the oliviers

Celebrating love

Vivien Leigh Laurence Olivier in 21 Days Together

(via Zsazsa)

“My dearest Heart,

Goodness knows when all my various letters will reach you or in what order…I will tell you again that your letters are unspeakably precious…Okay darling darling love. I will never get used to these separations. I miss you every minute of the time…” — Fragments of a love letter from Vivien Leigh to Laurence Olivier, 1943

Happy Valentine’s Day from vivandlarry.com!

 

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 (15)

  1. It is at best funny, unless you need it for a study of the way s.o. throws his/ her lashes about,otherwise it smacks of bad taste! It is , especially in their case, when we “know” what state they were in when filming 21 days, much too intimate in this repetitive slow-motion –I hate being a voyeur, same reason why I find( together with the O.-family by the way, ) that Coleman’s biography ought not to have been authorized.”Beware, good girl, of…!”Greetings, R.

      1. Too lazy to think about it??? I remember you writing s. th. about “quality films”, so I thought you would want to make only quality contributions and not some stuff that looks like some commercial flicker saying “buy this”.- And then,if your comments to a reply fall as short as that you might as well spare yourself the trouble! R.

        1. This is my blog, which means I am entitled to choose the content that goes on it and if readers disagree with it or think photo posts aren’t “quality” enough for their standards, that is not my issue. As for a “proper” reply, I don’t appreciate your comment calling me lazy. If you feel like a voyeur looking at photos (many of which have been posted before) and animated gifs screencapped from a film, then I’m sorry for you. This post does not differ from other posts that have been made on this site before. I’m sorry that you took issue with it but it sounds more like a personal problem to me.

        2. Just thought I’d add: You’re definitely in the minority when it comes to disliking Zsazsa’s animated gif. This same graphic has over 8,000 reblogs and “likes” on tumblr, where it was originally posted. You also seem to be a bit confused about Terry Colman’s authorised biography of Olivier. The only person in the Olivier family that opposed it was Tarquin, and his reasons had nothing to do with anything relating to Larry and Vivien’s private relationship (letters, etc). Books are authorised before they’re written, not after they’ve been published. Coleman was hand-picked by the Olivier estate and was given full access to Olivier’s papers. They went over his manuscript before it went to the printers.

          Furthermore, this was a themed Valentine’s Day post and not meant to be an ambitious think-piece.

  2. Happy Valentine’s Day, Kendra!

    Personally, I enjoyed today’s post very much. Hopefully I’m not revealing some latent voyeuristic tendencies or my bad taste by saying that.

    Some people really need to lighten up. Yes, Renata, this means YOU! You’ve got some nerve speaking to Kendra like that. Lazy? KENDRA?? That’s idiotic. If you didn’t appreciate today’s post that’s your prerogative, but there’s no call to be so rude about it. There’s nothing more in “bad taste” than that!

    1. Thanks David, happy valentine’s to you as well! I made more or less the same post last year on this day so I’m not sure why this one has sparked anger. Oh well!

      1. I loved the animated gif, Kendra … it was ideally suited to Valentine’s Day … you couldn’t have chosen anything more appropriate. Anyone who has a problem feeling “voyeuristic” while looking at it has definitely come to the wrong place, because the great love shared by Larry & Vivien is a running feature of this site and always has been. I was just as puzzled as you at the first comment left by this crank but incensed by the second! If ever there was a person LESS lazy than you I’d be interested to meet them! This person couldn’t have chosen a word that has any less connection with you … but then, you already know that. Geeze, it makes me so angry … you take the time to make a post in the hope that it will brighten everyone’s day a little, and get kicked in the teeth for it straightaway. So much for getting into the spirit of the day!

        1. I like the gif, as well. Although 21 Days isn’t the best film ever created, it does have its cute moments. The site is and always has been about Viv and Larry’s partnership, both romantic and professional. From what I can deduce, I think some people expect ambitious, philosophical think-pieces for every post (esp. now that I’ve let the cat out of the bag about the book project), but while I’d love to indulge in such posts all the time, I simply haven’t got the time to do it. Everyone likes pictures! I’m not lazy when it comes to my work with this site and things I’m passionate about, but sometimes I really can’t be bothered trying to decipher cryptic comments.

  3. I can’t believe that someone would be so rude to you on your own blog. like you said this is your blog. I love the animated scene, but one of my favourite photos is the one of them in the airport. It is such a tender photo, and I feel that it shows the love between the two of them.

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