Laurence harvey actor biography

Laurence Harvey (real name Hirsch Skikne, also cited as Larushka Mischa Skikne - he was born in Yomishkis, Lithuania) was in the right place at the right time just once: his performance (Oscar and BAFTA nominated) as Joe Lampton in Room at the Top (d.

Jack Clayton, 1958) remains a significant indicator of the winds of change in British cinema.

He is the screen's answer to the theatre's Jimmy Porter, much more so than the screen's own Jimmy Porter as filtered through Richard Burton's mellifluous tones.

Harvey's last moments as he gets into the bridal car to be driven to "the top" remain a moving statement of ambition achieved at the cost of self-betrayal.

His performance as the working-class man on the make opened the doors for Tom Courtenay, Albert Finney and others who breasted the New Wave of British cinema.

Unlike them, though, he tended to draw critical opprobrium for most of his work.

He wasn't a newcomer when he played Joe. Educated in South Africa, he came to