Ustinov on Olivier

[pravljicezaotroke]

He was always underrated!

[meredith218461]

Brilliant mimicry, not only verbally but facially.

[grai]

Self love is a wonderful thing

[timsan55]

Fabulous and thanks v much for posting, I had read this in Ustinov's "Dear Me" and it's v funny in print, but to see it is fantastic !

All this talent now passed away.

[17watermark]

Hilarious

[Tanguynew08]

H I L A R I O U S !!! What is great is that Ustinov & Olivier were such great friends !!! Ah ah ah, still laughing ! What a wonderful man...

[margacat]

I love Larry and he was great in Spartacus. He made the difference with other actors by acting in his own way. The imitation of Ustinov is hilarious XD

[blondes4mee]

One of the greatest actors EVER.

[billthestinker]

And he could break wind with the best of them!

[jpstenino]

USTINOV tells this wonderful story in his autobiography.

[mvies77]

Olivier, Laughton, Ustinov are all amazing outstanding actors. They each brought so much interest, depth and variety to Spartacus in their respective rolls. Ustinov held his own as the youngest under the onslaught of such heavy weights. It is funny he chides Olivier but then does the same .

[Targisvear]

@mvies77 The fact he does the same isn't the point of the joke?

[ipmoic]

I'm a bit late here racingrubberbiker, and you have a point. But the camera adored him in Wuthering Heights and Rebecca. The women swooned, and I know this first hand--I visit an old folks home regularly!

I agree that in later life, the camera definitely preferred others of his generation, including Mr. Laughton and Mr. Niven, in every respect.

[racingrubberbiker]

From another interview given by Ustinov, he admits that in "Spartacus" the great Charles Laughton out-acted Olivier. Olivier was a great stage actor, but he never quite could master the art of film acting. As they say, "the camera did not like him". From Goldwyn on, he was often called "a ham actor" in film. Thats why he never bothered to to make a career in Hollywood as a "star"

[ladytron72]

Tsss...tsss... Olivier didn't really need Hollywood. I mean... Henry V, Lady Hamilton, Sleuth, The Entertainer... Enough for me! ;-)

[racingrubberbiker]

I think you have made my point

[ladytron72]

cool!

[htuomnom]

It is true Ustinov is great,but there is only one Oliver.

[ladytron72]

I love Olivier and really, Ustinov is a genius!! I laughed so much my abdominals ache. The mimicking is so true!!

Thanks for posting. ***

[robster80]

Olivier is the greatest

[Eudora74]

I think is not the worst work of Olivier in films, he had some bad works on films, but Ustinov was right in his ironic vision, sometimes Olivier was excesive in his vanity, there are other great actors in the world, an in Espartacus Laughton ruled in his lines.

Sorry for my "heretic" point of view.

[racingrubberbiker]

Not heretic at all. Laughton was a GREAT actor in film. See my other comment

[tomes55moon]

I love olivier and think he's great in spartacus, but Pete is just as watchable and I admire that he got up there and ripped it out such an established actor

[wolfgangle]

ustinov is a genius, in the movie in that scene he has 10 emotions going over his face in 2-3 seconds...unpüaralleled. ps: he is just mocking the divaattitude of olivier, relax

[watayapupuya]

@wolfgangle You know nothing of Olivier,obviously.

[htuomnom]

He should only have been half the actor that

 Olivier was

[naverow]

that is funny

[JimmyThatcher]

I though Olivier was pretty dull in Spartacus, it was under playing for him I thought..

[robster80]

underplaying yes..but still very good..almost like a snake at times

[JimmyThatcher]

I don't really get this. Is he mocking Olivier's genius facial expressions?

[Kubrickfan1]

Yes, Olivier was hamming it up something shameful in the film. I love Olivier but he was over the top in this one, caught a bit of the Rod Steiger flu.

[j43ms]

olivier did roll his eyes a lot in "spartacus" !