45 Hamlets for Shakespeare's 450th birthday - in pictures
On the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth, Michael Billington has picked the best Hamlets he's seen in each decade of his theatregoing life. To help you choose your own favourite Prince of Denmark, here are 45 actors who've found a method for the character's madness
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John Gielgud with Judith Anderson as Gertrude. They appeared together in a Broadway production in 1936. Photograph: AP
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Laurence Olivier, seated, in the 1948 film he also directed. Photograph: Universal Studios/Getty Images
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Peter O'Toole backstage at the Old Vic in London for Hamlet in 1963. Photograph: McCabe/Getty Images
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Richard Burton played Hamlet in 1953 at the Edinburgh festival. Photograph: Keystone/Getty Images
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Ralph Fiennes as Hamlet at the Hackney Empire in London in 2005. Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian
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A scene from a film version of Hamlet directed by Grigori Kozintsev and starring Innokenti Smoktunovsky in 1964. Photograph: Sovfoto/UIG via Getty Images
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Simon Russell Beale played Hamlet at the Lyttelton theatre in London in 2000. Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian
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David Tennant in the RSC's production of Hamlet at the Novello theatre in London in 2008. Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian
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Samuel West as Hamlet at the Royal Shakespeare theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon in 2001. Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian
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Christopher Eccleston in Hamlet at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds in 2002. Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian
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Jude Law played Hamlet at Wyndham's theatre in London in 2009. Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian
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Deutsches Schauspielhaus's Hamlet starring Angela Winkler, Eva Mattes and Hermann Lause, at the Edinburgh festival in 2000. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod for the Guardian
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Kenneth Branagh in the 1996 film Hamlet. Photograph: Moviestore Collection/Rex Features
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Sarah Bernhardt as Hamlet in an undated photo. Photograph: Bettmann/Corbis
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Illustration (c1893) of English actors Ellen Terry and Henry Irving in Hamlet. Photograph: Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
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Nicol Williamson and Marianne Faithfull in the 1969 film Hamlet. Photograph: Snap/Rex Features
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Ethan Hawke in a film adaptation of Hamlet in 2000. Photograph: Miramax Films/Getty Images
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Mel Gibson in the 1990 film version of Hamlet. Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar/Sportsphoto
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Derek Jacobi as Hamlet and Julian Glover as the King of Denmark in Hamlet at the Old Vic in 1978. Photograph: Ken Towner/Associated Newspapers/Rex Features
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Christopher Plummer and Jo Maxwell Muller in the 1964 TV adaptation of Hamlet at Elsinore. Photograph: Alamy
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Richard Briers as Hamlet at the Duthy Hall in London in 1956. Photograph: Daily Mail /Rex Features
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Jonathan Slinger as Hamlet at the Royal Shakespeare theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon in 2013. Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian
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Ben Whishaw as Hamlet and Imogen Stubbs as Gertrude in Hamlet at the Old Vic in 2004. Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian
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John Neville as Hamlet and Judi Dench as Orphelia at the Old Vic in 1957. Photograph: Associated Newspapers/Rex Features
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Michael Sheen as Hamlet (left) and Benedict Wong as Laertes at the Young Vic in 2011. Photograph: Simon Annand
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Rory Kinnear played Hamlet at the Olivier theatre in London in 2010. Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian
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Daniel Day-Lewis in Hamlet at the Olivier in 1989. Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian
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Toby Stephens at the Royal Shakespeare theatre in 2004. Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian
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David Warner and Estelle Kohler in Peter Hall's 1965 production of Hamlet at the Royal Shakespeare theatre. Photograph: Hess/Associated Newspapers /Rex Features
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Adrian Lester played Hamlet in a production directed by Peter Brook at the Bouffes du Nord theatre in Paris in 2000. Photograph: Jean-Pierre Muller/AFP
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Alan Cumming in Hamlet at the Donmar Warehouse in London in 1993. Photograph: Alastair Muir/Rex Features
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Mark Rylance and Joanna McCallum in Hamlet at Shakespeare's Globe theatre in London in 2000. Photograph: Robbie Jack/Corbis
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Joshua McGuire as Hamlet at Shakespeare's Globe in 2011. Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian
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John Simm played Hamlet at the Sheffield Crucible in 2010. Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian
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Gruffudd Glyn, Dharmesh Patel as Hamlet (centre) and Dyfan Dwyfor in the RSC's Young People's Shakespeare production of Hamlet in 2010. Photograph: Hugo Glendinning /RSC
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Michael Maloney as Hamlet and Frances Tomelty as Gertrude at the Barbican in London in 2004. Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian
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Googie Withers as Gertrude and Michael Redgrave as Hamlet in a 1958 production of Hamlet in Stratford-upon-Avon. Photograph: Central Press/Getty Images
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Gina Bellman and Stephen Dillane at the Gielgud theatre in 1994. Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian
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Annabel Scholey and Jamie Ballard in a production at the Tobacco Factory in Bristol in 2008. Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian
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Steven Berkoff performs Hamlet at the Roundhouse in London in 1980. Photograph: Graham Morris/Getty Images
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Richard Chamberlain and Margaret Leighton in the 1970 TV production of Hamlet. Photograph: ITV/Rex Features
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Asta Nielsen in the 1921 film Hamlet. Photograph: Cinetext/Allstar/Sportsphoto
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Vaneshran Arumugam as Hamlet (left), Nicholas Pauling and Marcel Meyer at the Swan theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon in 2006. Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian
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Michael Pennington and Barbara Leigh-Hunt in Hamlet at the Royal Shakespeare theatre in 1980. Photograph: Reg Wilson/RSC
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Alex Jennings in Hamlet at the Barbican, London, in 1997. Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian
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Benedict Cumberbatch is set to play Hamlet at the Barbican in 2015. Photograph: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
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Maxine Peake is to appear as Hamlet in a reimagining of the part at Manchester's Royal Exchange in autumn 2014
