Laurence Harvey
Encyclopedia
Laurence Harvey was a Lithuania
n-born actor who achieved fame in British and American films.
, Lithuania
. At the age of five he emigrated with his family to South Africa
where he took on the English name of Harry.
He grew up in Johannesburg
, and was in his teens when he served with the entertainment unit of the South African Army
during World War II
. After moving to London
, England
, he enrolled in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
where he became known as Larry. After learning his craft at RADA, he began to perform on stage and film, where he adopted the stage name
"Laurence Harvey," taken either from the shop name Harvey Nichols
or from Harvey's Bristol Cream.
and George Sanders
in King Richard and the Crusaders
(1954) and as Romeo in Renato Castellani
's adaptation of Shakespeare
's Romeo and Juliet
, narrated by John Gielgud
, in the same year. This enabled him to gain his first Hollywood experience. He was cast as the writer Christopher Isherwood
in I Am A Camera
(1955), with Julie Harris
as Sally Bowles (Cabaret
is a musical from the same source texts). He also appeared on American TV and on Broadway, making his Broadway debut in 1955 in the play Island of Goats, a flop which closed after one week, though his performance won Harvey a 1956 Theatre World Award.
Harvey appeared twice more on Broadway, in 1957 with Julie Harris, Pamela Brown, and Colleen Dewhurst
in William Wycherley
's The Country Wife
, and as Shakespeare's Henry V
in 1959, as part of the Old Vic
company, which featured a young Judi Dench
as Katherine, the Daughter of the King of France. In John Miller's biography of Dame Judi, With A Crack In Her Voice, she talked of being bewildered at how Harvey never actually looked at her during his speeches, and the book also quotes Joss Ackland
as saying that Americans seemed to think Harvey was some sort of great actor, which his colleagues certainly did not.
Harvey was regularly dismissed by critics. In his posthumously published autobiography Knight Errant, Robert Stephens
described him as "an appalling man and, even more unforgivably, an appalling actor".
Jack Clayton
as the social climber Joe Lampton in Room at the Top
produced by British film producing
brothers Sir John and James Woolf of Romulus Films and Remus Films. For his performance, Harvey received a BAFTA Award nomination and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor
, the first person of Lithuanian descent to be nominated for an acting Oscar
.
Harvey was now a star. He was cast in the role that had made Peter O'Toole
prominent in the West End
: the film version of The Long and the Short and the Tall
(1961); O'Toole was not established in cinema and Harvey was more "bankable". During the late 1950s and 1960s, Harvey appeared in several major films. In 1960 he starred in BUtterfield 8
and John Wayne
's epic The Alamo
, released within a month of each other. Other films included Walk on the Wild Side
(1962) with Barbara Stanwyck
, Jane Fonda
and Capucine
, the film adaptation of Tennessee Williams
's Summer and Smoke
(1961) with Geraldine Page
, and Darling (1965) with Julie Christie
and Dirk Bogarde
. In this period, he appeared as the brainwashed Raymond Shaw in The Manchurian Candidate
(1962), the role for which he is best remembered.
In 1962, Harvey recorded an album of spoken excerpts from the book "This Is My Beloved" by Walter Benton
, accompanied by original music by Herbie Mann. It was released on the Atlantic Records label.
Harvey played King Arthur in the 1964 London
production of the Alan Jay Lerner
and Frederick Loewe musical Camelot
, at Drury Lane
. He became very good friends with Elizabeth Taylor
and his Manchurian Candidate co-star Frank Sinatra
, and was a member in good standing of high society, then dubbed "The Jet Set".
In the period of 1959-65, Harvey had the distinction of appearing opposite three actresses who won the Academy Award for their performances: Simone Signoret
in Room at the Top, Elizabeth Taylor
in BUtterfield 8, and Julie Christie
in Darling. In all three roles, he established his star persona of being a first-class heel. (Geraldine Page
, his co-star in Summer and Smoke, was also nominated for a Best Actress Oscar but did not win.)
He sang several cuts on Ben Bagley
's album Noël Coward
Revisited.
's Of Human Bondage
was a failure, as was The Outrage
(1964), director Martin Ritt
's remake of Akira Kurosawa
's classic Rashomon
, despite the presence of Paul Newman
. Harvey reprised his Oscar-nominated role as Joe Lampton in Life at the Top
(1965), but the film was not a success.
Bereft of a choice of better roles, Harvey returned to Britain to make the comedy The Spy with a Cold Nose
(1966). His last hurrah was his appearance in the spy thriller A Dandy in Aspic
(1968), which he took over after the original director Anthony Mann
died during shooting. In 1968, in settlement of a dispute with Woodfall Films over the rights to The Charge of the Light Brigade
(1968), Woodfall cast him in their version as a Russian prince. He performed as cast, but was never seen as the Prince in the finished film. The only part of his performance remaining in the final cut is a brief appearance of him in the background of one shot, as an anonymous member of a theatre audience.
Thereafter Harvey played out his career largely in undistinguished films, TV work and the occasional supporting role in a major production. In The Magic Christian
, he recited Hamlet
's soliloquy, almost nude and very thin. A promising project, Orson Welles
's The Deep
(1970) with Jeanne Moreau
, was never finished. One performance from this period was in a 1971 USA horror film television episode, titled "The Caterpillar", of Rod Serling
's Night Gallery
. He was also guest murderer of the week on Columbo in 1973, as chess champion Emmet Clayton, who murders his opponent, Tomlin Dudek.
. He was subsequently married three times: to actress Margaret Leighton in 1957, whom he divorced in 1961; to Joan Perry Cohn in 1968, the very rich widow of film mogul Harry Cohn
of Columbia Pictures
; and to Paulene Stone
. Harvey had met Stone on the set of A Dandy in Aspic, and while still married to Cohn he became a father for the first time when Stone gave birth to a daughter in 1969. Eventually, Harvey divorced Cohn (who was 17 years his senior) and married Stone in 1972.
Numerous accounts contend that Laurence Harvey was bisexual. In his account of being Frank Sinatra's valet, Mr. S: My Life with Frank Sinatra (2003), George Jacobs writes that Harvey often made passes at him while visiting Sinatra. According to Jacobs, Sinatra was aware of Harvey's sexuality but did not mind, joking that he had the handicaps of being gay, a Jew, and a "Polak" (sic), so people should go easy on him.
In his autobiography
Close Up (2004), British actor John Fraser
wrote that Harvey was gay and that his long-term lover was his manager James Woolf, who "discovered" Harvey in the 1950s. According to Fraser, "As a teenager, [Harvey] started out living with Hermione Baddeley, a blowsy star of intimate revue more than twice his age. Then he married Margaret Leighton, old enough to be his mother [actually Leighton was only six years older than Harvey] but a woman of style. When this marriage was over, he married Joan Cohn, widow of Harry Cohn, managing director of Columbia Pictures. Throughout all these career marriages, he still managed to string Jimmy Woolf along."
A heavy smoker and drinker, Harvey died from stomach cancer
at age of 45. His daughter Domino Harvey
(1969–2005), who later won renown as a bounty hunter
, also died at an early age. They are buried together in Santa Barbara Cemetery in Santa Barbara, California
.
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
n-born actor who achieved fame in British and American films.
Early life
Harvey maintained throughout his life that his birth name was Laruschka Mischa Skikne. However, his legal name was Zvi Mosheh (Hirsh) Skikne. He was the youngest of three boys born to Ber "Boris" and Ella Skikne, a Jewish family in the town of JoniškisJoniškis
Joniškis is a city in northern Lithuania with a population of about 11,150. It is located 40 kilometers north of Šiauliai and 14 kilometers south of the Lithuania–Latvia border...
, Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
. At the age of five he emigrated with his family to South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
where he took on the English name of Harry.
He grew up in Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
, and was in his teens when he served with the entertainment unit of the South African Army
South African Army
The South African Army is the army of South Africa, first formed after the Union of South Africa was created in 1910.The South African military evolved within the tradition of frontier warfare fought by commando forces, reinforced by the Afrikaners' historical distrust of large standing armies...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. After moving to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, he enrolled in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art is a drama school located in London, United Kingdom. It is generally regarded as one of the most renowned drama schools in the world, and is one of the oldest drama schools in the United Kingdom, having been founded in 1904.RADA is an affiliate school of the...
where he became known as Larry. After learning his craft at RADA, he began to perform on stage and film, where he adopted the stage name
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
"Laurence Harvey," taken either from the shop name Harvey Nichols
Harvey Nichols
Harvey Nichols, founded in 1813, is an upmarket department store chain. Its original store is in London. Founded in 1813 as a linen shop, it sells many international brands of clothing for women and men, fashion accessories, beauty products, wine and food...
or from Harvey's Bristol Cream.
Career
He made his cinema debut in the British film House of Darkness (1948), but only established himself in British cinema when he appeared with Rex HarrisonRex Harrison
Sir Reginald Carey “Rex” Harrison was an English actor of stage and screen. Harrison won an Academy Award and two Tony Awards.-Youth and stage career:...
and George Sanders
George Sanders
George Sanders was a British actor.George Sanders may also refer to:*George Sanders , Victoria Cross recipient in World War I...
in King Richard and the Crusaders
King Richard and the Crusaders
King Richard and the Crusaders is a 1954 historical drama film made by Warner Bros.. It was directed by David Butler and produced by Henry Blanke from a screenplay by John Twist based on Sir Walter Scott's novel The Talisman. The music score was by Max Steiner and the cinematography by J. Peverell...
(1954) and as Romeo in Renato Castellani
Renato Castellani
Renato Castellani was an Italian film director and screenwriter.- Filmography :*The Iron Crown *Un colpo di pistola *Zazà...
's adaptation of Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
, narrated by John Gielgud
John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...
, in the same year. This enabled him to gain his first Hollywood experience. He was cast as the writer Christopher Isherwood
Christopher Isherwood
Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood was an English-American novelist.-Early life and work:Born at Wyberslegh Hall, High Lane, Cheshire in North West England, Isherwood spent his childhood in various towns where his father, a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army, was stationed...
in I Am A Camera
Goodbye to Berlin
Goodbye to Berlin is a 1939 short novel by Christopher Isherwood set in pre-Nazi Germany. It is often published together with Mr Norris Changes Trains in a collection called The Berlin Stories.-Details:...
(1955), with Julie Harris
Julie Harris
Julia Ann "Julie" Harris is an American stage, screen, and television actress. She has won five Tony Awards, three Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award, and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1994, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts. She is a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame...
as Sally Bowles (Cabaret
Cabaret (musical)
Cabaret is a musical based on a book written by Christopher Isherwood, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The 1966 Broadway production became a hit and spawned a 1972 film as well as numerous subsequent productions....
is a musical from the same source texts). He also appeared on American TV and on Broadway, making his Broadway debut in 1955 in the play Island of Goats, a flop which closed after one week, though his performance won Harvey a 1956 Theatre World Award.
Harvey appeared twice more on Broadway, in 1957 with Julie Harris, Pamela Brown, and Colleen Dewhurst
Colleen Dewhurst
Colleen Rose Dewhurst was a Canadian-American actress known for a while as "the Queen of Off-Broadway." In her autobiography, Dewhurst wrote: "I had moved so quickly from one Off-Broadway production to the next that I was known, at one point, as the 'Queen of Off-Broadway'...
in William Wycherley
William Wycherley
William Wycherley was an English dramatist of the Restoration period, best known for the plays The Country Wife and The Plain Dealer.-Biography:...
's The Country Wife
The Country Wife
The Country Wife is a Restoration comedy written in 1675 by William Wycherley. A product of the tolerant early Restoration period, the play reflects an aristocratic and anti-Puritan ideology, and was controversial for its sexual explicitness even in its own time. The title itself contains a lewd pun...
, and as Shakespeare's Henry V
Henry V (play)
Henry V is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to be written in approximately 1599. Its full titles are The Cronicle History of Henry the Fifth and The Life of Henry the Fifth...
in 1959, as part of the Old Vic
Old Vic
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
company, which featured a young Judi Dench
Judi Dench
Dame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English film, stage and television actress.Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo...
as Katherine, the Daughter of the King of France. In John Miller's biography of Dame Judi, With A Crack In Her Voice, she talked of being bewildered at how Harvey never actually looked at her during his speeches, and the book also quotes Joss Ackland
Joss Ackland
Sidney Edmond Jocelyn Ackland CBE , known as Joss Ackland, is an English actor who has appeared in more than 130 films and numerous television roles.-Early life:...
as saying that Americans seemed to think Harvey was some sort of great actor, which his colleagues certainly did not.
Harvey was regularly dismissed by critics. In his posthumously published autobiography Knight Errant, Robert Stephens
Robert Stephens
Sir Robert Stephens was a leading English actor in the early years of England's Royal National Theatre.-Early life and career:...
described him as "an appalling man and, even more unforgivably, an appalling actor".
International stardom
Harvey's breakthrough to international stardom came in 1959 when he was cast by directorFilm director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
Jack Clayton
Jack Clayton
Jack Clayton was a British film director who specialised in bringing literary works to the screen.-Career:A native of East Sussex, Clayton started his career as a child actor on the 1929 film Dark Red Roses...
as the social climber Joe Lampton in Room at the Top
Room at the Top
Room at the Top is a 1959 British film based on the novel of the same name by John Braine. The novel was adapted by Neil Paterson with uncredited work by Mordecai Richler. It was directed by Jack Clayton and produced by James Woolf and John Woolf....
produced by British film producing
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
brothers Sir John and James Woolf of Romulus Films and Remus Films. For his performance, Harvey received a BAFTA Award nomination and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
, the first person of Lithuanian descent to be nominated for an acting Oscar
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
.
Harvey was now a star. He was cast in the role that had made Peter O'Toole
Peter O'Toole
Peter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole is an Irish actor of stage and screen. O'Toole achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, and then went on to become a highly-honoured film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, and holds the record for most...
prominent in the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
: the film version of The Long and the Short and the Tall
The Long and the Short and the Tall (play)
The Long and the Short and the Tall is a play written by British playwright Willis Hall. Set in World War II, the play premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in London in January 1959; it was directed by Lindsay Anderson and starred Peter O'Toole and Robert Shaw. It was Anderson's first major...
(1961); O'Toole was not established in cinema and Harvey was more "bankable". During the late 1950s and 1960s, Harvey appeared in several major films. In 1960 he starred in BUtterfield 8
BUtterfield 8
BUtterfield 8 is a 1960 Metrocolor drama film directed by Daniel Mann, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Laurence Harvey. Taylor, then 28 years old, won an Academy Award for her performance...
and John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
's epic The Alamo
The Alamo (1960 film)
The Alamo is a 1960 American historical epic released by United Artists. The film was directed by John Wayne, who also starred as Davy Crockett. The cast also includes Richard Widmark as Jim Bowie and Laurence Harvey as William B...
, released within a month of each other. Other films included Walk on the Wild Side
Walk on the Wild Side (film)
Walk on the Wild Side is a 1962 film directed by Edward Dmytryk, adapted from the 1956 novel A Walk on the Wild Side by Nelson Algren. The film had a star-studded cast, including Laurence Harvey, Capucine, Jane Fonda , Anne Baxter, and Barbara Stanwyck, and was scripted by John Fante. Nonetheless,...
(1962) with Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck was an American actress. She was a film and television star, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra...
, Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...
and Capucine
Capucine
Capucine was a French actress and fashion model best known for her comedic roles in The Pink Panther and What's New Pussycat? . She appeared in 36 films and 17 television productions between 1948 and 1990...
, the film adaptation of Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
's Summer and Smoke
Summer and Smoke (film)
Summer and Smoke is a 1961 film directed by Peter Glenville based on the Tennessee Williams play of the same name.The film starred Laurence Harvey and Geraldine Page with Rita Moreno, Una Merkel, John McIntire, Thomas Gomez, Pamela Tiffin, Malcolm Atterbury, Lee Patrick and Earl Holliman...
(1961) with Geraldine Page
Geraldine Page
Geraldine Sue Page was an American actress. Although she starred in at least two dozen feature films, she is primarily known for her celebrated work in the American theater...
, and Darling (1965) with Julie Christie
Julie Christie
Julie Frances Christie is a British actress. Born in British India to English parents, at the age of six Christie moved to England, where she attended boarding school....
and Dirk Bogarde
Dirk Bogarde
Sir Dirk Bogarde was an English actor and novelist. Initially a matinee idol in such films as Doctor in the House and other Rank Organisation pictures, Bogarde later acted in art-house films such as Death in Venice...
. In this period, he appeared as the brainwashed Raymond Shaw in The Manchurian Candidate
The Manchurian Candidate (1962 film)
The Manchurian Candidate is a 1962 American Cold War political thriller film starring Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh and Angela Lansbury, and featuring Henry Silva, James Gregory, Leslie Parrish and John McGiver...
(1962), the role for which he is best remembered.
In 1962, Harvey recorded an album of spoken excerpts from the book "This Is My Beloved" by Walter Benton
Walter Benton (poet)
Walter Benton was an American poet and writer. Benton was born to Russian immigrant parents living in Austria. The family left Europe in 1913 to relocate to the the United States during World War I. During the Great Depression, Benton worked various odd jobs enabling him to attend Ohio...
, accompanied by original music by Herbie Mann. It was released on the Atlantic Records label.
Harvey played King Arthur in the 1964 London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
production of the Alan Jay Lerner
Alan Jay Lerner
Alan Jay Lerner was an American lyricist and librettist. In collaboration with Frederick Loewe, he created some of the world's most popular and enduring works of musical theatre for both the stage and on film...
and Frederick Loewe musical Camelot
Camelot (musical)
Camelot is a musical by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe . It is based on the King Arthur legend as adapted from the T. H. White tetralogy novel The Once and Future King....
, at Drury Lane
Drury Lane
Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster....
. He became very good friends with Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...
and his Manchurian Candidate co-star Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, and was a member in good standing of high society, then dubbed "The Jet Set".
In the period of 1959-65, Harvey had the distinction of appearing opposite three actresses who won the Academy Award for their performances: Simone Signoret
Simone Signoret
Simone Signoret was a French cinema actress often hailed as one of France's greatest movie stars. She became the first French person to win an Academy Award, for her role in Room at the Top...
in Room at the Top, Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...
in BUtterfield 8, and Julie Christie
Julie Christie
Julie Frances Christie is a British actress. Born in British India to English parents, at the age of six Christie moved to England, where she attended boarding school....
in Darling. In all three roles, he established his star persona of being a first-class heel. (Geraldine Page
Geraldine Page
Geraldine Sue Page was an American actress. Although she starred in at least two dozen feature films, she is primarily known for her celebrated work in the American theater...
, his co-star in Summer and Smoke, was also nominated for a Best Actress Oscar but did not win.)
He sang several cuts on Ben Bagley
Ben Bagley
Ben Bagley was an American musical theatre and record producer.-Career:Born in Burlington, Vermont, Bagley moved to New York City during the early 1950s, and in 1955, at age 22, he produced his first hit, Shoestring Revue, starring Beatrice Arthur and Chita Rivera , and with songs by Charles...
's album Noël Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
Revisited.
Decline
Harvey's career began to decline from the mid-1960s. The 1964 remake of W. Somerset MaughamW. Somerset Maugham
William Somerset Maugham , CH was an English playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era and, reputedly, the highest paid author during the 1930s.-Childhood and education:...
's Of Human Bondage
Of Human Bondage
Of Human Bondage is a novel by W. Somerset Maugham. It is generally agreed to be his masterpiece and to be strongly autobiographical in nature, although Maugham stated, "This is a novel, not an autobiography, though much in it is autobiographical, more is pure invention." Maugham, who had...
was a failure, as was The Outrage
The Outrage
The Outrage is a remake of the 1950 Japanese film Rashomon, reformulated as a Western. Like the original Akira Kurosawa film, four people give contradictory accounts of a rape and murder. Kurosawa is credited with the screenplay. It was directed by Martin Ritt and is based on stories by Ryūnosuke...
(1964), director Martin Ritt
Martin Ritt
Martin Ritt was an American director, actor, and playwright who worked in both film and theater. He was born in New York City.-Early career and influences:...
's remake of Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa
was a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 filmsIn 1946, Kurosawa co-directed, with Hideo Sekigawa and Kajiro Yamamoto, the feature Those Who Make Tomorrow ;...
's classic Rashomon
Rashomon (film)
The bandit's storyTajōmaru, a notorious brigand , claims that he tricked the samurai to step off the mountain trail with him and look at a cache of ancient swords he discovered. In the grove he tied the samurai to a tree, then brought the woman there. She initially tried to defend herself with a...
, despite the presence of Paul Newman
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
. Harvey reprised his Oscar-nominated role as Joe Lampton in Life at the Top
Life at the Top (film)
Life at the Top is a 1965 drama film made by Romulus Films and released by Columbia Pictures. It is a sequel to Room at the Top. It was directed by Ted Kotcheff and produced by James Woolf with William Kirby as associate producer. The screenplay was by Mordecai Richler, based on the novel Life at...
(1965), but the film was not a success.
Bereft of a choice of better roles, Harvey returned to Britain to make the comedy The Spy with a Cold Nose
The Spy with a Cold Nose
The Spy with a Cold Nose is a 1966 British comedy film directed by Daniel Petrie.-Cast:* Laurence Harvey as Dr. Francis Trevelyan* Daliah Lavi as Princess Natasha Romanova* Lionel Jeffries as Stanley Farquhar* Eric Sykes as Wrigley...
(1966). His last hurrah was his appearance in the spy thriller A Dandy in Aspic
A Dandy in Aspic
A Dandy in Aspic is a 1968 British spy film, directed by Anthony Mann, based on the novel of the same name by Derek Marlowe and starring Laurence Harvey, Tom Courtenay and Mia Farrow....
(1968), which he took over after the original director Anthony Mann
Anthony Mann
Anthony Mann was an American actor and film director, most notably of film noirs and Westerns. As a director, he often collaborated with the cinematographer John Alton and with James Stewart in his Westerns.-Biography:...
died during shooting. In 1968, in settlement of a dispute with Woodfall Films over the rights to The Charge of the Light Brigade
The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968 film)
The Charge of the Light Brigade is a 1968 British war film made by Woodfall Film Productions and distributed by United Artists . It was directed by Tony Richardson and produced by Neil Hartley....
(1968), Woodfall cast him in their version as a Russian prince. He performed as cast, but was never seen as the Prince in the finished film. The only part of his performance remaining in the final cut is a brief appearance of him in the background of one shot, as an anonymous member of a theatre audience.
Thereafter Harvey played out his career largely in undistinguished films, TV work and the occasional supporting role in a major production. In The Magic Christian
The Magic Christian (film)
The Magic Christian is a 1969 British comedy film directed by Joseph McGrath and starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr, with noteworthy appearances by John Cleese, Raquel Welch, Christopher Lee, Richard Attenborough and Roman Polanski. It was loosely adapted from the 1959 comic novel of the same...
, he recited Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
's soliloquy, almost nude and very thin. A promising project, Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
's The Deep
The Deep (Orson Welles film)
The Deep is an unfinished film directed by Orson Welles and based on the novel Dead Calm by Charles Williams, which would later be adapted into the film of the same title. Welles produced and wrote the film, and also played the role of Russ Brewer opposite Jeanne Moreau and Laurence Harvey.Welles...
(1970) with Jeanne Moreau
Jeanne Moreau
Jeanne Moreau is a French actress, singer, screenwriter and director.She made her theatrical debut in 1947, and established herself as one of the leading actresses of the Comédie-Française...
, was never finished. One performance from this period was in a 1971 USA horror film television episode, titled "The Caterpillar", of Rod Serling
Rod Serling
Rodman Edward "Rod" Serling was an American screenwriter, novelist, television producer, and narrator best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his science fiction anthology TV series, The Twilight Zone. Serling was active in politics, both on and off the screen and helped form...
's Night Gallery
Night Gallery
Night Gallery is an American anthology series that aired on NBC from 1970 to 1973, featuring stories of horror and the macabre. Rod Serling, who had gained fame from an earlier series, The Twilight Zone, served both as the on-air host of Night Gallery and as a major contributor of scripts, although...
. He was also guest murderer of the week on Columbo in 1973, as chess champion Emmet Clayton, who murders his opponent, Tomlin Dudek.
Personal life
In his late teens, Harvey became involved with Hermione BaddeleyHermione Baddeley
Hermione Baddeley was an English character actress of theatre, film and television. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Room at the Top and a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play for The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here...
. He was subsequently married three times: to actress Margaret Leighton in 1957, whom he divorced in 1961; to Joan Perry Cohn in 1968, the very rich widow of film mogul Harry Cohn
Harry Cohn
Harry Cohn was the American president and production director of Columbia Pictures.-Career:Cohn was born to a working-class German-Jewish family in New York City. In later years, he appears to have disparaged his heritage...
of Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
; and to Paulene Stone
Paulene Stone
thumb|right|200px|Paulene StonePaulene Stone is a former Vogue cover girl who embodied Swinging London in the 1960s.A top English fashion model of the sixties, she gave birth to actor Laurence Harvey's only child, Domino Harvey. A 1960 image of her that ran in the Daily Express helped to launch...
. Harvey had met Stone on the set of A Dandy in Aspic, and while still married to Cohn he became a father for the first time when Stone gave birth to a daughter in 1969. Eventually, Harvey divorced Cohn (who was 17 years his senior) and married Stone in 1972.
Numerous accounts contend that Laurence Harvey was bisexual. In his account of being Frank Sinatra's valet, Mr. S: My Life with Frank Sinatra (2003), George Jacobs writes that Harvey often made passes at him while visiting Sinatra. According to Jacobs, Sinatra was aware of Harvey's sexuality but did not mind, joking that he had the handicaps of being gay, a Jew, and a "Polak" (sic), so people should go easy on him.
In his autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
Close Up (2004), British actor John Fraser
John Fraser (actor)
-External links:* http://www.johnfraser.org/...
wrote that Harvey was gay and that his long-term lover was his manager James Woolf, who "discovered" Harvey in the 1950s. According to Fraser, "As a teenager, [Harvey] started out living with Hermione Baddeley, a blowsy star of intimate revue more than twice his age. Then he married Margaret Leighton, old enough to be his mother [actually Leighton was only six years older than Harvey] but a woman of style. When this marriage was over, he married Joan Cohn, widow of Harry Cohn, managing director of Columbia Pictures. Throughout all these career marriages, he still managed to string Jimmy Woolf along."
A heavy smoker and drinker, Harvey died from stomach cancer
Stomach cancer
Gastric cancer, commonly referred to as stomach cancer, can develop in any part of the stomach and may spread throughout the stomach and to other organs; particularly the esophagus, lungs, lymph nodes, and the liver...
at age of 45. His daughter Domino Harvey
Domino Harvey
Domino Harvey was an English bounty hunter, notable within that field for being female and from a privileged background. Though there is speculation as to whether she really was a model, there are in fact photographs which show her involved in what would appear to be modeling-related work...
(1969–2005), who later won renown as a bounty hunter
Bounty hunter
A bounty hunter captures fugitives for a monetary reward . Other names, mainly used in the United States, include bail enforcement agent and fugitive recovery agent.-Laws in the U.S.:...
, also died at an early age. They are buried together in Santa Barbara Cemetery in Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
.
Filmography
- 1948 House of Darkness
- 1948 The Dancing Years
- 1949 The Man from Yesterday
- 1949 Man on the RunMan on the RunMan on the Run is a 1949 British drama film directed by Lawrence Huntington and starring Derek Farr, Joan Hopkins, Edward Chapman, Kenneth More and Laurence Harvey.-Synopsis:...
- 1949 LandfallLandfall (1949 film)Landfall is a 1949 British war film directed by Ken Annakin and starring Michael Denison, Patricia Plunkett and Kathleen Harrison. It is based on the 1940 novel, Landfall: A Channel Story, written by author Nevil Shute.-Cast:* Michael Denison as Rick...
- 1950 The Black RoseThe Black RoseThe Black Rose is a 1950 20th Century-Fox film starring Tyrone Power and Orson Welles, loosely based on Thomas B. Costain's book. It was filmed partly on location in England and Morocco which substitutes for the Gobi Desert of China...
- 1950 Cairo RoadCairo Road (film)Cairo Road is a 1950 British crime film directed by David MacDonald and starring Laurence Harvey, Eric Portman, Maria Mauban, Harold Lang and John Gregson. A team of Egyptian anti-narcotic agents try to prevent shipments of drugs crossing the southern Egyptian border...
- 1951 Scarlet ThreadScarlet ThreadScarlet Thread is a 1951 British drama film directed by Lewis Gilbert.-Cast:* Kathleen Byron as Josephine* Laurence Harvey as Freddie* Sydney Tafler as Marcon* Arthur Hill as Shaw* Dora Bryan as Maggie* Eliot Makeham as Jason* Harry Fowler as Sam...
- 1951 There is Another SunThere is Another SunThere is Another Sun is a 1951 British drama film directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Maxwell Reed, Laurence Harvey and Susan Shaw....
- 1952 A Killer WalksA Killer WalksA Killer Walks is a 1952 British crime film directed by Ronald Drake and starring Laurence Harvey, Trader Faulkner and Susan Shaw....
- 1952 I Believe in YouI Believe in You (film)I Believe in You is a 1952 film directed by Basil Dearden. It stars Celia Johnson and Cecil Parker and is based on the book Court Circular by Sewell Stokes.-Cast:*Celia Johnson as Matty Matheson*Cecil Parker as Henry Phipps...
- 1953 Knights of the Round TableKnights of the Round Table (film)Knights of the Round Table is a 1953 Technicolor Cinemascope historical film made by MGM. Directed by Richard Thorpe and produced by Pandro S. Berman, it was the first film in Cinemascope made by that studio...
- 1953 Women of TwilightWomen of TwilightWomen of Twilight is a 1952 British crime film directed by Gordon Parry and starring René Ray, Lois Maxwell, Freda Jackson and Laurence Harvey. The screenplay was by Anatole de Grunwald. 89 minutes.-Plot:...
- 1953 Innocents in ParisInnocents in ParisInnocents in Paris is a 1953 British French international co-production comedy film produced by Romulus Films, directed by Gordon Parry and starring Alastair Sim, Jimmy Edwards, Claire Bloom, Margaret Rutherford, James Copeland and Ronald Shiner as Dicky Bird...
- 1954 The Good Die YoungThe Good Die YoungThe Good Die Young is a crime thriller made in the United Kingdom by Remus Productions, featuring a number of American characters. It was directed by Lewis Gilbert. The screenplay was based on the book of the same name written by Richard Macaulay....
- 1954 King Richard and the CrusadersKing Richard and the CrusadersKing Richard and the Crusaders is a 1954 historical drama film made by Warner Bros.. It was directed by David Butler and produced by Henry Blanke from a screenplay by John Twist based on Sir Walter Scott's novel The Talisman. The music score was by Max Steiner and the cinematography by J. Peverell...
- 1954 Romeo and JulietRomeo and Juliet (1954 film)- External links :...
- 1955 I Am a CameraI Am a Camera (film)I Am a Camera is a British comedy-drama film released in 1955. Based on The Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood and the play I Am a Camera by John Van Druten, the film is a fictionalized account of Isherwood's time living in Berlin between the World Wars...
- 1955 Storm Over the NileStorm Over the NileStorm Over the Nile is a 1955 film adaptation of the novel The Four Feathers, directed by Terence Young. The film not only extensively used footage of the action scenes from the 1939 film version stretched into CinemaScope, but exactly the same screenplay, almost line-for-line also then directed by...
- 1956 Three Men in a BoatThree Men in a Boat (1956 film)Three Men in a Boat is a 1956 British CinemaScope colour comedy film directed by Ken Annakin and starring Laurence Harvey, Jimmy Edwards, Shirley Eaton and David Thomlinson. It is based on the 1889 novel Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome...
- 1957 After the BallAfter the Ball (1957 film)After the Ball is a 1957 British biographical film directed by Compton Bennett and starring Patricia Kirkwood, Laurence Harvey and Jerry Stovin...
- 1957 The Truth About WomenThe Truth About WomenThe Truth About Women is a 1957 British comedy film directed by Muriel Box and starring Laurence Harvey, Julie Harris, Mai Zetterling and Diane Cilento...
- 1958 The Silent EnemyThe Silent Enemy (film)The Silent Enemy is a 1958 action film directed by William Fairchild. It stars Laurence Harvey as Lionel "Buster" Crabb and describes his exploits during World War II...
- 1959 Room at the TopRoom at the TopRoom at the Top is a 1959 British film based on the novel of the same name by John Braine. The novel was adapted by Neil Paterson with uncredited work by Mordecai Richler. It was directed by Jack Clayton and produced by James Woolf and John Woolf....
- 1960 Expresso BongoExpresso BongoExpresso Bongo, a 1958 West End musical and a 1959 film, was a satire of the music industry. It was first produced on the stage at the Saville Theatre, London on 23 April 1958. Its book was written by Wolf Mankowitz and Julian More, with music by David Heneker and Monty Norman, also the...
- 1960 The AlamoThe Alamo (1960 film)The Alamo is a 1960 American historical epic released by United Artists. The film was directed by John Wayne, who also starred as Davy Crockett. The cast also includes Richard Widmark as Jim Bowie and Laurence Harvey as William B...
- 1960 BUtterfield 8BUtterfield 8BUtterfield 8 is a 1960 Metrocolor drama film directed by Daniel Mann, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Laurence Harvey. Taylor, then 28 years old, won an Academy Award for her performance...
- 1961 The Long and the Short and the TallThe Long and the Short and the Tall (play)The Long and the Short and the Tall is a play written by British playwright Willis Hall. Set in World War II, the play premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in London in January 1959; it was directed by Lindsay Anderson and starred Peter O'Toole and Robert Shaw. It was Anderson's first major...
- 1961 Two LovesTwo LovesTwo Loves is a 1961 American drama film directed by Charles Walters. It was entered into the 11th Berlin International Film Festival.-Cast:* Shirley MacLaine - Anna Vorontosov* Laurence Harvey - Paul Lathrope* Jack Hawkins - Abercrombie...
- 1961 Summer and SmokeSummer and Smoke (film)Summer and Smoke is a 1961 film directed by Peter Glenville based on the Tennessee Williams play of the same name.The film starred Laurence Harvey and Geraldine Page with Rita Moreno, Una Merkel, John McIntire, Thomas Gomez, Pamela Tiffin, Malcolm Atterbury, Lee Patrick and Earl Holliman...
- 1962 Walk on the Wild SideWalk on the Wild Side (film)Walk on the Wild Side is a 1962 film directed by Edward Dmytryk, adapted from the 1956 novel A Walk on the Wild Side by Nelson Algren. The film had a star-studded cast, including Laurence Harvey, Capucine, Jane Fonda , Anne Baxter, and Barbara Stanwyck, and was scripted by John Fante. Nonetheless,...
- 1962 The Wonderful World of the Brothers GrimmThe Wonderful World of the Brothers GrimmThe Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm is a 1962 American film directed by Henry Levin and George Pal. The latter was the producer and also in charge of the stop motion animation. The film was one of the highest grossing films of 1962. It won one Oscar and was nominated for three additional...
- 1962 The Manchurian CandidateThe Manchurian Candidate (1962 film)The Manchurian Candidate is a 1962 American Cold War political thriller film starring Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh and Angela Lansbury, and featuring Henry Silva, James Gregory, Leslie Parrish and John McGiver...
- 1962 A Girl Named TamikoA Girl Named TamikoA Girl Named Tamiko is a 1962 drama film directed by John Sturges.He was half Oriental...but he used the women of two continents WITHOUT SHAME OR GUILT!....
- 1963 The Running ManThe Running Man (1963 film)The Running Man is a 1963 British drama film directed by Carol Reed, starring Laurence Harvey as a man who fakes his own death in a glider accident, then runs into trouble when an insurance investigator starts taking a close interest....
- 1963 The Ceremony
- 1964 Of Human BondageOf Human Bondage (1964 film)Of Human Bondage is a 1964 British drama film directed by Ken Hughes. The MGM release, the third screen adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's 1915 novel, was written by Bryan Forbes.-Synopsis:...
- 1964 The OutrageThe OutrageThe Outrage is a remake of the 1950 Japanese film Rashomon, reformulated as a Western. Like the original Akira Kurosawa film, four people give contradictory accounts of a rape and murder. Kurosawa is credited with the screenplay. It was directed by Martin Ritt and is based on stories by Ryūnosuke...
- 1965 Darling
- 1965 Life at the TopLife at the Top (film)Life at the Top is a 1965 drama film made by Romulus Films and released by Columbia Pictures. It is a sequel to Room at the Top. It was directed by Ted Kotcheff and produced by James Woolf with William Kirby as associate producer. The screenplay was by Mordecai Richler, based on the novel Life at...
- 1966 The Spy with a Cold NoseThe Spy with a Cold NoseThe Spy with a Cold Nose is a 1966 British comedy film directed by Daniel Petrie.-Cast:* Laurence Harvey as Dr. Francis Trevelyan* Daliah Lavi as Princess Natasha Romanova* Lionel Jeffries as Stanley Farquhar* Eric Sykes as Wrigley...
- 1968 The Winter's TaleThe Winter's TaleThe Winter's Tale is a play by William Shakespeare, originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, some modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some critics, among them W. W...
- 1968 A Dandy in AspicA Dandy in AspicA Dandy in Aspic is a 1968 British spy film, directed by Anthony Mann, based on the novel of the same name by Derek Marlowe and starring Laurence Harvey, Tom Courtenay and Mia Farrow....
- 1968 The Last RomanKampf um Rom IKampf um Rom I is a 1968 West German historical drama film directed by Robert Siodmak, about Justinian's attempts to repel barbarian incursions and reclaim those parts of the empire already lost. Before screening it in the US in 1973 both parts were combined to one and shortened from over three...
- 1969 The Magic ChristianThe Magic Christian (film)The Magic Christian is a 1969 British comedy film directed by Joseph McGrath and starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr, with noteworthy appearances by John Cleese, Raquel Welch, Christopher Lee, Richard Attenborough and Roman Polanski. It was loosely adapted from the 1959 comic novel of the same...
- 1969 RebusRebus (film)Rebus or Appointment in Beirut is a 1969 crime film directed by Nino Zanchin and starring Laurence Harvey and Ann-Margaret. An international co-production, it was largely filmed in Venezuela, the UK and Lebanon.-Cast:...
- 1970 WUSAWUSA (film)WUSA is a 1970 drama film, directed by Stuart Rosenberg. It was written by Robert Stone, based on his novel A Hall of Mirrors. The story involves a radio station in New Orleans with the eponymous call sign which is apparently involved in a so-called "right-wing conspiracy". It culminates with a...
- 1972 Escape to the SunEscape to the SunEscape to the Sun is a 1972 drama film written and directed by Menahem Golan and starring Laurence Harvey, Josephine Chaplin, John Ireland, Lila Kedrova and Jack Hawkins. A group of people wish to flee the Soviet Union to escape political repression, but their activities soon attract the attention...
- 1973 Night WatchNight Watch (1973 film)-Plot:Based on a still-frequently-performed play by Lucille Fletcher, it is the story of a woman who claims she has witnessed a murder from her window at night. Unfortunately she is not able to prove this. The film reunited Taylor with co-star Laurence Harvey from their 1960 film BUtterfield 8...
- 1974 Welcome to Arrow Beach
Further reading
- Hickey, Des and Smith, Gus. The Prince: The Public and Private Life of Laurence Harvey. Leslie Frewin. 1975.
- Stone, PaulenePaulene Stonethumb|right|200px|Paulene StonePaulene Stone is a former Vogue cover girl who embodied Swinging London in the 1960s.A top English fashion model of the sixties, she gave birth to actor Laurence Harvey's only child, Domino Harvey. A 1960 image of her that ran in the Daily Express helped to launch...
. One Tear is Enough: My Life with Laurence Harvey. 1975. - Sinai, Anne. Reach for the Top: The Turbulent Life of Laurence Harvey. Scarecrow Press. 2003.