Clark Gable as Rhett Butler and Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara
I'm currently reading Gone With The Wind for the second time. The first time being when I was a sophomore in high school. Just let me tell you, it is soooo much better this time around. I think it might have to do with having some life experience and being able to relate more to the situations Scarlett finds herself in and I visited Savannah and Charleston a year or so ago and I can picture the scene. I'm reading it on the Kindle which means no thick, heavy, book to try to hold and I'm loving that too.
I've always thought Vivien Leigh was the perfect Scarlett and I could not consider anyone but Clark Gable as Rhett.
Here are a few interesting facts about Vivien Leigh:
1. She was British and born in Darjeeling, India in 1913 and died in 1967 at the age of 53.
2. Her name was Vivian Holman and she changed it to Vivien Leigh to please her agent, who wanted her to change her name to April Morn.
3. Vivien Leigh and Lawrence Olivier met and fell in love while filming Fire Over England in 1937. They were both married and continued their affair until their respective spouses granted them a divorce. They were married in 1940. Katharine Hepburn was one of two witnesses.
3. Vivien Leigh was 25 when she filmed Gone With The Wind and the woman who played her mother was 28.
5. Vivien Leigh won 2 Oscars - both for paying the part of Southern Belles: for Scarlett O'Hara and Blanche DuBoise in a Streetcar Named Desire. Blanche DuBoise was her favorite role. (I guess I gave you two for one there!)
6. Leigh and Olivier divorced in 1960.
7. Leigh suffered from Bi-polar disorder for years.
8. Vivien Leigh was regarded as one of the most beautiful actresses of her time and most believed she was not taken seriously as an actress because of her beauty.
9. Tuberculosis, from which Leigh had also suffered for years, was the ultimate cause of her death.
10. She starred in a movie called Waterloo Bridge, it is the saddest movie I have ever seen, don't see it.
4 comments:
Those are really interesting facts a about Vivian Leigh. And I think I will take your advice about not seeing Waterloo Bridge, thank you very much!
Take care there...
Rainey
I run a facebook page called GWTWshowtimes and I'm always searching out information on GWTW just to make sure I don't miss a showing somewhere. I found your blog tonight on my regular GWTW search around the internet. I'm glad you are reading GWTW again. However, I must beg to differ with you regarding Waterloo Bridge. It is a sad film but there are some wonderful scenes in it including the candelight club, the kiss in the rain, and more. Vivien gives a really nice performance in this film and she remarked in several places that this was her favorite film that she did. Waterloo Bridge is my third favorite with GWTW first and "That Hamilton Woman" as second.
Thanks for writing about GWTW and letting me put my opinion here on Waterloo Bridge!
Hi Angela,
Waterloo Bridge sucked me in and there are some great scenes, but one bad thing after another happens and the ending is not a good payoff for sitting through all the agony she goes through. I didn't like Sophie's choice either. I like a happy ending, what can I say!
Hi there! I just ran across your blog from Anita's at Far Above Rubies. I have to say when I say the picture of Rhett and Scarlett, I had to check it out! I am a Gone with the Wind junkie! Great post! I do think she is one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen. This is a sad, but true fact. When I was just a kid, I would tape my nose down at night because I just knew it would grow to be tiny and straight like Vivien Leigh's! Didn't work... still a pug! Oh well!
If you think Waterloo Bridge is bad, do not watch The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle. It is a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movie, but the ending... let's just say my husband had tears in his eyes, but wouldn't admit to it!
So nice to come across your blog!
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