On the occasion of the arrival of Hollywood stars, a special issue of the “Film” magazine was released. The front cover featured a photograph of the actors taken by Angus McBean and the framed inscription “Welcome Sir Laurence and Lady Olivier” below the newspaper’s logo. At the bottom of the page there was also a note on a white stripe: “Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh – a married couple of world-renowned artists of the English stage and film come to Warsaw for guest performances. We welcome them with all our hearts.”
Vivien Leigh’s visit to Warsaw was an event
Vivien Leigh and Sir Laurence Olivier came to Warsaw with The Shakespeare Memorial Theater troupe from Stratford-upon-Avon and played “Tytus Andronicus” three times on the stage of the Polish Theatre. The famous couple of Oscar-winning actors lived nearby, in the Hotel Europejski at Krakowskie Przedmieście.
Maria Gordon-Smith, wife of Alfred Szyfman, who was then the director of Teatr Polski, devoted a lot of pages to her book “In the Labyrinth of Arnold Szyfman’s Theatre” to report on the visit of famous actors to Poland. The plane that brought Vivien Leigh and Sir Laurence Olivier and the rest of the theater crew to Warsaw landed at Okęcie on June 18, 1957. On the same evening, the actors performed their performance for the first time, and the gathered audience was delighted with their performance. Laurence Olivier also prepared a nice surprise for the Polish audience. After the performance, he bowed and said in Polish:
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for your warm welcome. We are happy to be with you and give you the love of our country.
Vivien Leigh and Sir Lawrence Oliver photo movie. No. 24 (445), June 16, 1957 via Antiquarian Grochowski
After the Polish premiere of the play, there was an official reception with the participation of stars at the Europejski Hotel. Vivien Leigh was the soul of the party – as it turned out years later, the actress suffered from bipolar disorder and her visit to Poland was a phase of positive stimulation. Sir Lawrence Olivier, on the other hand, was not in the mood for social pleasantries and, having finished his supper, returned to his room. At that time, the marriage was going through a serious crisis precisely because of Vivian’s illness, which, to make matters worse, also had a problem with alcohol. A year later there was a divorce.
Łapicki bit Vivien Leigh on the toe
On June 18, 1957, Vivian Leigh decided to party until dawn with Polish actors. One of the people present in the room was Andrzej Łapicki, who was particularly charmed by the Hollywood star. As soon as her husband left the room, he asked Scarlett O’Hara to dance. He was very impressed by her and wanted to express his admiration in a special way. “He made her especially happy when he fell to his knees in the middle of the dance floor and lightly bit her big toe peeking out of an open golden sandal!” – Maria Gordon-Smith described the incident.
Andrzej Łapicki in his last interview with “Gazeta Wyborcza” (when asked if it was true, he mysteriously replied: “Maybe I bit.” It is known that he actually decided to show Leiog the charms of Warsaw and visited, among others, the famous Crocodile. The actor he never went into the details of that night, but in an interview with “Wyborcza” he recalled: “Lawrence Olivier (…) treated her terribly. And she sought redress elsewhere. I knew she liked to drink, so I suggested: let’s go to Poland “She says with pleasure. And off we went. We danced.”
He admitted that the star of “Gone with the Wind” impressed him very much, so that’s where the whole story with biting came from. This is how she recalls saying goodbye to the stars: “The next day Olivier and Leigh were flying away. It was terribly hot. Okecie was then a kind of barn. We were waiting together for their private plane in the buffet. Half of Stalinism, tables covered with newspapers. She says that something she drank it. I jumped to the buffet, I asked if she had any cold vodka. She said: “Cold?! Sir! Do you want a sore throat?!” delighted, she drank it all! Olivier just stared furiously. At some point the pilot came to inform me that the plane was ready. Olivier beamed, leaned over to me and said: – Look how beautiful his teeth are!
Vivien Leigh won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role in 1939 for her role in Gone with the Wind. She received the same award for her performance in the film adaptation of the play “A Streetcar Named Desire” in 1951 – the creation brought her i.a. also BAFTA and Golden Globe. The actress struggled with manic-depressive psychosis for years, which she hid from the world for a long time. She divorced her second husband, Sir Lawrence Olivier, on December 3, 1960. For the rest of her life, she was in a relationship with Jack Merivale, who took care of her until the very end. Unfortunately, the star died prematurely on the night of July 7-8, 1967 as a result of a recurrence of tuberculosis. She was only 54 years old.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
