Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again...

"Rebecca"
directed by Alfred Hithcock, released 1940


Rebecca tells the story of a young "companion" who, while accompanying her employer on vacation in Monte Carlo, meets the wealthy widower, Maxim de Winter. After a brief courtship, the young girl and Maxim are married and return to his home in England. All of the servants at Manderly, especially Mrs. Danvers, seem to be constantly comparing the new Mrs. de Winter to Rebecca, the deceased former wife of Mr. de Winter. As time goes by, the young bride becomes more and more distraught over her inability to overcome the ghost of her predecessor. Even Maxim himself seems preoccupied by the memory of Rebecca. It is only after a freak accident that the second Mrs. de Winter learns that her husband truly is obsessed with his former wife, however not in the way she had believed. It turns out that it is only Mrs. Danvers who remembers Rebecca fondly, and that it is she alone who wishes the new bride ill. With this newfound knowledge, Mrs. de Winter gains the confidence to truly take control of Manderly. Through the many twists and turns of this labyrinthine tale, true love finds a way to win out over the demons that haunt all who have known, whether they loved or loathed, Rebecca.

AFI's Top 50

This is the American Film Institute's list of the 50
Greatest American Screen Legends, the top 25 male
and top 25 female legends selected by more than
1,800 leaders from across the film community from
the list of 500.

Laurence is number 14.


Men

1. Humphrey Bogart
2. Cary Grant
3. James Stewart
4. Marlon Brando
5. Fred Astaire
6. Henry Fonda
7. Clark Gable
8. James Cagney
9. Spencer Tracy
10. Charlie Chaplin
11. Gary Cooper
12. Gregory Peck
13. John Wayne
14. Laurence Olivier
15. Gene Kelly
16. Orson Welles
17. Kirk Douglas
18. James Dean
19. Burt Lancaster
20. The Marx Brothers
21. Buster Keaton
22. Sidney Poitier
23. Robert Mitchum
24. Edward G. Robinson
25. William Holden

Women

1. Katharine Hepburn
2. Bette Davis
3. Audrey Hepburn
4. Ingrid Bergman
5. Greta Garbo
6. Marilyn Monroe
7. Elizabeth Taylor
8. Judy Garland
9. Marlene Dietrich
10. Joan Crawford
11. Barbara Stanwyck
12. Claudette Colbert
13. Grace Kelly
14. Ginger Rogers
15. Mae West
16. Vivien Leigh
17. Lillian Gish
18. Shirley Temple
19. Rita Hayworth
20. Lauren Bacall
21. Sophia Loren
22. Jean Harlow
23. Carole Lombard
24. Mary Pickford
25. Ava Gardner

"Private Lives"

Act II of the radio show "Private Lives" starring Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier:

"Private Lives"

Act I of the radio show "Private Lives" starring Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier:

Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights (1939) is director William Wyler's somber tale of doomed and tragic love, conflicting passions, and revenge. It is considered one of Hollywood's all-time most romantic/drama classics. Filmed with haunting beauty, it is the first film dramatization of Emily Bronte's wildly passionate 1847 best-selling literary masterpiece, from a screenplay written by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur (concentrating on the first two-thirds or 17 chapters of the 34 chapter book).

Producer Samuel Goldwyn felt the black-and-white film was the favorite of all his productions. It is still considered the definitive version - and one of the greatest romantic films ever made. Bronte's novel tells about the eternal, smoldering love between two soul-mates: adopted gypsy boy Heathcliff and manor-born Cathy, who loves both the stable-boy and her worldly neighbor Edgar. There were numerous other versions of the film, including: a silent version in 1920, director Luis Bunuel's Spanish-language version Abismos de Pasion (Depths of Passion) (1953), Robert Fuest's American International and UK version Wuthering Heights (1970) with Timothy Dalton and Anna Calder-Marshall in the lead roles, French director Jacques Rivette's Hurlevent (1985), Peter Kosminsky's faithfully-told Wuthering Heights (1992) with Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes, and a made-for-TV feature Wuthering Heights (1998) as part of the Masterpiece Theatre series.

The 1939 film was a critical success, earning eight Academy Award nominations in one of the most hotly-contested years ever - often called "the greatest year in motion picture history." The nominations included: Best Picture, Best Actor (Laurence Olivier with his first career nomination), Best Supporting Actress (Geraldine Fitzgerald with her sole career nomination), Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Screenplay, Best Interior Decoration, and Best Original Score. It rightly deserved its sole Academy Award for Gregg Toland's expressionistic, moody B/W cinematography. [This was Toland's only career Oscar, although his acclaimed, deep-focus film technique was also nominated in classics such as Les Miserables (1935), Dead End (1937), Intermezzo: A Love Story (1939), The Long Voyage Home (1940), and Citizen Kane (1941).] Also, the film's wonderful musical score by Alfred Newman is unforgettable.

Ronald Colman, Douglas Fairbanks, and English actor Robert Newton were all considered for the role eventually played by British stage actor Laurence Olivier. Each of the leading actors began work on the film under miserable circumstances, including the fact that both had their own lovers in England - Merle Oberon had recently fallen in love with Alexander Korda (a major British film figure), and Olivier was separated from his girlfriend/fiancee Vivien Leigh, also in London. For both its major stars, however, the film turned out to be advantageous - it was contract player Merle Oberon's best work in her entire film career, and it established Laurence Olivier as a dashing, leading international film actor (he was nominated as Best Actor for his role). (And as a footnote, it brought Vivien Leigh to Hollywood where she met David O. Selznick and tested - successfully - for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With The Wind (1939).)

Award-ography

Academy Awards
1979 Honorary Academy Award for his contribution to film
1979 Nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role for The Boys From Brazil
1977 Nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Marathon Man
1973 Nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Sleuth
1966 Nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Othello
1961 Nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role for The Entertainer
1957 Nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in Richard II
1949 Best Actor in a Leading Role for Hamlet
1949 Best Picture for Hamlet
1949 Nomination for Best Director for Hamlet
1947 Outstanding Achievement award for directing Henry V
1947 Nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Henry V
1947 Nomination for Best Picture for Henry V
1941 Nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Rebecca
1940 Nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Wuthering Heights

Emmy Awards
1984 Best Actor for King Lear (TV)
1982 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or a Special for Brideshead Revisited (mini)
1975 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Special Program - Drama or Comedy for Love Among the Ruins (TV)
1974 Nomination for Best Lead Actor in a Drama for The Merchant of Venice (TV)
1973 Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for Long Day's Journey into Night (TV)
1970 Nomination for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for David Copperfield (TV)
1968 Nomination for Outstanding Dramatic Program for Uncle Vanya
1960 Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor for The Moon and Sixpence (TV)

Golden Globe Awards
1983 Cecil B. DeMille Award
1980 Nomination for Best Motion Picture Actor in a Supporting Role for A Little Romance
1977 Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actor in a Supporting Role for Marathon Man
1973 Nomination for Best Motion Picture Actor in a Drama for Sleuth
1949 Best Motion Picture Actor for Hamlet

New York Film Critics Awards
1972 Best Actor Award for Sleuth
1948 Best Actor Award for Hamlet
1946 Best Actor Award for Henry V

National Board of Review Awards
1978 Best Actor Award for The Boys From Brazil
1946 Best Actor Award for Henry V

British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards
1974 Nomination for Best Actor for Sleuth
1970 Best Supporting Actor for Oh! What a Lovely War
1963 Nomination for Best British Actor for Term of Trial
1961 Nomination for Best British Actor for The Entertainer
1960 Nomination for Best British Actor for The Devil's Disciple
1958 Nomination for Best British Actor for The Prince and the Showgirl
1956 Nomination for Best British Actor for Richard III
1953 Nomination for Best British Actor for Carrie

Other Awards
1983 Film Society of Lincoln Center, Gala Tribute.
1981 Order of Merit Award
1979 Saturn Award for Best Actor in The Boys From Brazil
1970 Life Peer Award
1958 Tony Award nomination for The Entertainer
1957 David di Donatello Best Foreign Production Award for Richard III
1956 Silver Berlin Bear International Prize for Richard III
1950 Italian National Syndicate for Film Journalists, Silver Ribbon Award for Best Director on a Foreign Film for Henry V
1949 Bodil Festen Best European Film Award for Hamlet
1948 Venice Film Festival Golden Lion Award for Hamlet

My most famous soliloquy!

To be, or not to be--that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles

And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep--

No more--and by a sleep to say we end

The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to. 'Tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep--

To sleep--perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub,

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause. There's the respect

That makes calamity of so long life.

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely

The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,

The insolence of office, and the spurns

That patient merit of th' unworthy takes,

When he himself might his quietus make

With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,

To grunt and sweat under a weary life,

But that the dread of something after death,

The undiscovered country, from whose bourn

No traveller returns, puzzles the will,

And makes us rather bear those ills we have

Than fly to others that we know not of?

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,

And thus the native hue of resolution

Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,

And enterprise of great pitch and moment

With this regard their currents turn awry

And lose the name of action.