Laurence Harvey

Laurence Harvey (born Zvi Mosheh Skikne; 1 October 192825 November 1973) was a Lithuanian-born British actor and film director. He was born to Lithuanian Jewish parents and emigrated to South Africa at an early age, before later settling in the United Kingdom after World War II. In a career that spanned a quarter of a century, Harvey appeared in stage, film and television productions primarily in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Harvey was known for his clipped, refined accent and cool, debonair screen persona. His performance in Room at the Top (1959) resulted in an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. That success was followed by the roles of William Barret Travis in The Alamo and Weston Liggett in BUtterfield 8, both films released in the autumn of 1960. He also appeared as the brainwashed Sergeant Raymond Shaw in The Manchurian Candidate (1962). He made his directorial debut with The Ceremony (1963), and continued acting into the 1970s until his early death in 1973 of cancer.

Early life and career

South Africa

Harvey was born in Joniškis, Lithuania, the youngest of three sons of Ella (née Zotnickaite) and Ber Skikne, Lithuanian Jewish parents. His civil birth name was Larushka Mischa Skikne, As the mystery guest on the American TV show What's My Line?, screened 1 May 1960, Harvey stated that he arrived in South Africa in 1934 and moved to the UK in 1946.

Move to Britain

thumb|Harvey and [[Diane Cilento in the television play The Small Servant. Both made their U.S. television debuts in this production for The Alcoa Hour (1955).]]

After moving to London, he enrolled in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, but left RADA after three months.

Billed as Larry Skikne, he appeared in the play Uprooted at the Comedy Theatre in 1947. He also appeared on stage at the Library Theatre in Manchester.

Film debut and new name

Harvey made his cinema debut in the British film House of Darkness (1948), but its distributor British Lion thought someone named Larry Skikne was not commercially viable. Accounts vary as to how the actor acquired his stage name of Laurence Harvey. One version has it that it was the idea of talent agent Gordon Harbord who decided Laurence would be an appropriate first name. In choosing a British-sounding last name, Harbord thought of two British retail institutions, Harvey Nichols and Harrods. Another is that Skikne was travelling on a London bus with Sid James who exclaimed during their journey: "It's either Laurence Nichols or Laurence Harvey." Harvey's own account differed over time.

Associated British Picture Corporation and leading man

Associated British Picture Corporation quickly offered him a two-year contract, which Harvey accepted. He appeared in supporting roles in several of their lower-budget films such as Man on the Run (1949), Landfall (1949) (directed by Ken Annakin) and The Dancing Years (1950). For International Motion Pictures he was in The Man from Yesterday (1949).

Mayflower Productions, which released through Associated British, gave Harvey his first lead, appearing alongside Eric Portman in the Egypt-set police film Cairo Road (1950). It was a minor success.

In 1953 he played Orlando on a BBC TV version of As You Like It, opposite Margaret Leighton, whom he would later marry. This has been called his "first performance of note."

Harvey played Romeo in Renato Castellani's adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (1954), narrated by John Gielgud. His performance was generally not well received. According to a contemporary interview, he turned down an offer to appear in Helen of Troy (1955) to act at Stratford-upon-Avon, where he again performed in Romeo and Juliet, this time on stage.

Romulus gave Harvey another excellent chance when he was cast as the writer Christopher Isherwood in I Am A Camera (1955), with Julie Harris as Sally Bowles. He and Leighton starred in an adaptation of A Month in the Country for ITV Play of the Week (1955). He made his Broadway debut in 1955 in the play Island of Goats, a flop that closed after one week, though his performance won him a 1956 Theatre World Award. While in the US he appeared on TV in an episode of The Alcoa Hour called The Small Servant , co-starring Diane Cilento.

Zoltan Korda used him as one of the soldiers in Storm Over the Nile (1955), a remake of The Four Feathers (1939), playing the part taken by Ralph Richardson in the 1939 version. It was popular in Britain as was the comedy Three Men in a Boat (1956), made for Romulus under the direction of Ken Annakin. nomination and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Harvey followed it with the musical Expresso Bongo (1959), a film best remembered for introducing Cliff Richard. He did The Violent Years for the ITV Play of the Week (1959).

While in the US he appeared in "Arthur", an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents directed by Hitchcock himself.

Hollywood

The success of Room at the Top led to Hollywood offers and Harvey decided to spend the next three years focusing on films. The Alamo was a hit.

Even more successful was Harvey's next Hollywood film, MGM's BUtterfield 8 (1960), which won Elizabeth Taylor her first Oscar. He was named for The Eddie Chapman Story but it was not made until years later, as Triple Cross with Christopher Plummer.

Back in Britain, Harvey was cast in the film version of The Long and the Short and the Tall (1961) in a role originally performed by Peter O'Toole during the play's West End run. He clashed with Richard Todd and Richard Harris during filming but the movie was a hit in Britain. He was announced for some films that were not made (The Disenchanted from the novel by Budd Schulberg, No Bail for the Judge from Alfred Hitchcock, The Lion, and The Long Walk).

In the U.S., he supported Shirley MacLaine in MGM's Two Loves (1961) and co-starred with Geraldine Page in the film adaptation of Tennessee Williams's Summer and Smoke (1961), directed by Peter Glenville. His fee around this time was $300,000 a film.

Harvey played the male lead in Walk on the Wild Side (1962), produced by Charles Feldman, cast alongside Barbara Stanwyck, Jane Fonda and Capucine. Fonda was not positive about the experience of working with him: "There are actors and actors – and then there are the Laurence Harveys. With them, it's like acting by yourself." He narrated a TV musical, The Flood (1962).

MGM cast Harvey as Wilhelm Grimm in the MGM film The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962), produced by George Pal. Harvey's performance earned him a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama. The fantasy movie filmed in 3-strip Cinerama was a box office disappointment.

Harvey appeared as the brainwashed US Army Staff Sergeant Raymond Shaw in the Cold War thriller The Manchurian Candidate (1962), directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Frank Sinatra and Angela Lansbury.

He followed this with The Running Man (1963), directed by Carol Reed, with Lee Remick and Alan Bates.

Harvey played King Arthur in the 1964 London production of the Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe musical Camelot at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.

He was the male lead in an adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage (1964), co starring Kim Novak. Harvey had been connected to the project for several years. It was a troubled shoot, with Harvey and Novak clashing, and original director Henry Hathaway leaving during the shoot and being replaced by Ken Hughes. During filming, kidnap threats were made against both Harvey and Novak by student organisations.

The Outrage (1964) was director Martin Ritt's remake of Akira Kurosawa's Japanese film Rashomon (1950). Besides Harvey, the film starred Paul Newman and Claire Bloom, but was unsuccessful critically and commercially.

Harvey reprised his role as Joe Lampton in Life at the Top (1965), directed by Ted Kotcheff. This is considered one of his best later performances. While Harvey's role in the film is short, his involvement enabled director John Schlesinger to raise financial backing for the project. Harvey did The Winter's Tale (1967) and then Dial M for Murder (1967) for American TV.

Charge of the Light Brigade

Harvey owned the rights to the book on which John Osborne's early script for the film The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968) was partially based, Cecil Woodham-Smith's book The Reason Why (1953). He intended to make his own version. A lawsuit was filed against director Tony Richardson's company Woodfall Film Productions on behalf of the book's author. There was a monetary settlement, and Harvey insisted on being cast in a cameo role (being cast as Prince Radziwill) as part of the agreement for which he was paid £60,000. Charles Wood was brought in to re-write the script. Harvey's scenes were cut from the movie at Richardson's insistence except for a brief glimpse as an anonymous member of a theatre audience which, technically, still met the requirements of the legal settlement. John Osborne asserted in his autobiography that Richardson shot the scenes with Harvey "French", which is film jargon for a director "going through the motions" because of some obligation, but with no film in the camera.

Harvey completed direction of the spy thriller A Dandy in Aspic (1968) after director Anthony Mann died during production. The film co-stars Mia Farrow. This has been called "his last effective cinema role... The critics greeted it with disdain but the plot was tailor-made for Harvey, who plays a Russian spy who has adopted an English identity so he can go undercover within British Intelligence."

Later career

Harvey co-starred with Ann-Margret in Rebus (1969) then appeared in Kampf um Rom (1970), a film set in Ancient Rome. The latter starred Orson Welles, who directed Harvey in The Deep, a thriller that was abandoned.

Harvey starred in She and He (1969), which he helped produce.

He had a cameo role as himself in The Magic Christian (1969), a film based on the Terry Southern novel of the same name. He gives a rendition of Hamlet's soliloquy that develops unexpectedly into a campy striptease routine.

He had a small role in WUSA (1970) and was guest murderer on Columbo: The Most Dangerous Match in 1973, portraying a chess champion who kills his opponent. For British TV he appeared in a version of Arms and the Man for ITV Sunday Night Theatre (1971). Joanna Pettet appeared with Harvey in an episode of Rod Serling's Night Gallery ("The Caterpillar", 1972), in which Harvey's character attempts to assassinate a romantic rival by having a burrowing insect dropped in the man's ear.

Harvey starred in Escape to the Sun (1972), directed by Menahem Golan and was reunited with Elizabeth Taylor in Night Watch (1973), financed by Brut Productions. The same company financed Welcome to Arrow Beach (1974), which Harvey directed and starred in; the cast also included his friend Pettet, John Ireland and Stuart Whitman. The film deals with a type of war-related post-traumatic stress disorder that turns a military veteran to cannibalism. Just before he died, he was planning to star in and direct two films: one on Kitty Genovese, the other a Wolf Mankowitz comedy titled Cockatrice. His death put an end to any hope that Orson Welles's The Deep would be completed. With Harvey and Jeanne Moreau in the leading roles, Welles worked on the film between his other projects, although the production was hampered by financial problems.

Personal life

He met Hermione Baddeley, an established actress, when they were cast in the film There Is Another Sun in 1950. She became his live-in partner and a lucky charm for his career. She introduced him to Basil Dean and his first part on the London stage in Hassan, followed by a season at Stratford in 1952 with Glen Byam Shaw. Most significantly, she introduced him to James Woolf, of Romulus Films. Harvey left Baddeley in 1952 for actress Margaret Leighton, who was then married to publisher Max Reinhardt. Leighton and Reinhardt divorced in 1955, and she married Harvey in 1957 off the Rock of Gibraltar. The couple divorced in 1961.

In 1968 he married Joan Perry, the widow of film mogul Harry Cohn. Her marriage to Harvey lasted until 1972.

His third marriage was to British fashion model Paulene Stone. She gave birth to their daughter Domino in 1969 while he was still married to Perry. Harvey and Stone married in 1972 and soon after, he adopted her child from her previous marriage, Sophie Norris (now Sophie Harvey). The wedding took place at the home of Harold Robbins.

In his account of being Frank Sinatra's valet, Mr. S: My Life with Frank Sinatra (2003), George Jacobs writes that Harvey often made passes at him while visiting Sinatra. According to Jacobs, Sinatra was aware of Harvey's sexuality. In his autobiography Close Up (2004), British actor John Fraser claimed Harvey was gay and that his long-term lover was Harvey's manager James Woolf, who had cast Harvey in several of the films he produced in the 1950s.

After working in two films with her, Harvey remained friends with Elizabeth Taylor for the rest of his life. She visited him three weeks before he died. Upon his death, Taylor issued the statement: "He was one of the people I really loved in this world. He was part of the sun. For everyone who loved him, the sun is a bit dimmer." She and Peter Lawford held a memorial service for Harvey in California.

Harvey once responded to an assertion about himself: "Someone once asked me, 'Why is it so many people hate you?' and I said, 'Do they? How super! I'm really quite pleased about it.' "

His daughter Domino, who later became a bounty hunter, was only four years old at the time. She died at the age of 35, in 2005, after overdosing on the painkiller drug fentanyl. They are buried alongside one another in Santa Barbara Cemetery in Santa Barbara, California.

Appraisal

According to his obituary in The New York Times:

<blockquote>With his clipped speech, cool smile and a cigarette dangling impudently from his lips, Laurence Harvey established himself as the screen's perfect pin-striped cad. He could project such utter boredom that willowy debutantes would shrivel in his presence. He could also exude such charm that the same young ladies would gladly lend him their hearts, which were usually returned utterly broken ... The image Mr Harvey carefully fostered for himself off screen was not far removed from some of the roles he played. "I'm a flamboyant character, an extrovert who doesn't want to reveal his feelings", he once said. "To bare your soul to the world, I find unutterably boring. I think part of our profession is to have a quixotic personality."

<!-- UNCITED....Supplied by Barrie Sumpton for biography "Reach for the Top" by Anne Sinai: "His distinctive looks gave him a stage presence that was hard to ignore. He was particularly adept at playing scoundrels. He was a protege of James Woolf, of Romulus Films, who made him a star. However, his acting ability was always in doubt."

From Hermione Baddeley's biography "The Unsinkable Hermione Baddeley", long-time partner: "Life with him was exciting and funny, but he was consumed with a hunger to have everything -fame, fortune, all the riches of life. It was as if he knew there was only so much time allotted to him".

From Pauline Stone, third wife: "Behind the public dandy, the pirouetting fop, hid a mature and sensitive artist. He simply believed it was slightly vulgar to let it be seen".

From "The Great Movie Stars" by David Shipman: "Laurence Harvey's career should be an inspiration to all budding actors: he demonstrated conclusively that it is possible to succeed without managing to evoke the least audience interest or sympathy – and to go on succeeding despite unanimous critical antipathy and overwhelming public apathy. His twenty-year career of mainly unprofitable films is a curiosity of film history".

From Lewis Gilbert, film director: "Harvey was destined to be an ordinary British film actor, but the success of Room at the Top made him an international film star. He had a limited range though and was often mis-cast. He wasn't "leading man" material, but, with good direction, in some character roles, he was very good."

From Leslie Haliwell's "Film Guide" : He worked his way slowly from British "B" films to top Hollywood productions, but was only briefly in fashion".

From Margaret Leighton, first wife: "Despite outward appearances, Larry was a dedicated actor who gave a lot of time and thought to his work. He was well aware that the critics hated him and he often deliberately bated them – it was better than being ignored! He could have behaved differently. I think the public did like him though, contrary to critical opinion.

After his manager, Jimmy Woolf, died in 1966, his career went badly, with many poor films. Towards the end he had difficulty finding work. "Dandy in Aspic" was his last reasonable film. I always felt an air of optimism that he might produce something special."

From Frank Sinatra interview: " He was a consummate actor. He made you work up to his level – he demanded it. A powerful actor with great inner strength."-->

Theatre credits (partial)

{| class="wikitable sortable"

!Year

! scope="col"|Title

! scope="col" class="unsortable"| Role

! scope="col"|Theater

! scope="col"|Notes

! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Refs.

|1946

|The Winter's Tale

|Camillo

|Royal Academy of Dramatic Art

| rowspan="7" |as 'Larry Skikne'

| rowspan="5" |1947

|The Seagull

| rowspan="5" |Manchester Intimate Theatre

|Amphitryon

|The Kirby Fortune

|The Beaux' Stratagem

|The Circle

|1947

| Uprooted

|Nicky Horroway

|Comedy Theatre

|1951

|Hassan

|Cambridge Theatre, London

|1951-52

|As You Like It

| rowspan="8" |Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon

| rowspan="4" |1952

|Coriolanus

|Tullus Aufidius

| rowspan="3" |1956

| rowspan="2" |The Rivals

| rowspan="2" |Captain Jack Absolute

|Saville Theatre, London

|1957-58

|Henry Miller's Theatre, New York

|1964-65

| Camelot

|King Arthur

|Theatre Royal, Drury Lane

| rowspan="2" |1966

| rowspan="2" |The Winter's Tale

| rowspan="2" |Leontes

|Edinburgh Festival Fringe

| rowspan="3" scope="row" |1949

|Man on the Run

|Detective Sergeant Lawson

|Lawrence Huntington

|John Matthews

|Oswald Mitchell

|Landfall

|P/O Hooper

| rowspan="4" scope="row" |1950

|Cairo Road

|Lieutenant Mourad

|Bit part

|Uncredited

|Edmond

|Soldier

|John and Roy Boulting

|Uncredited

| rowspan="2" scope="row" |1951

|Scarlet Thread

|Freddie

|There Is Another Sun

|Mag Maguire

| rowspan="3" scope="row" |1952

|I Believe in You

|Jordie Bennett

|Ned

|Women of Twilight

|Jerry Nolan

|1953

|Innocents in Paris

|François

|Uncredited

| rowspan="3" scope="row" |1954

|Miles Ravenscourt

|King Richard and the Crusaders

|Sir Kenneth of Huntington

|Romeo and Juliet

|Romeo

| rowspan="2" scope="row" |1955

|I Am a Camera

|Christopher Isherwood

|Storm Over the Nile

|John Durrance

|1956

|Three Men in a Boat

|George

| rowspan="2" scope="row" |1957

|After the Ball

|Walter de Frece

|Sir Humphrey Tavistock

|1958

|Lieutenant Crabb

| rowspan="3" scope="row" |1959

|Room at the Top

|Joe Lampton

|Nominated- Academy Award for Best Actor<br>Nominated- BAFTA Award for Best British Actor<br>Nominated- New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor

|Power Among Men

|Narrator (voice)

|Alexander Hackenschmied

|Documentary

|Expresso Bongo

|Johnny Jackson

|Nominated- BAFTA Award for Best British Actor

| rowspan="2" scope="row" |1960

|William Barret Travis

|John Wayne

|BUtterfield 8

|Weston Ligget

| rowspan="3" scope="row" |1961

|Private 'Bammo' Bamforth

|Two Loves

|Paul Lathrope

|Summer and Smoke

|John Buchanan Jr.

|Peter Glenville

| rowspan="4" scope="row" |1962

|Walk on the Wild Side

|Dove Linkhorn

|Wilhelm Grimm / The Cobbler

|Nominated- Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama

|Raymond Shaw

|Ivan Kalin

| rowspan="2" scope="row" |1963

|Rex Black

|Sean McKenna

|Himself

|Also director

| rowspan="2" scope="row" |1964

|Of Human Bondage

|Phillip Carey

|Husband

| rowspan="2" scope="row" |1965

|Darling

|Miles Brand

|Life at the Top

|Joe Lampton

|1966

|Dr. Francis Trevelyan

|1967

|King Leontes

| rowspan="3" scope="row" |1968

|Eberlin

|Anthony Mann<br>Himself

|Took over directing after Mann's death without credit

|Russian Prince

|Tony Richardson

|Uncredited cameo

|Cethegus

| rowspan="3" scope="row" |1969

| Rebus

|Jeff Miller

|L'assoluto naturale

|"He"

|Also uncredited producer

|Hamlet

| rowspan="3" scope="row" |1970

|WUSA

|Farley

|Tchaikovsky

|Narrator

|Hughie Warriner

|Orson Welles

|1972

|Escape to the Sun

|Major Kirsanov

| rowspan="2" scope="row" |1973

|Night Watch

|John Wheeler

|F for Fake

|Himself

|Orson Welles

| scope="row" |1974

|Welcome to Arrow Beach

|Jason Henry

|Himself

|Also director, posthumous release

Television

{| class="wikitable sortable"

! scope="col"|Year

! scope="col"|Title

! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Role

! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Notes

! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Refs.

|scope="row" | 1950

| Othello

| Cassio

| (BBC TV)

|scope="row" |1953

| As You Like It

| Orlando

| (BBC TV)

|scope="row" rowspan=2|1955

| ITV Play of the Week

| Beljajew

| A Month in the Country

| The Alcoa Hour

| Dick Swiveller

| The Small Servant

|scope="row" | 1956

|scope="row" |1957

| Holiday Night Reunion

|scope="row" rowspan=2|1959

| Alfred Hitchcock Presents

| Arthur Williams

| Season 5 Episode 1: Arthur

| ITV Play of the Week

| Chris/Misha

|The Violent Years

|scope="row" rowspan=3|1960

|Pontiac Star Parade

|Self

|The Spirit of the Alamo, wrap party in Brackettville, Texas

| What's My Line?

| Self

| Guest panelist 6 March; mystery guest 1 May

| Here's Hollywood

| Self

| Episode 1.19

|scope="row" rowspan=2|1962

| Self

| 9 March episode

| Narrator

|scope="row" rowspan=3|1964

| Password

| Self

| Georgia Brown v. Laurence Harvey

| Self

| Episode 18.5

| Self

| Episode 1.2

|scope="row" rowspan=2|1965

| Self

| Episode 2.15

|Self

| Episode 3.14

|scope="row" rowspan=2|1966

| Hollywood Talent Scouts

| Self

| 31 January episode

| Late Night Line-Up

| Self

| 5 February episode, BBC

|scope="row" rowspan=3| 1967

| Self

| 27 April episode

| Dial M for Murder

|Tony Wendice

| TV movie

|Self

|17 October 1967 episode

|scope="row" rowspan=2|1968

| Self

| Episodes 2.245 and 3.40

|Marvelous Party!

| Host

| A 70th birthday tribute to Noël Coward

|scope="row" rowspan=2|1969

| Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In

| Self

| Episode 2.25

|Joker's Wild

| Self

| American TV game show

|scope="row"| 1970

| Self

| Episode 2.184

|scope="row" rowspan=4| 1971

| ITV Saturday Night Theatre

| Major Sergius Saranoff

| Arms and the Man

| Self

| 11 May episode

| The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

| Self

| 19 November episode

| Celebrity Bowling

| Self

| Unknown episode

|scope="row"|1972

| Night Gallery

| Steven Macy

| Episode: "Caterpillar"

|scope="row" rowspan=3|1973

| Columbo

| Emmett Clayton

| Episode: "The Most Dangerous Match"

| 45th Academy Awards

| Self (presenter)

| Special

| The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

| Self (guest)

| Episode dated 8/24/73

Awards and nominations

{| class="wikitable sortable"

!Award

! Date

!Category

! Nominated work

! Result

!Refs.

|Academy Awards

|4 April 1960

|Best Actor

| rowspan="2" |Room at the Top