Background
Laurenson was born in Marton, North Island, New Zealand.
Laurenson was born in Marton, North Island, New Zealand.
He was a student at Canterbury University College in Christchurch (now University of Canterbury) where he was directed by Ngaio Marsh, notably in the title role in MacBeth at the Civic Theatre Christchurch in 1962. He moved to the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s and made his film debut in 1969 with a small part in Women in Love, although he also had an uncredited part (as an Oxford rower, playing alongside Graham Chapman) in The Magic Christian. He has appeared in numerous British Shakespearean productions, notably Richard II, as Rosencrantz in Hamlet, and on radio in the marathon series, Vivat Rex.
He also appeared as Piers Gaveston in the 1970 production of Christopher Marlowe"s Edward II, opposite Ian McKellen who later recalled that kissing Laurenson "was a bonus throughout the run".
Other costume roles included a French courtier in Elizabeth R and the Earl of Lincoln in Shadow of the Tower (1972). In the same year, he took on a more modern role starring as Detroit
Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte in the Australian television drama series Boney, playing a half-Aboriginal detective. This would be his most high-profile part, although the casting of a non-Aboriginal in the role was attacked by some Australian critics.
In 1974 he took the lead role in the television film The Prison, based on the novel by Georges Simenon, the first instalment in the Thames Television/Euston Films series Armchair Cinema.
He also starred as Pink"s Father in the 1982 film, Pink Floyd—The Wall. Throughout his career, Laurenson has had guest roles in numerous popular television series such as Z-Cars, Space: 1999, The Professionals, Armchair Thriller, Hammer House of Horror, Remington Steele, Cagney and Lacey, Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense, Inspector Morse, Bergerac, Boon, Lovejoy, Prime Suspect, Sharpe, A Touch of Frost, Heartbeat, Silent Witness, Taggart, Midsomer Murders, State of Play, Hustle, and Spooks. In 2012, he played the Earl of Westmoreland in the British Broadcasting Corporation Two adaptations of Henry IV, Parts I and World War II, and in 2013 he appeared as Professor Hilary Ambrose in Season 2, Episode 5 of the British Broadcasting Corporation One"s Father Brown series.
Laurenson has made his long-term home in the Somerset market-town of Frome.