Freddie Mercury's presentation bust of Sir Laurence Olivier, 1986

Freddie Mercury's presentation bust of Sir Laurence Olivier, 1986

A bust of Sir Laurence Olivier, the bronzed fibre-glass head of the actor as he appeared in the stage musical Time (1986), mounted on black wooden plinth, the metal plaque engraved FREDDIE / TIME / HAPPY BIRTHDAY / DAVE CLARK / 5th September 1986

Height: 37cm., 14½in.

In the musical Time Laurence Olivier played the role of Akash ‘The Ultimate Word in Truth’ and on the soundtrack speaks the ‘Theme from Time’. Freddie did not appear in the musical itself but recorded three tracks for the album soundtrack, the title track for which, ‘Time’, reached No. 32 in the UK singles charts.

In a 2021 interview with Mark Chilton, Dave Clark recalls first discussing Freddie Mercury’s participation on the concept album of his 1986 musical, Time. “I chatted to Freddie and he reeled off all the names, saying, ‘You’ve already got Stevie Wonder, Dionne Warwick, Laurence Olivier, Cliff Richard… you’ve come a bit late there, dear!'”