The film star Vivien Leigh, who would have celebrated her hundredth birthday next March, became close friends with the young actor Trader Faulkner through their shared experience of Catholicism
During rehearsals for Titus Andronicus, the final production of the 1955 Stratford season, Vivien Leigh and I were not called for afternoon rehearsal. Instead, she suggested I punt her down the Avon. Delighted, I hired a punt and waited on the riverbank. Presently, across the lawn came Scarlett O’Hara, 16 years on but looking just as she did when she captivated audiences worldwide in Gone with the Wind. I helped her aboard and we glided down the river. As we passed beneath the theatre balcony, we saw her husband, Laurence Olivier, and the rest of the cast enjoying a tea break.Our conversatio
19 December 2013, The Tablet
‘The Vivien I knew revealed her vulnerability’
Century of remarkable women – 2
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