“Words, but if one of them were true?”
by Vivien Leigh The Theatre Illustrated Quarterly
Summer 1935
I have a pen in my hand. It has started writing. Why, only the Editor of this magazine and a stern-faced man called Sydney Carroll can explain. I know I ought, when off the stage, to be invisible, to leave the world to guess my thoughts, if it wants to, which I hope, but doubt. But as I respect my Manager and adore my theatre, and as I have a terrible fear of the press (though I think all pressmen dears, especially when they don’t ask me to talk about my baby), here I am, praying under my pen for just one smile and one word of forgiveness for stealing, with their interests in mind, into the greater limelight of the printed word.
… Continue reading
In 1959, Vivien Leigh gave her only full-length television performance in a filmed version of Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth. She plays Lily-Sabina Fairweather (often just called Sabina in the play), a character she had made famous nearly 15 years earlier on the London stage. This adaptation was televised live by Granada Television and today is virtually non-existent. We weren’t sure if it was still out there, or if it had been locked away in some vault, or worse yet, lost or destroyed. So imagine my surprise and utter delight when I received an email from a vivandlarry.com visitor saying she had an archive copy and wanted to send it over!
Though there are three acts in Wilder’s play, only the first two are shown in this broadcast. We aren’t sure if Act 3 was even filmed. Vivien is a delight to watch. In her original run back in 1945-46, critic James Agate described her as “half dabchick, half dragonfly.” She brings the same flirtatiousness and comedic timing to this performance, and never misses a beat. I really like how this TV production was staged, substituting the cameras for the audience. I also think it’s funny how Vivien plays two characters: Sebina, and Ms. Sommerset (the actress playing Sebina within the play). Her accent swiftly changes from a Scarlett-Blanche hybrid to her normal posh British at the drop of a hat. George Devine provides good comedic support as Mr. Antrobus.
This program is truly a lost treasure (you can see it in 2 parts below), and I am very proud to be presenting it here at vivandlarry.com!
One of the things Vivien Leigh did after finishing filming on Gone with the Wind was test for the role of the second Mrs. DeWinter in the film version of Daphne DuMaurier’s Rebecca. The film, being directed by Alfred Hitchcock and produced by David O. Selznick, was set to star Laurence Olivier (Vivien’s then fiancee) in the lead as Maxim DeWinter. Vivien wanted the part because she’d be acting opposite Olivier, but not many people were enthusiastic about her getting it. It wasn’t because they doubted her acting ability, it was because her personality was deemed too strong for such a weak character.
Vivien and Alan Marshall
Even in the book, DuMaurier’s heroine is shy, plain, meek, and “gauche,” as she describes herself. Vivien, even without make-up and silly blond wigs, is anything but gauche and plain. Her eyes have a fiery intensity in the screentests, and opposite Alan Marshall, she seems more Scarlett in a cardigan than the weakling the part called for. Her test opposite Laurence Olivier is very interesting by contrast. Vivien plays it down but puts forth obvious love and intensity for “Maxim.” When the two tests are compared, I think it is easy to tell that she and Larry were in love with each other off-camera, and this is something that Hitchcock did not want. He thought it would not be believable to audiences when everyone knew they were together in real life. Larry shared in this sentiment as well. In Charlotte Chandler’s book “It’s Only a Movie,” Larry is quoted having said:
“When they called to say someone named Joan Fontaine had been given the role opposite me, I can’t say I was thrilled. I’d certainly never heard of her. When I met her, what I noticed was how young and skinny she was. I didn’t really understand what my character, Maxim DeWinter, could see in her. As I understood Max better, I decided that she was just what he wanted–someone exactly the opposite of Rebecca. He’d had enough of Rebecca, and he was looking for docile, even wilted.
“I admit I was prejudiced from the start. I’d exerted my influence to persuade Selznick that the best possible choice for the part was Vivien. Vivien had her heart set on playing opposite me, and she loved the part, which she tested for. She was a very good actress, and it was rather mortifying for me not to have been more influential. It affected our personal lives for a while…
“I didn’t like having to plead Vivien’s case, but I couldn’t say no to her. Hitch was very decent about it. But the worst part of it was I really didn’t want to have her get the part. There was already so much strain in our personal life, our divorces, leaving a wife and a child, and a husband and child in England, the European situation, the war. It was perhaps better for us to have a little vacation from constant togetherness.
“Vivien thought I didn’t try hard enough for her with Hitchcock for the part in Rebecca. Well, I didn’t. I hadn’t felt she was right for that part, truth be told.
“Vivien was exactly the opposite of Scarlett O’Hara, who said something like, ‘I’ll worry about it tomorrow.’ She worried about everything–yesterday, today, and tomorrow. But she was so beautiful.”
Despite Vivien being thought of as totally wrong for the role of Mrs. DeWinter and was thus denied the part (which eventually went to Joan Fontaine, who happened to be blond, in true Hitchcockian form), there was a role Alfred Hitchcock, at least, thought she’d have been perfect for: the ghostly, yet ever-present Rebecca. When Hitch was interviewed by Henri Langlois, the director of the Cinematheque Francais, he spoke of the perfect Rebecca.
“But there WAS an actress to play Rebecca. A perfect Rebecca. And she even wanted to be in the film, only she wanted to play the wrong part, that of the cringing, meek girl with rounded shoulders who was totally lacking in self-confidence.
“The actress was Vivien Leigh, who was born to be Rebecca, as she was to be Scarlett O’Hara. Scarlett shared many characteristics with Rebecca. Vivien Leigh had the requisite beauty. She and Rebecca were both uniquely strong women who knew that they wanted and how to get it, if not how to enjoy it. They were not girls; they were women.
“Vivien Leigh was absolutely right to play Rebecca, but Rebecca never appears in the film, so neither does Vivien. And for people who knew about the real life affair between Olivier and Leigh, that would have intruded on any illusion.”
I have to say I agree with Hitchcock. Although it’s a shame she and Hitch never worked together, I think Vivien would have been much more believable as Rebecca than as “I” in this film. Apparently the people who design Italian movie posters thought so, too.
Continuing with “Vivien in Fashion” Week, today we throw the spotlight on photographer and costume designer Cecil Beaton. Cecil is perhaps the most interesting of all of the Vogue photographers who photographed Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier because he also had somewhat of a personal relationship with them as well as a professional one.
Vivien and Cecil in Paris for Anna Karenina costume fittings, 1947
Since I first became interested in vintage fashion and photography, I have been interested in Beaton’s photographs of Vivien Leigh in particular (and he did take my all time favorite portrait of Laurence Olivier in 1948). Cecil was the photographer on Caesar and Cleopatra, and the costume designer for Anna Karenina as well as for the play The School for Scandal which the Oliviers performed in 1948 and 49. In my opinion, he took the best photos of Vivien Leigh, and his abrupt falling out with the Oliviers in 1948 makes me rather sad. But it is an interesting story, so I thought it would be nice to hear about their personal and professional relationship from someone who knows quite a bit about it.
Most of you know Hugo Vickers for writing the definitive biography on Vivien Leigh. He is also the Literary Executor for the Cecil Beaton Estate and has published Beaton’s biography and diaries. He was very kind in writing out the tale of the Oliviers and Cecil Beaton especially for vivandlarry.com. Thanks, Hugo!
