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History See other History Articles Title: Laurence Olivier, secret agent Laurence Olivier, secret agent By Chris Hastings, Arts and Media Editor, Sunday Telegraph On screen he portrayed British military heroes such as Henry V, Lord Nelson and the Duke of Wellington. In real life Laurence Olivier performed some bravery of his own, risking imprisonment and even assassination as an agent for Britain. The celebrated actor, mistakenly accused by some of his contemporaries of lacking patriotism for deciding to remain in Hollywood when war broke out rather than return home and sign up, worked secretly to help secure the hearts and minds of a sceptical America during the early stages of the Second World War, it has been revealed. In 1940, having already won fame across the Atlantic by starring in a string of hits that included Wuthering Heights and Rebecca, Lord Olivier was - according to a new book - secretly enlisted into the Special Operations Executive (SOE) by Lord Lothian, then the British ambassador to Washington, and Sir Alexander Korda, the acclaimed film producer who worked for MI5, the Security Service. He was rec-ruited was on the instructions of Winston Churchill. As a well-connected figure, Olivier was given the task of building support in a neutral United States for Britain's war with Nazi Germany. America did not take kindly to foreign agents, even agents of influence, and could have jailed him, while had the Germans known what he was doing they would have taken any steps to put a stop to it, friends believe. Michael Munn, the author of Lord Larry, a new biography that reveals perhaps Olivier's greatest if previously unknown role, said: "Winston Churchill recruited Alexander Korda to set up offices in America which were a front for the SOE and MI5. Korda then recruited Olivier to work on behalf of the SOE." Mr Munn, who has written respected showbusiness biographies of James Stewart, Gregory Peck, John Wayne, Frank Sinatra and others explained that details of Olivier's work for Electra House (EH), the SOE's propaganda unit named after its London headquarters, were revealed to him by the actor's peers. In 1972, says Mr Munn, Noel Coward told him: "We needed Larry, you know, because he was [in America] and we asked, and he thought about it, and then it was down to Alexander Korda to tell Larry that Winston Churchill was not asking but telling him that his country expected him to do his duty." Mr Munn also says that pioneer film producer Jesse Lasky told him that Olivier had been able to ensure access to senior figures through his friendship with American stars such as Clark Gable and Tyrone Power. According to the book, Lasky said: "Nobody ever said it out loud but there was a feeling that by the time Olivier and Vivien [Leigh] were working on the Nelson film (That Hamilton Women, released in America in 1941), both Olivier and Korda were more than just British film-makers producing a movie in Hollywood… about British patriotism, but also that these two men were clearly some kind of official ambassadors for the British Government." David Niven, the actor who, unlike his close friend, rushed back to Britain to enlist when war was declared, is said to have told Mr Munn: "What was dangerous for his country was that [Olivier] could have been accused of being an agent. This sounds ludicrous now in the light of history but before America was brought into the war it didn't tolerate foreign agents. "So this was a danger for Larry because he could have been arrested. And what was worse, if German agents had realised what Larry was doing, they would, I am sure, have gone after him." Prof M R D Foot, a leading authority on the SOE and a former Second World War intelligence officer, described Mr Munn's claims as "perfectly plausible". "The SOE did operate in the United States after its foundation in July 1940 and it was involved in propaganda work of this kind through its unit EH," he said. "The unit would have called upon the services of various people to help with its cause." Olivier's son said he could not rule out his father's performing the role described in Lord Larry, published next month by Robson Books. "My father was a passionate patriot who championed the West against Nazism," said Tarquin Olivier, the actor's son by his first wife, Jill Esmond. "But whether he was recruited by the security services, I just don't know." Olivier finally returned to Britain in 1941 and joined the Fleet Air Arm, for whom he completed 456 flying hours. He also continued to act, starring in a host of patriotic films, such as The 49th Parallel and Henry V. His final role, however, was as the unnamed soldier in War Requiem, the 1998 Derek Jarman film that conveyed the powerful anti-war message of poet Wilfred Owen.
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#1. To: Tauzero (#0)
Interesting story - thanks.
The true story of Great Britain's covert effort pre WW2 to change the politics of America was immensely succesful and is virtually unspoken about.
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