Laurence Olivier, arguably Britain’s best ever stage actor, was honored Wednesday with a blue plaque hooked up to the central London property the place he lived as a toddler.
Unveiled by Ian McKellen, the plaque at 22 Lupus Street in Pimlico marks the place the place Olivier started performing as a toddler.
“For these of us who had been fortunate sufficient to have seen him within the theater, it’s after all fairly proper that, as a result of he was the chief of our occupation for thus a few years, it’s acceptable that this must be put up,” McKellen told The Associated Press after the unveiling. “Actors go out of fashion very quickly, but I’ve a feeling that this man’s name will never be forgotten, and because of this plaque.”
Olivier lived on the property between the ages of 6 and 11. While there, he reportedly reworked a wood field and blue curtains right into a makeshift stage the place he sang, danced, and acted for hours at a time.
Olivier was honored as a Shakespearean actor, enjoying many iconic protagonists in London together with Hamlet, Henry V, Macbeth and, controversially, Othello. For his function as Hamlet, Olivier gained his solely Academy Award for greatest actor in 1949. Other well-known display screen roles embody ones in “Rebecca,” “Wuthering Heights”,” “Marathon Man” and “Sleuth.”
London owes a lot to Olivier, who died at age 82 in 1989.
He campaigned for the institution of the National Theatre. The constructing that now homes the theatre formally opened in 1976 and its largest auditorium is called after Olivier.
“Laurence Olivier transformed British theater and film through the brilliance, range and intensity of his performances,” said English Heritage senior historian Howard Spencer. “The plaque celebrates the formative home where one of Britain’s greatest cultural figures first found his voice as an actor.”
The Olivier Awards, which have fun London’s theater scene, had been named in his honor.
The London blue plaque program started greater than 150 years in the past. The plaques commemorate notable individuals who made London residence in some unspecified time in the future. There are greater than 900 official plaques within the capital.
The first plaque commemorated the poet Lord Byron in 1867 however the home was later demolished. The oldest surviving plaque commemorates France’s closing emperor, Napoleon III.
© Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This materials is probably not printed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed with out permission.