Laurence Harvey emigrated with his family to South Africa at the age of 5 and grew up in Johannesburg, moving to London in 1946.
Although he considered himself British (as well as South African), he was also quite proud of his Yiddish-Lithuanian
heritage.
He served in Egypt and Italy during World War II, and performed in the army show The Bandoliers
He adopted his stage name from the Harvey Nichols Group, and was the first Lithuanian actor to be nominated for an Oscar.
Laurence Harvey was one of Hollywood's stranger success stories; he was never a major star and his films were rarely
hits but he enjoyed a career much longer than many of his contemporaries and was one of the most prominent onscreen
presences of the 1960s.
Also to his credit, his work includes at least one certified classic, 1962's The Manchurian Candidate.
In 1948, Harvey made his feature debut in the horror thriller House of Darkness, and its success earned him a
two-year contract with Associated British Studios, resulting in lead roles in 1949's Man on the Run and the
following year's Cairo Road. Smaller turns in Landfall and The Black Rose followed before he
appeared in the West End revival of Hassan.
He continued in B-movies like 1951's There Is Another Sun before appearing in 1953's Women of
Twilight. The picture was not a success, but the studio Romulus was so impressed by his performance that they cast
him in the comedy Innocents in Paris. Harvey then appeared for the 1952 season with the Memorial Theatre at
Stratford.
He was cast in a 1954 film treatment of Romeo and Juliet. He then starred in the Warner Bros. production of King Richard and the Crusaders.
Upon returning to Britain, Harvey again worked under the auspices of Romulus, where in 1955 he starred in The Good
Die Young.
Margaret Leighton, one of his co-stars in the picture, later became his wife.
After starring in I Am a Camera, he appeared opposite popular television comedian Jimmy Edwards in 1957's Three Men in a Boat, which became Harvey's first real hit. However, a series of disappointments -- After the Ball, The Truth About Women, and The Silent Enemy -- were to follow before he again had success in 1959's Room at the Top. Hollywood again took interest in Harvey, and in 1960 he co-starred with John Wayne in The Alamo, followed by an appearance in the Elizabeth Taylor hit Butterfield 8 and a role in the 1961 British production The Long and the Short and the Tall, Two Lovers and Summer and Smoke, and Walk On The Wild Side 1962.
Finally, in John Frankenheimer's masterful The Manchurian Candidate, he found a role perfectly suited to his talents, portraying a brainwashed assassin shorn of emotion; the performance was the best of his career, but in a cruel twist of irony the film was pulled from distribution by producer /star Frank Sinatra when its plot too closely foreshadowed the tragic death of President John F. Kennedy.
With 1963's The Ceremony, Harvey turned screenwriter and director as well as star.
A small role in John Schlesinger's Darling followed in 1965, and then The Spy With the Cold Nose and 1967's A Dandy in Aspic (which Harvey finished directing upon the death of original director Anthony Mann). He then filmed 1969's Rebus in Italy with Ann-Margret, remaining there to produce and star in L'Assoluto Naturale. Appearances in 1970's The Magic Christian and the next year's Paul Newman vehicle W.U.S.A. followed, but Harvey proved unable to revive his stalling career. After working with Elizabeth Taylor in 1972's Night Watch, he directed and starred in one final film, 1974's Welcome to Arrow Beach, but did not live to see its premiere.
His daughter, Domino Harvey, once a model, was a bounty hunter. She was found dead in a bathtub in Los Angeles, June
27, 2005, aged 35.