Sir Laurence Olivier Recites Shakespeare | The Dick Cavett Show

Sir Laurence Olivier delivers one of the Dick Cavett Show's most iconic moments.

Date aired - 1/24/1973 - Sir Laurence Olivier

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Dick Cavett has been nominated for eleven Emmy awards (the most recent in 2012 for the HBO special, Mel Brooks and Dick Cavett Together Again), and won three. Spanning five decades, Dick Cavett’s television career has defined excellence in the interview format. He started at ABC in 1968, and also enjoyed success on PBS, USA, and CNBC.

His most recent television successes were the September 2014 PBS special, Dick Cavett’s Watergate, followed April 2015 by Dick Cavett’s Vietnam. He has appeared in movies, tv specials, tv commercials, and several Broadway plays. He starred in an off-Broadway production ofHellman v. McCarthy in 2014 and reprised the role at Theatre 40 in LA February 2015.

Cavett has published four books beginning with Cavett (1974) and Eye on Cavett (1983), co-authored with Christopher Porterfield. His two recent books -- Talk Show: Confrontations, Pointed Commentary, and Off-Screen Secrets (2010) and Brief Encounters: Conversations, Magic moments, and Assorted Hijinks(October 2014) are both collections of his online opinion column, written for The New York Times since 2007. Additionally, he has written for The New Yorker, TV Guide, Vanity Fair, and elsewhere.

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[ChefDuane]

As an American is it a joy to hear the words of the greatest writer in the English language spoken in perfect English by a proper Englishman.

[markywellsboy]

No whooping, no howling. No twat of a host butting in, laughing hysterically at anything said.
Just a host and an audience listening to the guest.

[andymassingham]

Slips into the sonnet without altering his voice, demeanour or physicality and yet becomes the sonnet. Super human qualities of a super hero.

[longmemory]

Just beautiful. No grandstanding, no histrionics, perfect pace. (But of course; we're watching the greatest actor of the age). Delivered in that matchless voice. And that sweet, slightly feline smile....

[emeraldcity]

There is no way this man was unaware of his own genius, and STILL he remained humble. Class act.

[Teddyclaws]

He recites it perfectly because he understands it so well.

[rob-robi]

Olvier spoke for non stop over 3 straight minutes without being interrupted
Humans have lost their ability to even do that in modern times

[PapiSorrels]

Wow! He just jumped into it and let go in a snap. The sincerity, the charm. When Oliver recites Shakespeare it’s the only time I understand it.

[HerbertDuckshort]

His eloquence would leave many today scratching their heads in puzzlement. Genius.

[lizjones]

Just watching this now, March 2024 - I am mesmerised. This man was Shakespeare personified.

[buzztp]

When a host would let the quest talk without butting in.

[jamesnation]

How enjoyable it is to hear a person speak without requiring the incessant stammering, the "uhs", "ums", "you knows", to express a thought.

[donhol]

This guy is just on a different level than everyone else...

[bradhill]

Look at what we used to be. This is enlightened humanity being presented here. Beautiful in its prose, and delivery. As beautiful as a piece of symphony music. How far we have fallen in only 40 years. God let us return to this kind of society.

[leedobson]

The general dumbing down of society is painfully apparent when you watch these 70's talk shows

[nicholasreid]

Doesn't it drive you crazy that once upon a time there were talk shows as erudite and informed as this one? In the blather of nudge-and-wink showbiz gossip talk shows, nothing like this exists anymore.

[photo]

When Olivier acts, even here with this "recitation", something utterly mysterious and enrapturing happens. He holds the audience, the room, the very air around him absolutely transfixed. One feels almost as if hypnotized, so powerful and inescapable is his ability to capture one's very consciousness. He truly was the greatest actor of all time.

[zimnaya]

When Sir Laurence recited the sonnet from Shakespeare, i found myself in a flood of silent tears, So beautiful, so perfect, so immediate...divine Shakespeare with a man that could always bring him to life...

[davis]

before he started talking about Shakespeare you could truly hear the passion in his voice about Theatre. and as a big lover of theatre That hit me hard in a good way.

[halvaman]

The voice of "The World At War". Transfixed me as a young man.