hair and funny props ... All the great actors knew it. Olivier knew it, Brando knew it.

Harold Ramis

#22. Laurence Olivier said if you have ambition to be a serious classical actor, you must be as fit as an athlete. For me, the breakthrough was going to live in California. I exercised. I drank less. It was one of the things about California that had a positive impact on me.

Patrick Stewart

#23. 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.

Sam Taylor-Wood

#24. 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.

Helen Mirren

#25. I worked with Lawrence Olivier some years ago. He was a great mentor.

Anthony Hopkins

#26. 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

#27. Even if I hadn't been cast as Doctor Who, my acting would probably have been influenced by William Hartnell or Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, and all of the other guys. Because those were the actors that I really watched every moment of, as opposed to Laurence Olivier.

Peter Capaldi

#28. I wanted to be Laurence Olivier, basically, to be a great classical actor, and also be able to do modern things.

Stacy Keach

#29. 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.

Leslie Nielsen

#30. 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.

Emmanuelle Beart

#31. 'Spamalot' was a blip! I've never done anything else like that, and yet it's the only time I've ever been nominated for an Olivier award!

Tom Goodman-Hill

#32. If you watch Olivier's interviews, he has this reptilian tongue; it seems too big for his mouth. My pursuit of that became distracting, so I let it go. The thrill was finding the right pair of glasses.

Julian Sands

#33. My dream as a youngster was to be like Olivier. To be a great stage actor. To be a great Shakespearean actor. To me that is the Olympics of acting.

Armand Assante

#34. I would prefer to listen to a French classical composer like Olivier Messiaen than to the pop hits of the day.

Matt Groening

#35. I saw A Little Romance [and] I was so in love with Laurence Olivier. I watched that movie over and over and just fell in love with love.

Jennifer Aniston

#36. Gabri plugged the oven and the espresso machine into the generator,' explained Olivier. 'No lights, but we have the necessities.

Louise Penny

#37. 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.

Jerry Lewis

#38. There are some tremendous actors in the U.K. who have been knighted, and I've spent much of my life admiring many of them, like Laurence Olivier. So it's very flattering to be in their company.

Ian McKellen

#39. Islam may soon become the majority religion in countries whose churches have been turned more and more into tourist sites, apartment houses, theatres, and places of entertainment. The French scholar Olivier Roy is right: Islam is now a European religion.

Ian Buruma

#40. 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.

Denzel Washington

#41. Olivier said that drama is an affair of the heart, or it's nothing, and he was right.

Pam Gems

#42. 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

#43. The Brits are ghastly. I never would accept a Brit. It would be like Laurence Olivier being happy getting a TV Times award.

Steven Morrissey

#44. I grew up with the great Sir Laurence Olivier, and I think it's fair to say that a lot of actors of my age were influenced by his very individual vocal delivery. He was a showman who would always play to the gallery.

Ian Holm

#45. I wanted to become a champ - I was surrounded by champs in my family and in my neighborhood - and because of this stupid accident, I lost my opportunity.

Olivier Martinez

#46. Who knows what happens tomorrow? We'll find it tomorrow.

Olivier Martinez

#47. When you're a young man, Macbeth is a character part. When you're older, it's a straight part.

Laurence Olivier

#48. I'm not a movie star like other actors in the way that I need to walk with a bodyguard.

Olivier Martinez

#49. I see my friends, my family, my cousins work all day long for very little money, and if I have this problem of not being able to wall on the streets, it's not a big deal.

Olivier Martinez

#50. 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.

Laurence Olivier

#51. It is therefore essential to let the 'heart spirit' settle like calm water. Then it becomes a tranquil lake in which the sky is reflected, in which the face of Christ can be seen.

Olivier Clement

#52. I feel super lucky to be living in New York. I love the city, I love the energy. I always loved it. I had pictures of New York in my bedroom when I was young.

Olivier Theyskens

#53. Before, I was so stupid. But, you know, when you have friends who died on the street, you say, okay, let's calm down. It's not the kind of energy I want to have in life. I want to go slower, and longer.

Olivier Martinez

#54. I want just to be happy and peaceful. And that's not always the case when you're married.

Olivier Martinez

#55. But when you work with the director and the real person who is playing opposite you, it changes everything. You are almost in a working session. I was very comfortable, and that's maybe what helped me to get the part.

Olivier Martinez

#56. When other boys dreamt of going to the moon or becoming doctors, I wanted to be a designer.

Olivier Theyskens

#57. With couture, you feel obligated to design something modern each season, but with Theyskens Theory, I don't question anything. I'm thinking of what I'd like to wear.

Olivier Theyskens

#58. You think you're an artist; prove it

Laurence Olivier

#59. I could live naked ... I love it.

Olivier Theyskens

#60. What is funny is when you do a futuristic movie, you immediately get to be fashionable because you're creating something that doesn't exist.

Olivier Theyskens

#61. People who don't know me sometimes call me 'Mademoiselle.'

Olivier Theyskens

#62. Otherwise, to be a movie star, it's a lot of compromise and also a lot of headaches. You can't do what you want. You become a prisoner of your fame. This happened to me in France and I don't want it.

Olivier Martinez

#63. The violence of power is unacceptable only when we see it in action.

Olivier Razac

#64. I'd like people to remember me for a diligent expert workman. I think a poet is a workman. I think Shakespeare was a workman. And God's a workman. I don't think there's anything better than a workman.

Laurence Olivier

#65. 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.

Laurence Olivier

#66. My father was champion of North Africa and he beat the European champ. He was very good, a professional for 12 years. We're from a big family of boxers. My father has seven brothers.

Olivier Martinez

#67. Life is enthusiasm, zest.

Laurence Olivier

#68. I love these words that just can't be translated from language to language. They seem dignified, grounded, battling against the imperialism of reality.

Olivier Magny

#69. Scratch an actor and you'll find an actor.

Laurence Olivier

#70. Solving a problem created by debt ... by creating more debt is a fool's errand.

Olivier Sarkozy

#71. I like David Lynch; I like Stanley Kubrick. I'm a big fan of Kubrick.

Olivier Megaton

#72. I really hated school. I had the feeling I was losing a lot of time.

Olivier Theyskens

#73. Acting, is not a profession for adults.

Laurence Olivier

#74. Shakespeare - The nearest thing in incarnation to the eye of God.

Laurence Olivier

#75. The difficulty with telling stories about real people is you have to find a way of mixing yourself into the matter.

Olivier Dahan

#76. When it comes to picking wine and cutting through the marketing smokes, bottom line is: two things really matter. First is how the grapes were farmed, and second is whether or not you like it. The rest is vastly BS.

Olivier Magny

#77. People sometimes recognize me here, but they are very nice.

Olivier Martinez

#78. I like thrillers. My style of movies are closer to thrillers.

Olivier Megaton

#79. I give bird songs to those who dwell in cities and have never heard them, make rhythms for those who know only military marches or jazz, and paint colors for those who see none.

Olivier Messiaen

#80. I'm a painter. I was a graffiti artist, and I painted all over the world.

Olivier Megaton

#81. What is sure is that the satellite view of our world and its evolution is now a common reality.

Olivier Theyskens

#82. My faith is the grand drama of my life. I'm a believer, so I sing words of God to those who have no faith.

Olivier Messiaen

#83. I don't like the actors to work together beforehand. I trust my intuition, and I like when the actors are the same.

Olivier Dahan

#84. I am not a designer that buys vintage to be inspired.

Olivier Theyskens

#85. Birds are the first and the greatest performers.

Olivier Messiaen

#86. But what I really like are old Hollywood movies. Very often I watch AMC.

Olivier Martinez

#87. The aim of being a good designer is to have an influence. If you design furniture or lifestyle, you should influence the way people evolve globally. It's good to have an influence.

Olivier Theyskens

#88. We used to have actresses trying to become stars; now we have stars trying to become actresses.

Laurence Olivier

#89. Taking into account the different approaches to defining the term 'missionary' we can define a missionary as a Christian believer who takes the gospel to those who have never heard it before.

Marius Olivier

#90. No matter how well you perform, there's always somebody of intelligent opinion who thinks it's lousy.

Laurence Olivier

#91. It's like all the signs were telling me that I shouldn't be a boxer, so I quit.

Olivier Martinez

#92. And I think it is the genius of actors to be able to escape whatever people are expecting of them. Otherwise you become like a factory worker.

Olivier Martinez

#93. Historical costumes from the 18th and 19th centuries look so complicated, but when you see the patterns, it's very systematic. I've always been impressed by how the patterns economize the fabric.

Olivier Theyskens

#94. I don't read the critics.

Olivier Dahan

#95. I'm not a fan of action movies. I don't watch many action movies, I don't have a lot of references except for 70s action movies or cinema noir.

Olivier Megaton