Laurence Kerr Olivier was born at 26 Wathen Road, Dorking in 1907. His father, Gerard Kerr Olivier, had abandoned a church career and married Agnes Crookenden whilst teaching at Boxgrove School in Guildford.
The couple set up the Tower House School in Dorking in 1898. In 1903 Gerard was ordained into the Church of England. Appointed curate at St Martin’s in Dorking, he closed the school and the family moved to Wathen Road.
The Dorking Swimming Club. Gerard Olivier is in the middle row, 5th from the left. He had a high diving stage erected on the Mole near the Club’s bathing house close to Castle Mill. Previously bathers had had to climb a tree to dive. Rev. Olivier also played cricket for Dorking.
When Laurence was 2 years old, the family moved to a house named East Dene. In 1910 Reverend Olivier left Dorking for Notting Hill. Leaving many friends, he returned from time to time ‘for refreshment and pleasure’.
Laurence Olivier’s career on stage and film spanned more than six decades. He directed and starred in Henry V, Hamlet, and Richard III and was instrumental in setting up the National Theatre. His awards included the Oscar for Best Actor, and Best Picture for the 1948 film Hamlet.
Though he never returned to live in Dorking, Laurence Olivier became patron of the Dorking Theatrical Society in the 1950s. In 1980 the Dorking and District Preservation Society arranged for a blue plaque to be placed on 26 Wathen Road commemorating his birth and brief residence in Dorking.
