Laurence Harvey (born Zvi Mosheh Skikne; 1 October 1928Harvey altered his birth year to 1927 to gain entry to the South African Navy when he was aged only 14, and 1927 now appears in many sources.25 November 1973) was a Lithuanian-born British actor and film director. He was born to Lithuanian Jewish parents and immigrated 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.Laurence Harvey, Stage, Film Actor By Jean R. Hailey. The Washington Post and Times-Herald 27 November 1973: C10.
Harvey was known for his clipped, refined accent and cool, debonair screen persona. His performance in Room at the Top (1959)Obituary Variety, 28 November 1973, p. 62. 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, and his Hebrew name was Zvi Mosheh (). When he was five years old, his family travelled with the family of Riva Segal and her two sons, Louis and Charles Segal on the to South Africa, where he was known as Harry Skikne. Harvey grew up in Johannesburg. He was only fifteen when he auditioned to join the Entertainment Unit of the South African Army during the Second World War. Sid James managed the Unit and approved his audition. They became lifelong friends. 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.Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine:
Move to Britain
After moving to London, he enrolled in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, but left RADA after three months.David Shipman The Great Movie Stars: 2. The International Years, London: Macdonald, 1989, pp. 246–28
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. His performances in Manchester led to him being cast in his first film.BRIGHT YOUNG MEN OF THE THEATRE—7: LAURENCE HARVEY The Sketch; London Vol. 220, Iss. 2859, (5 May 1954): 403.
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.Anne Sinai, Lou Reach for the Top, p. 97
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).The Life Story of LAURENCE HARVEY Picture Show; London Vol. 57, Iss. 1492, (3 Nov 1951): 12.
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.
He had a small role in the Hollywood-financed The Black Rose (1950), starring Tyrone Power and Orson Welles, directed by Henry Hathaway. It was Harvey's first experience in a Hollywood film. He played Cassio in a version of Othello for BBC TV starring Andre Morell.
Harvey starred in leading roles for two B-pictures for director Lewis Gilbert at Nettleford Films: Scarlet Thread (1951) and There Is Another Sun (1951). For Ealing, he made I Believe in You (1952), directed by Basil Dearden. According to Sight and Sound this performance gave "an indication of Harvey's true metier. While Basil Dearden's direction focused on honest Harry Fowler, it was Harvey's Jordie who supplied an authentic glimpse of pin-table thuggery, his clothes and hairstyle on the cusp between cosh-boy and ted and his manner redolent of a languorous sexuality no amount of National Service could quell."
He starred in the low-budget thriller A Killer Walks (1952). In 1951 he appeared on stage in Hassan at the Cambridge Theatre.
Romulus films Harvey's career gained a boost when he appeared in Women of Twilight (1952); this was made by Romulus Films run by brothers John and James Woolf, who signed Harvey to a long-term contract. James Woolf in particular was a big admirer of Harvey and played an important role in turning the actor into a star.John Ezard "Sexy self-image that revved up Dirk Bogarde", The Guardian 2 October 2004. Retrieved 30 November 2012
In 1953 he played Orlando on a BBC TV version of As You Like It, opposite Margaret Leighton, whom he would later marry.
Romulus put him in two ensemble films: a comedy, Innocents in Paris (1953) and a crime thriller, The Good Die Young (1954). He had an especially strong role in the latter, which was directed by Lewis Gilbert, and featured Hollywood actors such as John Ireland, Richard Basehart and Gloria Grahame, along with Leighton. This has been called his "first performance of note."
Harvey received an offer to play the juvenile male lead in the Hollywood spectacular King Richard and the Crusaders (1954), a medieval swashbuckler for Warner Bros starring Rex Harrison, Virginia Mayo and George Sanders. It was a box-office disappointment, although Harvey's performance was well received.LAURENCE OF LITHUANIA: Laurence Harvey Sets the Course From His Homeland to Screen Stardom By HOWARD THOMPSON. The New York Times 20 June 1954: X5.
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.Laurence Harvey The Guardian 27 November 1973: 7. 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.Drama: Laurence Harvey Faces Heavy Duty; Lew Ayres' Religious Films Unique Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times 17 October 1955: B11.
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.
Harvey appeared in The Bet for ITV Television Playhouse (1956) then did another for Romulus, After the Ball (1957), a biopic of Vesta Tilley, in which Harvey played Walter de Frece. He followed it with The Truth About Women (1958), a comedy directed by Muriel Box for Beaconsfield Productions.
Harvey returned to Broadway in 1957 to appear alongside Julie Harris, Pamela Brown and Colleen Dewhurst in William Wycherley's The Country Wife (a production he had originally starred in at London's Royal Court Theatre).
For Romulus, Harvey starred in The Silent Enemy (1958), with his old friend Sid James, a biopic of war hero Lionel Crabb.
International stardom Room at the Top
Harvey's breakthrough to international stardom came after he was cast by director Jack Clayton as the social climber Joe Lampton in Room at the Top (1959), produced by Romulus. For his performance, Harvey received a BAFTA Award nomination and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Simone Signoret and Heather Sears co-starred as Lampton's married lover and eventual wife respectively. It was the third most popular movie at the British box office in 1959 and a hit in the U.S.
Harvey went to Broadway in 1958, as Shakespeare's Henry V, as part of the Old Vic company, which featured a young Judi Dench as Katherine, the daughter of the king of France.Laurence Harvey's 'Henry V' Opens Old Vic Series Tomorrow: Laurence Harvey Due in Old Vic 'Henry Y' Smith, Cecil. Los Angeles Times 5 October 1958: E1.
Harvey followed it with the musical Expresso Bongo (1959), a film best remembered for introducing Cliff Richard.Laurence Harvey Starring in Soho Yarn by Mankowitz By Harold Rogers. The Christian Science Monitor (1908–Current file); Boston, Mass. [Boston, Mass]21 July 1960: 5. 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. He was in John Wayne's epic The Alamo (1960), being John Wayne's personal choice to play Alamo commandant William Barret Travis. Wayne had been impressed by Harvey's talent and ability to project the aristocratic demeanor Wayne believed Travis possessed. Harvey and Wayne later expressed their mutual admiration and satisfaction at having worked together. 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.Laurence Harvey Star in Famous Spy Story Hopper, Hedda. Chicago Daily Tribune 22 July 1960: b4.
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.Preparation Helped Laurence Harvey Find Room at the Top By Hedda Hopper. The Washington Post and Times-Herald 1 January 1961: C6. 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).LAURENCE HARVEY FACES BUSY YEAR: British Actor to Have Roles in 8 Films – Bardot to Be Seen Without Subtitles The New York Times 28 January 1960: 26.