They came to pay tribute to one of the theatrical greats in the auditorium which would never have been built without him.

A hundred years after the birth of Sir Laurence Olivier, stars including Richard Attenborough, Dame Maggie Smith, Sir Antony Sher, Samuel West, Kwame Kwei-Armah and Anne-Marie Duff honoured him last night.

Lord Attenborough said: "I adored the man. He was a colossus in our theatre, in world theatre."

And although Lord Attenborough also noted Olivier was also a "giant of cinema" it was "Larry" Olivier's role as the founding father of the National Theatre on the South Bank that all remembered. On the waterfront outside, a life-size statue by Angela Conner of Olivier in one of his greatest roles, Hamlet, was unveiled by his son Tarquin and Lord Attenborough.

They were joined by Olivier's widow Joan Plowright and other members of the original National Theatre company including Dame Maggie Smith, Anna Carteret, Gawn Grainger and Ronald Pickup.

At a celebration in the Olivier auditorium afterwards, film clips of some of his greatest performances were shown and his life story narrated by actors including Alex Jennings, Lindsay Duncan and Maureen Lipman. Claire Bloom was applauded as she appeared after a clip of Olivier's barnstorming Richard III in which she co-starred. Gemma Redgrave narrated parts of his life story as they involved her own thespian grandfather, Michael.

Watching in the stalls were David Hare and EastEnder's Nigel Harman as well as Tom Stoppard.

Sir Tom recalled a small but incisive note of advice from the master as he rehearsed Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, his first play, at the National exactly 40 years ago. And Phoebe Nicholls, who starred alongside Olivier in the TV classic Brideshead Revisited only a few years before the actor died, aged 82, in 1989, recalled how he was "tough and naughty and very much alive for someone who looked so fragile".

Nicholas Hytner, the National Theatre's current director, said: "From the National Theatre's point of view, none of us would be here if he hadn't agreed to turn his back on a glorious career in films and the West End and throw the prime of his life into founding this theatre and making sure it flourished."

Amid many tributes, it was back to Lord Attenborough to explain how all could best honour Olivier today. "We can honour the theatre, we can care about the language Larry spoke so magically and we can stand for quality and diversity and a sense of comradeship and ensemble," he said.

And everyone drank lots of champagne to that.

Proceeds from the evening, with tickets from £250 to £15, will support the National's education work.