Sir Laurence Olivier's house on sale for £1.75m

Sir Laurence Olivier, wearing a beret, and Dame Joan Plowright, wearing a jacket and a headscarf, stood together outdoors in 1977.Image source, Getty Images
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Sir Laurence Olivier and Dame Joan Plowright moved into the house in the 1960s

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Sir Laurence Olivier and Dame Joan Plowright's former West Sussex home is up for sale.

Olivier, born in Dorking in Surrey, and Plowright bought the property at The Malthouse near Steyning together in the 1960s.

The property - still owned by family of the acting greats and used as a holiday let - has an asking price of £1.75m.

Estate agent Toby Brown told BBC Radio Sussex: "We are wanting someone to buy into the legacy as much as they love the house."

A brick cottage surrounded by hedges and other plants, with an immaculate lawn.Image source, TLC Estate Agents
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The property has a £1.75m asking price

The family has owned the property for over 60 years according to Mr Brown, of TLC Estate Agents in London.

"In my 20-year career of doing this I've never sold something like this before," he said.

The couple bought the farmhouse not long after marrying in 1961 and added extensions and outbuildings throughout their time in the property, according to TLC.

The property features a tennis court and indoor swimming pool.

Mr Brown said: "It's just so private and I think that was the big thing for them, being very well-known actors."

Olivier died while living at the property in 1989. Plowright died in January aged 95.

A swimming pool with three lanes. It is within a building that has yellow walls and roof and large windows.Image source, TLC Estate Agents
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One of the outbuildings at the property houses a swimming pool

According to TLC, the property has hosted several celebrities over the years, including Sir Ian McKellen while he rehearsed for Macbeth with Olivier, who had also performed the Shakespeare play's lead role.

The 2018 documentary Nothing Like a Dame, featuring Plowright with Dame Eileen Atkins, Dame Judi Dench and Dame Maggie Smith, was filmed at the house.

Mr Brown said: "If walls could talk, these really could.

"I really wanted to romanticise and dramatise what is a very dramatic house with so many stories within it."

A grass tennis court surrounded by a wire fence and trees. The grass appears brown and dying.Image source, TLC Estate Agents
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The 4.5 acre site has a private tennis court.

Plowright first appeared opposite Olivier on stage in The Entertainer at the Royal Court in 1957.

Olivier was married to Gone With The Wind star Vivien Leigh at the time, and Plowright was married to her first husband Roger Gage.

Olivier was knighted in 1947 and awarded a life peerage in 1970. He won an Oscar, Emmy Awards and Golden Globes for his on-screen work.

The actor became the first ever director of the National Theatre as well as the first artistic director at Chichester Festival Theatre in 1962.

Plowright's accolades include two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award, and she was made a dame in 2004.

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