Olivier at 100

Merle Oberon as Cathy and Laurence Olivier as Heathcliff in William Wyler's film of Wuthering Heights (1939) Photograph: Allstar Collection

Joan Fontaine and Olivier were Oscar-nominated for Rebecca (1940), directed by Alfred Hitchcock Photograph: Allstar Collection/United Artists

Alas, poor Yorick: Olivier also directed this acclaimed 1948 adaptation of Hamlet, in which he played Shakespeare's doomed Dane Photograph: Corbis

Vivien Leigh and Olivier as Antony and Cleopatra: 'Everything about the Olivier production is glowing or crackling with vitality,' wrote a reviewer for the New York Times when the play opened on Broadway in 1951 Photograph: Corbis

Backstage at the Sarah Bernhardt Theatre in Paris in 1955 during a run of Titus Andronicus Photograph: Pierre Vauthey/Corbis

Finishing touches ... Olivier is made up as Richard III, with the famous false nose already in place Photograph: Corbis

Smiling villain: Olivier in Richard III (1955) Photograph: Corbis

Olivier as failed comic Archie Rice in John Osborne's The Entertainer (1960) Photograph: Corbis

Chorus line: Olivier's Archie Rice in full swing; he played the part on stage and screen Photograph: Allstar Collection

Olivier as the mighty Zeus in Clash of the Titans (1981) Photograph: Allstar Collection