Laurence Olivier

Laurence OIivier was a very successful actor both on the stage and on the screen. He is probably one of those actors who have become legends already in their lives. This is his Richard III, one of his famous performances. You have to love those little pauses he makes before something important. I like the slow way he builds up the hatred that drives him to achieve his goal. This destructive power is there in everyone, the temptation to ruin when we feel outcast... Such poison spreads slowly and unnoticed till there is tragedy... The other video I have included is a MUST for anyone who has even a minute interest in acting. In it Dustin Hoffman explains the much quoted story of him and Olivier. In short the widespread version goes as follows: when Olivier saw Hoffman who had not been sleeping for days in order to give a more realistic performance of a character, he said "My dear boy, why don't you try acting?", and is usually mentioned to contrast classical and method acting. But I think what Hoffman reveals is much more than that, it is a beautiful story well worth a place in a book of zen anecdotes. It is also a manifestation of love that made me cryish... "Look at me!"