SYNOPSIS: Winner of four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor, Sir Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet continues to be the most compelling version of Shakespeare’s beloved tragedy. Olivier is at his most inspired—both as director and as the melancholy Dane himself—as he breathes new life into the words of one of the world’s greatest dramatists.
| Hamlet, Prince of Denmark | Laurence Olivier |
| Chorus | Leslie Banks |
| Claudius, the King | Basil Sydney |
| Gertrude, the Queen | Eileen Herlie |
| Horatio | Norman Wooland |
| Laertes | Felix Aylmer |
| Osiric | Peter Cushing |
| Gravedigger | Stanley Holloway |
| Polonius | Terence Morgan |
| Ophelia | Jean Simmons |
| Marcellus | Anthony Quayle |
| Bernardo | Esmond Knight |
| Priest | Russell Thorndike |
| Director | Laurence Olivier |
| Designer | Roger Furse |
| Associate producer | Reginald Beck |
| Cinematography | Desmond Dickinson |
| Art direction | Carmen Dillon |
| Text editor | Alan Dent |
| Editing | Helga Cranston |
| Music | William Walton |
By September 18, 2000
Reviewing Laurence Olivier’s 1948 film of Hamlet, James Agee—then a critic at Time—wrote: “The man who brings Hamlet, his friends, and his antagonists to life has tackled one of the most fascinating and most thankless Read more »
