On the set of Marathon Man, an exhausted, method-committed Dustin Hoffman hears his co-star dryly ask, why don't you just try acting? It's the most famous put-down in cinema history. But the real twist is that Laurence Olivier, the supposed effortless natural, built his talent piece by agonizing piece.

This deep dive unmasks the man behind the makeup: his rivalries, his tragic great romance, his monumental failures, and how a paralyzing fear of being ordinary drove him to greatness through sheer terrifying determination rather than raw instinct.

• How a strict clergyman father ordered him onto the stage, inverting the usual artist's rebellion
• Noel Coward's invisible dog Roger and how it forged Olivier's iron stage discipline
• His Tarzan complex, born from losing the vocal contest with John Gielgud, that made him cust ...