Laurence Olivier Award for Actor of the Year in a New Play

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Laurence Olivier Award
for Actor of the Year in a New Play
Awarded forActor of the Year in a New Play
LocationFlag of England.svg  England
Presented by Society of London Theatre
First awarded 1976
Last awarded 1988
Website officiallondontheatre.com/olivier-awards/ OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

The Laurence Olivier Award for Actor of the Year in a New Play was an annual award presented by the Society of London Theatre in recognition of achievements in commercial London theatre. The awards were established as the Society of West End Theatre Awards in 1976, and renamed in 1984 in honour of English actor and director Laurence Olivier.

Contents

This award was presented from 1976 to 1984, then in 1985 the award was combined with the Actor of the Year in a Revival award to create the Best Actor award. The original Actor of the Year in a New Play award returned one last time, for the 1988 ceremony.

Winners and nominees

1970s

YearActorPlayCharacter
1976
Paul Copley For King and CountryPte. Hamp
Richard Beckinsale Funny PeculiarTrevor Tinsley
Frank Finlay Watch It Come Down and Weapons of Happiness Ben Prosser / Josef Frank
Alec McCowen The Family DanceBen Musgrave
1977
Michael Bryant State of Revolution Vladimir Lenin
Colin Blakely Just Between OurselvesDennis
Alec Guinness The Old CountryHilary
Ralph Richardson The KingfisherThe Author
1978
Tom Conti Whose Life is it Anyway? Ken Harrison
Gordon Chater The Elocution of Benjamin Franklin Robert O'Brien
John Gielgud Half-LifeSir Noel Cunliffe
Peter McEnery The Jail Diary of Albie SachsAlbie Sachs
1979
Ian McKellen Bent Max
Michael Gambon Betrayal Jerry
Dinsdale Landen BodiesMervyn
John Standing Close of PlayBenedict

1980s

YearActorPlayCharacter
1980
Roger Rees The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby Nicholas Nickleby
Tom Courtenay The Dresser Norman
David Schofield The Elephant Man John Merrick
Paul Scofield Amadeus Antonio Salieri
1981
Trevor Eve Children of a Lesser God James
Edward Fox Quartermaine's Terms St. John Quartermaine
James Grout Quartermaine's Terms Henry Windscape
Karl Johnson Television Times'Unknown
1982
Ian McDiarmid Insignificance Albert Einstein
Rupert Everett Another Country Guy
Alec McCowen The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H. Adolf Hitler
David Swift 84, Charing Cross Road Frank Doel
1983
Jack Shepherd Glengarry Glen Ross Richard Roma
Michael Gambon Tales from Hollywood Ödön von Horváth
Ben Kingsley Kean Edmund Kean
Michael Williams Pack of Lies Bob Jackson
1984
Brian Cox Rat in the SkullNelson
Ian Charleson Fool for Love Eddie
John Kani "Master Harold"...and the Boys Willie
Michael Pennington Strider: The Story of a Horse Strider
1988
David Haig Our Country's Good Second Lieutenant Ralph Clark
Brian Cox FashionPaul Cash
Alec Guinness A Walk in the Woods Andrey Botvinnik
David Suchet SeparationJoe Green

See also

Related Research Articles

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