More Vivien and Larry

"If I should die, think only this of me..." "I could not live without my Vivien Leigh."--Larry and a friend passing the time by writing poems back and forth during the war

"We were young, we were beautiful, and we lived for each other. It was a selfish seizure that burned itself up. One must not fool oneself."--Vivien, On the end of their marriage

Two remembrances by Stewart Granger (thanks to Laura S. for typing these out)
'Johnny and Mary Mills invited me to a New Year's Eve party and I arranged to pick up Larry and Vivien. Rex Harrison and Lilli Palmer, in order to save petrol, which was still rationed. Johnny chose to offer the most peculiar mixture of drinks at this bash: rum cocktails following by some rather sweet champagne. No one was partaking too freely but dear Vivien, thinking that Johnny would be hurt, downed large quantities of this bilious mixture with disastrous results. On the way home she started to get very sick and, as the Mills lived way out in the country, the Great West Road was dotted by Vivien's upchucking all the way home. We dropped off Rex and Lilli and eventually a very pale and shaken Vivien was helped out of the car by Larry.
"Oh, my God, where's my purse?" she moaned. "I've lost my purse with all those lovely presents."
Over the years Larry had given her a valuable jewel-encrusted compact, lipstick holder and cigarette case. We searched the car fanatically, but no bag. Vivien must have dropped it during one of her excursions into the bushes - but which bush? She had been throwing up at frequent intervals along thirty miles of freeway. We dismissed all thoughts of searching for her missing property and Larry accompanied a now sobbing Vivien into their house. On the way back I suddenly had a vision of the handbag lying in a gutter. I saw it clearly. It was now about four in the morning and I asked Rushton (his driver?) if he would mind going back to take a look, and we set off, keeping our eyes glued to the other side of the road. We drove for miles and I beginning to think my psychic flash had been wishful thinking when there was the bag, exactly as I'd pictured it. I leapt out, half expecting everything to have been stolen, but to my amazement it was all there.

We drove home triumphantly and at lunchtime the next day I called Vivien to offer my sympathies. When she tearfully told me what a terrible hangover she had and how awful she felt about her loss I said I would be over as I had a small New Year's gift for her. I arrived with the bag covered in layers of tissue paper and hidden in a box covered in ribbons. Vivien took it rather half-heartedly and slowly started unwrapping it. I went into the next room where Larry was dejectedly sipping black coffee. As he was telling me how he'd warned Viv not to drink those bloody cocktails we heard a scream.
"My bag! My Jewels! Jimmy! Jimmy, where did you find them? Larry, look, they're here - they're all here." After profuse thanks and kisses I went home glowing with the success of my little miracle.'
(Larry stayed at Jean and Stewart's ranch over Christmas, 1959 to think things out)
'I found myself listening to Larry analyzing his feelings about divorce. He would go out riding over the ranch all day and come back in the evening and tell us his thoughts. He still loved Vivien but had fallen in love with Joan Plowright. Vivien had given Larry a pretty hard time recently, but their twenty years together couldn't just be dismissed. Larry told us how absolutely miraculous his marriage had been for so many years but that during the last five he'd gone through hell with Vivien's illness and strange behaviour.
I'd known them from the beginning when I had been that nervous young actor reading for the part with Vivien at the Gate Theatre in 1938. Only five years before I had experience the horror of Vivien's nervous breakdown and realised the effect this must have had on him but I also knew how much Vivien adored him. We tried to advise but mostly listened as he reasoned things aloud. I, of course, was inclined to advise against the divorce knowing what it would do to Vivien.
"Can you really be happy, Larry, knowing that you're making someone you love utterly miserable?"
"My God, Jimmy, why do you think I'm hesitating?"
Jean on the other hand was urging him to go ahead and marry his Joan if he really loved her, as no one should sacrifice their own happiness to protect the feelings of somebody else.
The day before he was due to leave, Larry came and told us he'd reached a decision. I held my breath while I waited to hear what he would say. He decided to divorce Vivien. My heart sank as I saw the pleased look on Jean's face. Larry thanking us for our patience, advice and hospitality. He then said something I'll never forget. "It was really seeing you two together, how much you loved each other, that made me decide I wanted that kind of happiness too."
Larry married his Joan and became a happy family man. Vivien never recovered from the divorce. She knew that Larry had every reason to leave her and was quite right to take the step he had, but she loved him and missed him until the day she died.'

all taken from www.vivandlarry.com