Viv and Larry

Was I a monster to Vivien? Or did we truly love each other? Here's the scoop from a sister site of vivandlarry.com, http://community.livejournal.com/theoliviers/tag/laurence+olivier.

Posted 11 July 2008 @ 08:14 am

RIP Laurence Olivier

"My stage successes have provided me with the greatest moments outside myself. My film successes have given me, personally, the greatest moments within myself."--Laurence Olivier

"When we were doing Private Lives in 1932, none of us thought Laurence Olivier would really become a star in anything except the bedroom."--Noel Coward

Laurence Olivier died when I was five years old. Of course I don't remember this happening, I didn't really come to know and appreciate his talents until i was 18. I had learned about him through reading about Vivien Leigh after seeing Gone with the Wind. I had recognized his name but didn't know who he was, what he looked like, or what his deal was. I have to confess that at first, I didn't really "get it." He was good looking but I'd seen better, and here was this amazingly gorgeous woman who everyone claimed found the love of a lifetime in this guy.

It was when I happened to catch Wuthering Heights on TCM ahortly after that I said, "Okay, now I get it!" And boy did I ever! That amazing voice, those dark, brooding, sleepy eyes, those chiseled facial features. What was there not to get? He had great presence on screen even if he wasn't the best actor starting off. Then I started to read about Larry as an actor and as a man on his own and I came to appreciate him even more. I can definitely see why the ladies swooned over him and why even some men wanted to be with him (whether he bated for both teams, I'm not really sure).

I appreciate his patience with Vivien Leigh and his love for her, his drive to be not only a great actor, but the BEST actor, and his general Britishness. He was in love with his job his whole life and it did pay off. Today he is known as the greatest stage actor of his generation. I think as a film actor he developed his talents over the years and he gave some amazing performances! Just look at him in Wuthering Heights, in Rebecca, in Hamlet or Richard III or The Entertainer or Marathon Man--he is quite fun to watch. And, he's super special because he was the youngest actor to ever be knighted in England (1947 at the age of 40), and the only actor to be given a Peerage (go him!)

Though he was a top notch actor, he was terribly flawed. He could be awfully arrogant, selfish, and some people say he wasn't interested in many other people. But he was also very shy when not performing, epseciall y with the press, and many of his friends say he was one of the funniest people they'd known. It doesn't seem that many biographers have been able to get to "know" him. But I think that's part of his mystery, that he's such an enigma. I do believe Vivien knew him completely. He once told her in a letter during their marriage that she was the only person in the world who could make hideously selfish him love anyone more than he did himself. But she loved him and he adored her. It's funny because when i talk about them (or write about them, I should say since no one in real life really gets it) it's never just "Laurence Olivier" or "Vivien Leigh," it always ends up being 'Viv and Larry," because even though I never knew them, I always think of them as a package deal.

But anyway, Larry had an awful lot of fans and has inspired many of today's leading actors from Anthony Hopkins to Ralph Fiennes to Kevin Spacey. He was a giant in the acting world, and a damn good looking man in general. The original Heathcliff, the Original Darcy, the original...awesome.

Yes, over the years he has beaten out the likes of Cary Grant and other fellow British luminaries of the screen to become my favorite British gentleman/male model/adorable guy.

I heart you, Larry. I wish this were 70 years ago so I could write you a fan letter.

RIP
Laurence Kerr Olivier
May 22, 1907--July 11, 1989