Top marks for charisma

In the delightful correspondence (1944) between the late actress Athene Seyler and the actor Stephen Haggard, she inquires of a potential professional performer:

Does he aspire to be a power in the theatre, a leader or more vulgarly a star? Then let him be prepared to devote his entire energies, thoughts and interest to his job. He must breathe, eat and dream the theatre: I have never known a successful actor do less. This will limit him as a person and as a citizen. He must of necessity be an egoist and will probably become a bore. He must give up a wider life and concentrate on his job.

This masterly description of a star player — though I’ve seldom heard him called a bore — fits Laurence Olivier perfectly. Olivier as man of the theatre as well as performer undoubtedly had the greatest charisma of any 20th-century stage actor. Gielgud certainly had the same dedication and energy and in his later years when his more extreme mannerisms had dropped away a more finely tuned vocal technique.