Vivien Leigh

[KELT]

[Hez]

So is the Anne Edwards Bio the best one?

I read about the incident with Vivienne slapping Olivier around the face with wet towels, I think he had taken to locking his bedroom door and she broke in. I can't imagine what it would be like to live with somebody going through that.

[Reecy]

She was still beautiful. The perfect Scarlett O'Hara.

[hrhdiesel]

Vivien was classy wasnt she! Its so sad to think there wasnt enough to help her condition when she was alive.... If the press wasnt as censored as it was controlled by the studios then - would she have made stars like lohan and spears look tame by today standards??

[Fancynancy]

So is the Anne Edwards Bio the best one?

I read about the incident with Vivienne slapping Olivier around the face with wet towels, I think he had taken to locking his bedroom door and she broke in. I can't imagine what it would be like to live with somebody going through that.

I think Hugo Vicker's book is the better one--the first editions of the book have stunning covers with Vivien from Waterloo Bridge.

[Starstruck]

I remember reading a biography about Vivien ( can't remember which one ) and I am sure it quoted her at some stage during a time she was having an " episode " and was separated from Lord Oliver and she said " she didn't know what she was doing she was running around in her room on the phone with Oliver in one hand and a stained sanitary napkin in the other " and she was at a complete loss and couldn't seem to function. Poor thing she had her problems and I am sure Olivier helped as much as he could but I think he was getting dragged down with her and he couldn't deal with it any more and couldn't see how it was going to end.

[cto69]

I`d like to share my Vivien Leigh story. When my mother was a small child in the late 1940`s, she and her mother were having an afternoon tea in a hotel called the Windsor in Melbourne Australia .As they were in the foyer with few people around Vivien Leigh and Sir Laurance Olivier, by themselves, walked past and both smiled at my stunned mother and grandmother. My mother said Leigh was the most beautiful woman she has ever seen and had glowing skin and the most amazing green eyes.I`ve given my mother a good ribbing over the years at her and my grandmother for not stopping them and talking to them, which could have happend as the Oliviers had a very approachable demeaner when they were hear in Australia.
She just keeps saying " but we were to stunned to do anything but stand there with our mouths open".

[Fancynancy]

I`d like to share my Vivien Leigh story. When my mother was a small child in the late 1940`s, she and her mother were having an afternoon tea in a hotel called the Windsor in Melbourne Australia .As they were in the foyer with few people around Vivien Leigh and Sir Laurance Olivier, by themselves, walked past and both smiled at my stunned mother and grandmother. My mother said Leigh was the most beautiful woman she has ever seen and had glowing skin and the most amazing green eyes.I`ve given my mother a good ribbing over the years at her and my grandmother for not stopping them and talking to them, which could have happend as the Oliviers had a very approachable demeaner when they were hear in Australia.
She just keeps saying " but we were to stunned to do anything but stand there with our mouths open".

Awesome story! Several years ago I had a doctor by the name of Hywel Davies( how British) and he told me of how he had seen her on the stage at one time. Talking about an agape mouth! I think we got on the subject because I had taken my latest copy of her bio to his office while I waited for him to come in. And that was probably in the early eighties, so it was probably Anne Edwards' book.

[Dave62]

I recommend Alexander Walker's biography of Vivien. Avoid Anne Edwards' bio of Vivien , she threw in a lot of crap along the lines of "Vivien thought this.., Vivien felt that..." Unless you have direct access to someone's letters, journals, etc. (which Edwards apparently didn't) , DON'T pretend to be a mindreader. Also, don't keep telling us that in her final years Vivien kept looking "more beautiful than ever". I've seen quite a few candid photos of Vivien that showed the effects of how her various illnesses took their toll. She was still a lovely lady, but it's tough to look at those photos and realize that this is someone who's around 50 years old, because she looked much older.
Edwards portrayed Olivier more as a villain for not staying with her, whereas other Leigh biographers have been more objective and pointed out the pressures of being part of the high-profile public-couple ("Larry and Viv") to millions of their fans.
I think Walker ends his bio by saying that soon after Vivien died, some psychic claimed that Vivien was calling out from the 'Great Beyond'. Olivier wanted no part of a seance, but Vivien's first husband Leigh Holman apparently attended along with Vivien's final companion Jack Merivale (Leigh and Jack were on friendly terms, and Vivien herself always remained close to Holman). The dead "Vivien" wanted people to know she didn't commit suicide and she kept asking "How is Larry?" (Olivier had undergone surgery shortly before Vivien died). In his autobio, Olivier states he was discreetly allowed into Vivien's London apartment to see her body before her it was taken away. Also, "Vivien" said that being dead was sort of like floating ......turns out that her ashes were spread on the small pond behind her final country house, Tickerage, so who knows ??

[pamlovesrobert]

Hey guys, just wanted to give you a heads up. I just finished this book. It was horrible. I truly wish I had never read it, and just kept my memories of Gone with the Wind in tact. In the book, it makes both Vivien and Lawrence look like dogs in heat, who would sleep with anything. it also describes and confrontation between Vivien and Carole Lombard over Clark Gable, that most historians say never happened. Total waste of reading time.

[Dave62]

The sad fact is, a lot of people (too many people) will probably buy Damn You and believe what they've read. I read a Gable "bio" that claimed that one of the annual MGM Christmas parties degenerated into an orgy (after the Grand Poobahs like Mayer left, of course) where "everyone" found a sex-partner and posed nude in the photographers' studios. "All" negatives were said to be quickly destroyed within a few days. Probably the most ridiculous rumor I've ever read. This same book also claimed that Vivien had an abortion (Larry's baby, not Clark's) during the filming of GWTW. I do believe that Larry had bisexual tendencies, but with Danny Kaye of all people ? I remember something that Anne Edwards wrote in her Vivien bio that makes me believe it. Vivien had a breakdown making Elephant Walk, Larry was taking Vivien off the plane in L.A. and Danny Kaye appeared. Larry and Danny embraced/hugged, and Vivien became greatly agitated at the sight of Danny. Guess it's bad enough for a beautiful woman to realize that her spouse could be cheating on her with other women. How are you supposed to react when your husband is cheating on you with another man, and then you see the other man embrace your husband in public ?

[Dangitbawb]

I remember when the 50th Anniversary Edition came out on VHS quite a few years back. My son saved up his money to buy that for me for Mother's Day. He was only 16 years old and the thing cost eighty bucks. That touched me beyond words. He even went and saw it with me at a local theater here when it was released after it had been restored. He had zero interest in that movie but sat through it because he knew I wanted to see it. What a great kid!

I spent that same amount for my then Mother -In-Law, and almost regretted it... because I had to sit through the entire movie! Fortunately it was $$$ well spent... because I GOT the girl in the end, for however long it lasted! Turned out to be a great movie!

[MoonRabbit]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...l-service.html

I believe Scotty Bowers could be telling the truth. He kept his mouth shut for so long and will only discuss patrons that are gone.
It's a gross story but Hollywood was wild from silent films on...

"Bowers has been drawn to sex ever since he was a young boy. He remembers growing up in Chicago and fishing used condoms out of the river. “I washed them out, dried them, hung them up, and resold them,” he says in our interview, adding that was one of the details edited out of the book. “Boom! Supply and demand.” By the time he was 11, he was having sex with multiple Catholic priests, but he doesn’t see it as abuse. “I let them do it, didn’t I? So therefore I wasn’t abused. They would be very nice. They would hold me, cuddle me, jack off with me, and give me a few bucks.”

[Bidmor]

Bowers has a separate thread...
http://www.findadeath.com/forum/show...=scotty+bowers

[MoonRabbit]

Oh Sorry!