Fellow Greats Eulogize Olivier : Stage: Nationally televised service from Westminster Abbey imbued with triumphal air as Guinness bids actor ‘Good night.’

The voice of Laurence Olivier thundered through Westminster Abbey today as 2,000 guests, including most of Britain’s greatest actors, paid homage to the late giant of stage and screen.

The recorded excerpt of Olivier’s speech to the troops in Shakespeare’s “Henry V” was the highlight of a service honoring Olivier.

“There may be imitators, but there is no second Olivier. He was unique,” Sir Alec Guinness said in the eulogy.

Sir John Gielgud recited from John Donne’s Holy Sonnet, delivering its opening line in a gravelly whisper: “Death be not proud. . . . “

Dame Peggy Ashcroft recited from John Milton’s “Lycidas,” and Sir John Mills and Albert Finney read passages from the Bible.

Lord Olivier, as he was known after his 1970 ennoblement, died on July 11 at age 82 and was buried at a small family funeral service in southern England. His ashes will be laid finally to rest next year in Westminster Abbey.

Although it marked a death, the nationally televised service was alive with triumphal music swelling through the cavernous abbey, and there were occasional chuckles as Guinness remembered some of the lighter moments of Olivier’s life.

Leading the congregation was Olivier’s widow, the actress Joan Plowright. Also present was Prince Edward, Queen Elizabeth II’s youngest son and an aspiring actor. Deputy Prime Minister Sir Geoffrey Howe represented the government.

Other actors present included Michael Caine, Peter O’Toole, Derek Jacobi and Michael York, and Italian film director Franco Zeffirelli.

Guinness singled out Olivier’s 1946 performance of “King Lear,” when “He spoke with the utmost simplicity the speech which begins ‘I’ll pray, and then I’ll sleep.’

“He knelt, center-stage, facing the audience, and made no movement. He created an awful stillness. . . . “

Guinness concluded with two famous lines from Hamlet:

“Good night, sweet prince,

“And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.”