AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER
When Gone with the Wind went into production in 1939, the story of Scarlett O’Hara and her numerous suitors had tongues wagging – but that was nothing compared to the scandalous affair Leigh was enjoying off set with actor Laurence Olivier. The two first met after Leigh’s on-stage performance in The Mask of Virtue in London in 1936. While Olivier was married to fellow actress Jill Esmond and Leigh was also married with a child at the time, the two quickly fell in love and embarked on a torrid affair.
The relationship flourished during the filming of Gone with the Wind, which saw disapproving Hollywood executives watch on in fear of the many scandals that could negatively impact the movies both actors were involved in at the time.
In the book Lord Larry: A Personal Portrait of Laurence Olivier, Olivier spoke of the relationship and the subsequent guilt he felt for being unfaithful to his former wife. “I couldn’t help myself with Vivien. No man could,” he said. “I hated myself for cheating on Jill, but then I had cheated before, but this was something different. This wasn’t just out of lust. This was love that I really didn’t ask for but was drawn into.”
Madly in love, Leigh went on to win an Academy Award for her role as Scarlett O’Hara. But it wasn’t until Leigh and Olivier were both granted divorces from their partners back in England that the couple could finally go public with their relationship.
In one of hundreds of passionate letters exchanged between the two, Olivier wrote of his overwhelming desire to be with Leigh. “If we loved each other only with our bodies I suppose it would be alright,” he said. “I love you with much more than that. I love you with, oh everything somehow, with a special kind of soul.”
In 1940, the couple tied the knot in California, but the marriage was plagued with issues following Leigh’s subsequent mental-health issues and Olivier’s wandering eye. The couple divorced in 1960 with Leigh never quite recovering from the news of Olivier’s cheating.