cinema archive vlogs

Leigh/Olivier Q&A (#2)

Because the first video post I did was pretty successful, I decided it would be fun to do another one.  Yesterday, I sat down with my friend Mark Mayes in West Hollywood to talk shop about films and to answer your questions about Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier; there is also a fair amount of laughter.  Mark has been a big fan of the Oliviers and Gone with the Wind for a long time, and he knows so much about them, so it was really fun doing this video with him (I think we should do more!  What do you think?).  The video runs about 30 minutes because there were quite a lot of awesome questions. Be sure to check out the bonus footage below!

Bonus footage!  Includes Mark’s story of meeting Julie Andrews, and a game where we cast Larry and Vivien in random movies.  In short, it’s pretty ridiculous. And by ridiculous, I definitely mean fun!

Thanks for watching! If you’d like to leave questions about the Oliviers or their films for the next video post, you may do so HERE.

Kendra has been the weblady at vivandlarry.com since 2007. She lives in Yorkshire and is the author of Vivien Leigh: An Intimate Portrait, and co-author of Ava Gardner: A Life in Movies (Running Press). Follow her on Twitter @kendrajbean, Instagram at @vivandlarrygram, or at her official website.

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Comments (14)

  1. Fantastic! Informative as always and once again I learned new things! Wished I could have thought of a question but I went blank! Keep em’ coming! And lol at you casting Larry as the velociraptor lmao! Now I want to watch a Viv movie. Haha. Anyway, you guys are great!

  2. BLERG I was having a bit of trouble hearing you both (WHY AM I SO OLD) but this was such fun! oh ewwww why did everyone want to get down with mickey rooney i don’t understand and don’t want to. D: if larry played edward i would actually give the twilight series a fighting chance. not that that would happen (creeper heathcliff > creeper edward)

  3. I love listening to you two. Great conversation, fun and interesting facts. You both know so much about everything. Amazing. What a good idea to have this open session. Thanks.

  4. Hey!
    This was great! I really like the vision you bith have of Viv&Larry. It’s fair, interesting and rich without being nosy. I learned things.
    And the bonus footage was fun! Watching it I thought about two things: Larry would have been great as Hannibal Lecter and Viv’ quite cool in Harold and Maud (as Maud of course!)… That’s it I’m hooked on this game… Thanks to you both again, it was a pleasure!

  5. Hi Tanguy! Long time, no see. I’m glad you liked the video!

    Adeline–Thanks! Larry would have been a good Hannibal. Anthony Hopkins said Larry was the actor he admired most.

  6. I can’t believe that you haven’t seen “My Fair Lady” or “Pygmalion”! You should see them – great classics.

    Viv and Larry would definitely have made a great Eliza and Professor Higgins. Viv could do a great Cockney accent, in fact she was told to lessen it for “Sidwalks of London” so that the rest of England could understand her. And Larry would have been incredible as the domineering Higgins. In fact, they performed a radio adaptation on the Campbell Playhouse which I am trying to dig up.

    Thanks for another successful video post!

  7. I know, I’ve seen bits of My Fair Lady but never the whole thing. I guess I’ve avoided it because I’m not a huge Audrey Hepburn fan. If you find the radio adaptation, please let me know!

  8. That was a lot of fun, it made my day!I agree Larry would have made a great Hannibal Lector, he scared the crap out of me as Christian Zell from Marathon man! Looking forward to th next installment!

  9. a fun video. thanks. ref: ‘olivier in celebration’ by o’connor, anthony quayle writes of seeing larry in 1931 ‘he was the epitome of elegance…..the girl i was with was far more intrigued with him than she was with me…it was the assurance of male beauty, of talent, of success’. in ’round the next corner’ denys blakelock writes of 1935 ‘his performance was immaculate…so were his clothes..at his most smart and sophisticated’. guthrie said ‘he spoke with a beautiful and aristocratic accent’. this all before vivien leigh met him.
    please forgive me but tutin is pronounced ‘tew-tin’.

  10. compared to how he dressed/looked when he was with Vivien, he wasn’t as elegant during his marriage to Jill and certainly not his marriage to Joan. That’s my observation based on photos, anyway. He admitted that it was Vivien who got most of the credit for the way he dressed and everything.

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