Five words in Leigh’s diary that sparked Olivier liaison
IT WAS one of the most famous marriages in Hollywood history, as Vivien Leigh and Sir Laurence Olivier left their respective spouses for true love.
Not that anyone would notice from the pages of Leigh’s diary.
The actress recorded the moment she broke the news that she was leaving her husband and running away with Olivier in just five words: “Told Leigh,” and “Left with Larry.”
The entries are two of hundreds of items in an appointment diary which details the extraordinary life of the film star, after she was catapulted to fame and fortune.
Others disclose how she broke her own vow to stay away from Olivier as the lovers tried to mend their respective marriages, sneaking in to watch him on stage in Hamlet.
The Smythson book is one of a collection of items belonging to Leigh to be sold at auction by Sotheby’s, giving an insight into her personal and professional life.
The diary, which spans from 1937-39, includes notes about winning her most famous role in Gone With the Wind, meetings with her rich and famous friends, and travelling on the Orient Express.
Seen in public for the first time, it has now allowed experts to piece together biographies of the actress with a blowby-blow account of each day of her life in her mid-20s.
The diary begins in 1937, following an affair between Leigh and Olivier as they were trying to live apart and reconcile with their respective spouses.
It shows how Leigh instead made regular visits to see Olivier in Hamlet, spent time socially with him and his wife, Jill, and eventually travelled to Denmark with both of them as part of the Old Vic theatre company.
On June 10, her notes for the day read: “Told Leigh.” On June 16, she records: “Left with Larry.”
The diary has come to auction after the death of Leigh’s only daughter in 2015. It will be sold by Sotheby’s London on Sept 26 with an estimate of £2,000-3,000.
IVANKA TRUMP has reportedly been dubbed “the Princess Royal” by her enemies within the White House.
Unnamed figures have revealed frustrations with the president’s daughter and her husband, Jared Kushner, and accuse them of “thinking they’re special”.
The knives came out for the power couple in a cutting profile published by Vanity Fair, the American culture and society magazine, which canvassed administration insiders and friends of the Kushners.
One former Trump adviser told the magazine: “Excuse me, this is not a royal family, and she’s not the Princess Royal.”
Another insider added: “What is offputting about them is they do not grasp their essential irrelevance. They think they are special.”
Miss Trump and Mr Kushner, who are both senior advisers to the president, were accused by enemies of lacking “self-awareness” in dealings with politicians.
The Washington elite was said to have successfully “repelled” them as they tried to make an impact.
A friend also told Vanity Fair life in the political maelstrom “punctures their self-esteem on a daily basis”.
The extraordinary picture of a power couple unhappy and under vicious attack followed a widespread backlash from many who had seen them as a potential restraining influence on Mr Trump.
Friends of Miss Trump said she had felt hurt by criticism of her inability to dissuade her father from taking action, such as pulling the US out of the Paris climate accord.
Mr Kushner, who advises his fatherin-law on issues including the Middle East, was criticised by unnamed sources for a perceived lack of experience.
Within the White House some other advisers were said to have been piqued when Miss Trump was assigned to temporarily take her father’s seat next to Theresa May at the G20 summit in Hamburg in July.
She also sat in on a meeting between her father and Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister, during the transition period before he took up residence in the White House.
Mr Trump himself has previously sought to insulate his daughter from attacks, saying: “If she weren’t my daughter it would be so much easier for her. It might be the only bad thing she has going, if you want to know the truth.”
Friends of the couple told Vanity Fair they feel their time in Washington so far has been “sacrificial”.
Rumours have been rife that, amid an apparent inability to influence Mr Trump on major issues, they may ultimately leave the administration.
Mr Trump was said to be “emotionally dependent” on them but less so in formulating policy.
One strategist suggested to the magazine that the couple, who have three children, may leave Washington at the end of the 2018 school year.
The couple own a $5.5million home in the capital’s Kalorama neighbourhood, around the corner from Barack and Michelle Obama, after moving from New York to take up the senior government roles.
A Republican donor close to the couple said: “When they decide it’s more important to protect their own and their children’s reputations than it is to defend [Mr Trump’s], that’s a sign the end is near.”
Miss Trump has previously indicated she was shocked by the viciousness in Washington. In June she said: “It is hard and there is a level of viciousness that I was not expecting.”
The couple previously had constant access to the president but are now subject to a system imposed by John Kelly, the new chief of staff.
Mr Kushner has found himself thrust into the spotlight after it emerged he attended a meeting with a Russian lawyer, alongside Donald Trump Jr, during the election campaign.