Editing Laurence Olivier (section)

===1924–1929: Early acting career===
In 1924 Gerard Olivier, a habitually frugal man, told his son that he must gain not only admission to the [[Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art]], but also a scholarship with a bursary to cover his tuition fees and living expenses.{{sfn|Holden|1988|p=29}} Olivier's sister had been a student there and was a favourite of [[Elsie Fogerty]], the founder and principal of the school. Olivier later speculated that it was on the strength of this connection that Fogerty agreed to award him the bursary.{{sfn|Holden|1988|p=29}}{{efn|Olivier's biographers W. A. Darlington and Anthony Holden both suggest another reason: Fogerty's determination to recruit more male students, there being at the time only six boys to seventy girls enrolled at the school.{{sfnm|1a1=Darlington|1y=1968|1p=1|2a1=Holden|2y=1988|2p=29}}}}

[[File:Peggy-Ashcroft-1936-2.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=young woman, dark-haired, in left profile|[[Peggy Ashcroft]], a contemporary and friend of Olivier's at the [[Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art]] in London, photographed in 1936]]

One of Olivier's contemporaries at the school was [[Peggy Ashcroft]], who observed he was "rather uncouth in that his sleeves were too short and his hair stood on end but he was intensely lively and great fun".{{sfnm|1a1=Billington|1y=2004|2a1=Munn|2y=2007|2p=23}} By his own admission he was not a very conscientious student, but Fogerty liked him and later said that he and Ashcroft stood out among her many pupils.{{sfn|Holden|1988|p=32}}

After leaving the Central School in 1925, Olivier worked for small theatrical companies;{{sfn|Beckett|2005|pp=18–19}} his first stage appearance was in a sketch called ''The Unfailing Instinct'' at the [[Brighton Hippodrome]] in August 1925.{{sfn|Beckett|2005|pp=15–16}}{{sfn|Coleman|2006|pp=25, 485}} Later that year, he was taken on by Sybil Thorndike (the daughter of a friend of Olivier's father) and her husband [[Lewis Casson]] as a bit-part player, understudy and assistant stage manager for their London company.{{sfn|Beckett|2005|pp=18–19}} Olivier modelled his performing style on that of [[Gerald du Maurier]], of whom he said, "He seemed to mutter on stage but had such perfect technique. When I started I was so busy doing a du Maurier that no one ever heard a word I said. The Shakespearean actors one saw were terrible hams like [[Frank Benson (actor)|Frank Benson]]."{{sfn|Mortimer|1984|p=61}} Olivier's concern with speaking naturally and avoiding what he called "singing" Shakespeare's verse was the cause of much frustration in his early career, as critics regularly decried his delivery.{{sfn|Bragg|1989|p=59}}

In 1926, on Thorndike's recommendation, Olivier joined the [[Birmingham Repertory Company]].{{sfn|Jackson|2013|p=67}} His biographer [[Michael Billington (critic)|Michael Billington]] describes the Birmingham company as "Olivier's university", where in his second year he was given the chance to play a wide range of important roles, including Tony Lumpkin in ''[[She Stoops to Conquer]]'', the title role in ''[[Uncle Vanya]]'', and Parolles in ''[[All's Well That Ends Well]]''.{{sfn|Holden|1988|p=455}} Billington adds that the engagement led to "a lifelong friendship with his fellow actor [[Ralph Richardson]] that was to have a decisive effect on the British theatre."{{sfn|Billington|2004}}

While playing the juvenile lead in ''Bird in Hand'' at the [[Royalty Theatre]] in June 1928, Olivier began a relationship with [[Jill Esmond]], the daughter of the actors [[Henry V. Esmond]] and [[Eva Moore]].{{sfn|Munn|2007|p=28}} Olivier later recounted that he thought "she would most certainly do excellent well for a wife&nbsp;... I wasn't likely to do any better at my age and with my undistinguished track-record, so I promptly fell in love with her."{{sfn|Olivier|1994|p=75}}

In 1928 Olivier created the role of Stanhope in [[R.&nbsp;C. Sherriff]]'s ''[[Journey's End]]'', in which he scored a great success at its single Sunday night premiere.{{sfn|Coleman|2006|p=32}} He was offered the part in the [[West End theatre|West End]] production the following year, but turned it down in favour of the more glamorous role of [[Beau Geste]] in a stage adaptation of [[P. C. Wren]]'s 1929 novel of the same name. ''Journey's End'' became a long-running success; ''Beau Geste'' failed.{{sfn|Billington|2004}} ''[[The Manchester Guardian]]'' commented, "Mr.&nbsp;Laurence Olivier did his best as Beau, but he deserves and will get better parts. Mr.&nbsp;Olivier is going to make a big name for himself".<ref name="Guard: Beau Geste"/> For the rest of 1929 Olivier appeared in seven plays, all of which were short-lived. Billington ascribes this failure rate to poor choices by Olivier rather than mere bad luck.{{sfn|Billington|2004}}{{efn|Gielgud and Olivier himself later considered that not being in the nearly two-year run of ''Journey's End''{{sfn|Gaye|1967|p=1533}} helped Olivier's career. Gielgud wrote in the 1970s, "Olivier made his name in three plays that failed with the public—''Beau Geste'', ''The Circle of Chalk'' with [[Anna May Wong]], and ''The Rats of Norway'' by Keith Winter. In all three plays he got superb notices personally, so that in a curious way it made his career to be in failures."{{sfn|Gielgud|1979|p=219}} Olivier said much the same to Bragg in the 1980s.{{sfn|Bragg|1989|p=45}}}}