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Szell's death

Laurence Olivier in Marathon Man

Laurence Olivier (1907 - 1989)

Film Deaths[]

  • Wuthering Heights (1939) [Heathcliff]: Dies (off-screen) when Merle Oberon's ghost claims him as he's walking on the moors. We only see a scene of Donald Crisp telling the others in the household how he discovered Laurence's body, followed by a shot of the two ghosts standing on the moors in the distance.
  • That Hamilton Woman (1941) [Lord Horatio Nelson]: Shot in the back by a French marksman in the Battle of Trafalgar; he dies shortly afterwards when Henry Wilcoxon kneels by his side
  • 49th Parallel (1941) [Johnnie - The Trapper]: Shot by the Germans when he tries to answer the phone, he dies on his bed sometime after..
  • Hamlet (1948) [Hamlet, Prince of Denmark/voice of king Hamlet]: 'Prince Hamlet' is slashed across the arm with a poisoned blade during a swordfight with Terence Morgan; Laurence lives long enough to kill Basil Sydney, then dies in Norman Wooland's arms. He also provides the voice of the ghost of 'King Hamlet' (though heavily edited on tape), whose death is shown but is played by Unknown Actor 123-A.
  • Richard III (1955) [Richard III]: Stabbed to death by the opposing soldiers on the battlefield.
  • John Gabriel Borkman (1958) [John Gabriel Borkman]: Dies of a heart attack from the excitement of the prospect of starting a new life for himself.
  • Othello (1965) [Othello]: Commits suicide by stabbing himself in the neck (with something sharp from his bracelet) while cradling Maggie Smith's body in his arms.
  • Khartoum (1966) [The Mahdi]: Mentioned in the end that he died months after the films final battle in Leo Genn's narration.
  • Marathon Man (1976) [Christian Szell]: Accidentally falls on his own knife after slipping from the top of a spiral stairwell during a fight with Dustin Hoffman. He then goes over the railing into the water.
  • Dracula (1979) [Prof. Abraham Van Helsing]: Impaled through the stomach (and pinned to the ship's wall) with his own long wooden stake during a fight with Frank Langella. He manages long enough to hit Frank with a block-and-tackle hook (which Trevor Eve activates, pulling Frank out into the sunlight) before dying. (Note: when the character is first stabbed he is played by stuntman Eddie Powell) (other Note: this film version had the 'Van Helsing' character die, so that Laurence would never have to return in a sequel if the film became successful enough to spawn one)
  • Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004) [Dr. Totenkopf]: Commits suicide (off-screen), several years before the story takes place; he only appears as a computer-projected image, and his decomposed body is shown when Jude Law discovers him in his hideout. (As this movie was made years after Laurence's real-life death, his role consists entirely of old footage edited to fit into the story.)

Television Deaths[]

Gallery[]

Notable Connections[]

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