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The Entertainer Overview:

The Entertainer (1960) was a Drama - Musical Film directed by Tony Richardson and produced by Harry Saltzman and John Croydon.

Academy Awards 1960 --- Ceremony Number 33 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best ActorLaurence OlivierNominated
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The Entertainer BlogHub Articles:

Interview with Margaret Talbot, author of The Entertainer: Movies, Magic, and My Father's Twentieth Century

By Raquel Stecher on Nov 12, 2012 From Out of the Past - A Classic Film Blog

I have had the privilege of interviewing Margaret Talbot, author of the book The Entertainer: Movies, Magic, and My Father's Twentieth Century and daughter of classic film actor Lyle Talbot. Check out the interview below and if you haven't heard about this amazing book yet make sure you read my revi... Read full article

Get Your Read On ~ The Entertainer by Margaret Talbot

By Raquel Stecher on Nov 5, 2012 From Out of the Past - A Classic Film Blog

The Entertainer: Movies, Magic and My Father's Twentieth Century by Margaret Talbot November 2012 Riverhead (Penguin) Hardcover ISBN: 9781594487064 $28.95 US retail In her captivating, impeccably researched narrative - a charmed combination of Hollywood history, social history, and family memoir -... Read full article

Old Hollywood Book Reviews: The Entertainer – Movies, Magic, and My Father’s Twentieth Century

By Kristen on Nov 5, 2012 From Journeys in Classic Film

Today’s book is not a biography as the author would claim.  Writer Margaret Talbot‘s biography/Hollywood history book The Entertainer: Movies, Magic, and My Father’s Twentieth Century is a fantastic blend of biography and Hollywood history with an eye towards illustrating the chan... Read full article

The Entertainer (1960)

By Angela on Jul 9, 2011 From Hollywood Revue

It’s not uncommon for people to want to spend time with their families when they’re under pressure.  So when Jean Rice (Joan Plowright) is overwhelmed from dealing with a fiancé who wants to move to Africa and her brother being off in Egypt fighting in a war, she takes a trip to see he... Read full article

The Entertainer by Margaret Talbot

By Raquel Stecher on Nov 30, -0001 From Out of the Past - A Classic Film Blog

The Entertainer: Movies, Magic and My Father's Twentieth Century by Margaret Talbot November 2012 Riverhead (Penguin) Hardcover ISBN: 9781594487064 $28.95 US retail In her captivating, impeccably researched narrative - a charmed combination of Hollywood history, social history, and family memoir -... Read full article

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The Entertainer Quotes:

Archie Rice: Old Archie isn't going to get his oats after all.
Frank Rice: Cheer up love, life isn't as bad as all that, and even if it is, there's nothing we can do about it.
Billy Rice: You were a pretty little thing. Not that looks are important - not even for a woman. You don't look at the mantelpiece when you poke the fire.
Archie Rice: [to unresponsive audience] Don't clap too loudly, it's a very old building.
Archie Rice: Look at these eyes. I'm dead - behind these eyes. I'm dead.
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The Entertainer Facts
According to the April 21, 1958 edition of "Time Magazine", as an addendum to its cover story on Alec Guinness, in 1957, Laurence Olivier turned down a Hollywood offer of $250,000 for one motion picture. Instead of making the movie and pocketing the dosh (worth approximately $1.7 million in 2005 dollars), Olivier preferred to take on the role of Archie Rice in John Osborne's "The Entertainer" (a role written specifically for him) at the princely sum of £45 per week (worth $126 in 1957 dollars at the contemporaneous exchange rate, or $856 in 2005 dollars).
John Osborne wrote his play "The Entertainer" specifically at the request of Laurence Olivier, who wanted the Angry Young Man of the British theater to create a vehicle for him, one of the figures of the British Establishment that Osborne was rebelling against. Olivier hoped that appearing in the Osborne play would make him relevant to a new generation of theater goers. It proved to be one of Olivier's greatest stage successes (The Colonial Theatre in Boston has a plaque on the outside wall commemorating Olivier's appearance there during the US tour of the play), while the film adapted from the play won him the sixth of his ten acting Academy Award nominations. His performance as Archie Rice, as well as his marriage to his young co-star Joan Plowright, one of the leading actresses of the new wave of British thespians, did keep Olivier contemporary with the new leaders of the British theater. Conversely, Olivier's generational contemporaries, including the actors John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson and the playwright Terence Rattigan, would become to seem stout and old-fashioned as they failed to keep up with the theatrical evolution. (Gielgud would counter wit
Roger Livesey plays Laurence Olivier's father in 'The Entertainer', yet is less than one year older than Olivier - Olivier was born in May 1907 while Livesey was born in June 1906.
Part of Laurence Olivier's performance was based on the Music Hall comedian Max Miller a.k.a. "The Cheeky Chappy" ("They'll never be another one like me"). Miller was anything but third rate, having been the highest-paid variety show entertainer of his time at 1,500 pounds per week, plus a percentage of the takings. (Olivier purposely toned down the act because being third rate was part of the story.) Miller never performed in Blackpool however because he believed his humor wouldn't travel to the north.
Includes the movie debuts of Albert Finney, Alan Bates, and Joan Plowright.
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