Editing Ralph Richardson (section)

===Old Vic, 1944–47===
{{Hatnote|Details of Richardson's work, 1944–47: [[List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson#rrS44|Stage]], [[List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson#rrR44|Radio]], [[List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson#rrF44|Film]]}}
The triumvirate secured the New Theatre for their first season and recruited a company. Thorndike was joined by, among others, Harcourt Williams, [[Joyce Redman]] and [[Margaret Leighton]]. It was agreed to open with a repertory of four plays: ''[[Peer Gynt]]'', ''[[Arms and the Man]]'', ''[[Richard III (play)|Richard III]]'' and ''[[Uncle Vanya]]''. Richardson's roles were Peer, Bluntschli, Richmond and Vanya; Olivier played the Button Moulder, Sergius, Richard and Astrov.<ref>Gaye, pp. 1030 and 1118</ref> The first three productions met with acclaim from reviewers and audiences; ''Uncle Vanya'' had a mixed reception. ''The Times'' thought Olivier's Astrov "a most distinguished portrait" and Richardson's Vanya "the perfect compound of absurdity and pathos".<ref>"New Theatre", ''The Times'', 17 January 1945, p. 6</ref> Agate, on the other hand, commented, {{"'}}Floored for life, sir, and jolly miserable' is what ''Uncle Vanya'' takes three acts to say. And I just cannot believe in Mr Richardson wallowing in misery: his voice is the wrong colour."<ref>Agate (1946), p. 150</ref> In 1945 the company toured Germany, where they were seen by many thousands of Allied servicemen; they also appeared at the [[Comédie-Française]] theatre in Paris, the first foreign company to be given that honour.<ref>O'Connor, pp. 121–122; and Miller, p. 93</ref> The critic [[Harold Hobson]] wrote that Richardson and Olivier quickly "made the Old Vic the most famous theatre in the Anglo-Saxon world."<ref>Hobson, p. 55</ref>

[[File:Laurence Olivier Allan Warren.jpg|thumb|right|alt=man of mature years, balding, moustached, looking into camera|upright|[[Laurence Olivier]], Richardson's co-director of the Old Vic, photographed in 1972]]
The second season, in 1945, featured two double-bills. The first consisted of ''Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2''. Olivier played the warrior Hotspur in the first and the doddering Justice Shallow in the second.{{#tag:ref|The sources generally refer to the two parts of Henry IV as a double bill, although as full-length plays they were played across two separate evenings.<ref>"Theatres", ''The Times'', 25 September 1945, p. 8</ref>|group= n}} He received good notices, but by general consent the production belonged to Richardson as Falstaff. Agate wrote, "He had everything the part wants – the exuberance, the mischief, the gusto.{{space}}... Here is something better than virtuosity in character-acting – the spirit of the part shining through the actor."<ref>Agate (1946), p. 221</ref> As a teenager, the director [[Peter Hall (director)|Peter Hall]] saw the production; he said fifty years later, "Of the performances I've seen in my life I'm gladdest I saw that."<ref>Miller, p. 95</ref> In the second double bill it was Olivier who dominated, in the title roles of ''[[Oedipus Rex]]'' and ''[[The Critic (play)|The Critic]]''. Richardson took the supporting role of Tiresias in the first, and the silent, cameo part of Lord Burleigh in the second. After the London season the company played both the double-bills and ''Uncle Vanya'' in a six-week season on Broadway.<ref>O'Connor, p. 129</ref>

The third, and final, season under the triumvirate was in 1946–47. Olivier played King Lear, and Richardson, [[Cyrano de Bergerac (play)|Cyrano de Bergerac]]. Olivier would have preferred the roles to be cast the other way about, but Richardson did not wish to attempt Lear. Richardson's other roles in the season were Inspector Goole in ''[[An Inspector Calls]]'', Face in ''[[The Alchemist (play)|The Alchemist]]'' and John of Gaunt in ''[[Richard II (play)|Richard II]]'', which he directed, with [[Alec Guinness]] in the title role.<ref>O'Connor, pp. 135 and 137</ref>

During the run of ''Cyrano'', Richardson was [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] in the [[1947 New Year Honours]], to Olivier's undisguised envy.<ref>O'Connor, p. 141</ref> The younger man received the accolade six months later, by which time the days of the triumvirate were numbered. The high profile of the two star actors did not endear them to the new chairman of the Old Vic governors, [[Oliver Sylvain Baliol Brett, 3rd Viscount Esher|Lord Esher]]. He had ambitions to be the first head of the National Theatre and had no intention of letting actors run it.<ref>O'Connor, pp. 149–153</ref> He was encouraged by Guthrie, who, having instigated the appointment of Richardson and Olivier, had come to resent their knighthoods and international fame.<ref>Miller, p. 126</ref> Esher terminated their contracts while both were out of the country, and they and Burrell were said to have "resigned".<ref>Miller, pp. 124 and 128</ref>

Looking back in 1971, [[Bernard Levin]] wrote that the Old Vic company of 1944 to 1947 "was probably the most illustrious that has ever been assembled in this country".<ref>Levin, Bernard, "Tears and gin with the Old Vic", ''The Times'', 16 February 1971, p. 12</ref> ''The Times'' said that the triumvirate's years were the greatest in the Old Vic's history;<ref name=timesobit/> as ''[[The Guardian]]'' put it, "the governors summarily sacked them in the interests of a more mediocre company spirit".<ref name=guardianobit/>