Laurence Olivier as Henry V in 'Henry V'

1 portrait of Laurence Olivier

© reserved; collection National Portrait Gallery, London

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Laurence Olivier as Henry V in 'Henry V'

by Hans Wild
vintage print, 1943
4 3/8 in. x 5 7/8 in. (112 mm x 150 mm) image size
Given by Terence Pepper, 2013
Photographs Collection
NPG x194151

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • Hans Wild (1912-1969), Photographer. Artist or producer of 1 portrait, Sitter in 2 portraits.

Placesback to top

  • Place made and portrayed: Ireland (Powerscourt Estate, Co Wicklow, Ireland)

Events of 1943back to top

Current affairs

The War effort continues with women recruited to the Home Guard and Ernie Bevin introducing conscription of miners as coal output continues to flag.
There is panic when a new anti aircraft weapon is heard for the first time in London and 173 people die in the crush to enter an air-raid shelter at Bethnal Green tube station.

Art and science

Barnes Wallis's bouncing bomb is used during Operation Chastise - the Dam busters Raid - to destroy three dams in the Ruhr area of Germany. The raid was considered a success, knocking out hydroelectric power, cutting off the water supply to industry and causing devastation through flooding. The operation also, however, cost the allies many lives, and the bouncing bomb was not used again.

International

The invasion of Sicily is successful thanks to Operation Mincemeat, in which false documents were planted on the body of a dead airman to mislead Germany into thinking that the Allied target was Sardinia. The invasion led to the fall of Mussolini and Italy joining the Allies.
42,000 German civilians are killed in a firestorm in Hamburg caused by the Allied bombing in Operation Gomorrah.

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Oliver Murrihy

26 February 2018, 19:25

The photograph must have been taken in the early summer of 1943 in Powerscourt Estate, Co Wicklow, Ireland, where most - though not all - of the Battle of Agincourt sequences were shot. The surcoat and armour worn by Olivier are not those that he wears in the film. They were being prepared at Nathan's back in London by costume designer Roger Furse. (This temporary costume may be from Nathan's reserve stock.) The speckled white horse appears in the film, but in completely different harness. Two Cities Films gave the horse to Olivier as a gift when the film was completed.