Authors: Philip Ziegler

Olivier (67 page)

BOOK: Olivier

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29
M.A. tapes 57; D.G. tapes, interview with Boddington; Tynan,
Diaries
, p. 119.

30
Tynan,
Diaries
, p. 160; Atkins to L.O., 1/3/73, Add Mss 79766; M.A. tapes 57.

31
Grainger,
The Independent
, 18/5/07.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

1
Hall,
Diaries
, p. 31.

2
Hall,
Diaries
, p. 110.

3
Hall,
Diaries
, pp. 46 and 74; Interview with J.P.

4
Hall,
Diaries
, pp. 75, 233–4 and 243; O’Connor,
Richardson
, p. 206.

5
L.O. to Robert Flemyng, 29/11/77, Add Mss 79910;
Stage and Television Today
, 18/12/77; Andrew Denham and Mark Garnett,
Keith Joseph
(Chesham: Acumen, 2002), p. 268; Interview with J.P.

6
L.O. to
The Times
, 21/5/73; L.O. to Rosemary Winckley, undated, Winckley to L.O., 3/10/74, Add Mss 79792.

7
L.O. to Hall, 4/11/74, Add Mss 80361; M.A. tapes 53; Hall,
Diaries
, p. 150.

8
Gielgud,
Letters
, p. 422; Hall to L.O., 7/10/75, L.O. to Hall, 17/10/75, Add Mss 80361.

9
Hall,
Diaries
, pp. 58, 34 and 40.

10
Eyre,
Talking Theatre
, p. 50; Hall to L.O., 17/5/76, L.O. to Hall, 20/5/76, Add Mss 80361; Tynan,
Diaries
, pp. 190 and 384.

11
Hall,
Diaries
, pp. 264 and 266; Tynan,
Diaries
, p. 384.

12
M.A. tapes 3; L.O. to Rayne, 6/9/74, Add Mss 80356; L.O. to Hall, 8/7/75, Add Mss 80361.

13
L.O. to Weidenfeld, 27/2/81, Add Mss 80579;
Confessions
, p. 323; D.G. tapes, interview with Alan Davis.

14
Munn,
Lord Larry
, p. 240;
Confessions
, p. 329; D.G. to Tynan, undated, Add Mss 87804.

15
D.G. tapes, interview with Peter Sallis.

16
D.G. tapes, interview with John Schlesinger.

17
William Goldman,
Adventures in the Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood and Screenwriting
(London: Macdonald, 1984), p. 246.

18
Spoto,
Olivier
, p. 328.

19
L.O. to Cukor, 17/9/75, Add Mss 79768; Munn,
Lord Larry
, p. 242; D.G. tapes, interview with John Schlesinger.

20
Goldman,
Adventures in the Screen Trade,
p. 248; Hall,
Diaries
, p. 274;
On Acting
, p. 225.

21
M.A. tapes 7.

22
Walton,
Letters,
p. 451; L.O. to T.O., 22/10/78, Add Mss 88951/1/2; Tynan,
Diaries
, p. 384; Michael Palin,
Halfway to Hollywood: Diaries 1980–1988
(London:Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2009), p. 144.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

1
L.O. to Darleen Rubin, 29/9/79, Add Mss 79867A;
On Acting
, p. 225.

2
Interview with R.O.; Tamsin Olivier to L.O., 4/3/80, Add Mss 79889.

3
Interview with D.G.; J.E. to T.O., 22/3/78, Add Mss 88951/2/1.

4
T.O.,
So Who’s Your Mother?
, p. 158; L.O. to Hiley, 25/6/79, P.H. papers;
On Acting
, pp. 242–3.

5
L.O. to Drake, 5/10/77, Add Mss 79770.

6
Interviews with J.P. and Laurence Harbottle.

7
M.A. tapes 8; Spoto,
Olivier
, pp. 334–5.

8
Sarah Miles,
Bolt from the Blue
(London: Orion, 1996), pp. 74, 88, 95 and 100.

9
Tynan,
Diaries
, pp. 224–5; Fairbanks to L.O., 25/6/82, Add Mss 79771.

10
Stephens,
Sunday Times
, 18/7/10; Interview with Hugh Whitemore; M.A. tapes 4.

11
M.A. tapes 9.

12
Peck to L.O., 13/8/79, Add Mss 79777; M.A. tapes 5;
Newsweek
,
cit.
Coleman,
Olivier
, p. 448.

13
M.A. tapes 5 and 20; Croall,
Gielgud
, p. 486; Flemyng to L.O., 5/3/82, Add Mss 79771.

14
Croall,
Gielgud
, pp. 507–8.

15
J.P.,
And That’s Not All
, p. 245; D.G. tapes, interview with Peter Sallis; D.G. tapes, interview with John Hurt;
Olivier at Work
, p. 8.

16
J.P.,
And That’s Not All
, p. 245; Plummer,
In Spite of Myself
, p. 599; Interview with George Hall.

17
L.O. to Donald Hall, 8/8/59, Add Mss 79897.

18
Tynan,
Letters
, pp. 591, 622, 625 and 631–2.

19
Kathleen Tynan,
Tynan
, p. 396; Miles,
Serves Me Right
, pp. 114–15. Hall,
Diaries
, p. 425 and 442; Tynan,
Letters
, pp. 631–2; L.O. to John Cottrell, 21/5/79, Add Mss 80590.

20
Hamilton to L.O., Easter 1974, Add Mss 79772; L.O. to J.E., 5/12/74, T.O. papers; Evans to L.O., 28/11/80, Add Mss 80579.

21
Interview with M.A.

22
Interview with M.A.; L.O. to Drake, 2/3/81 and 2/4/81, Add Mss 79770.

23
L.O. to Weidenfeld, 20/4/82 and 30/4/82, Add Mss 80579.

24
Billington,
Observer
, 17/10/82; Pickup to L.O., 6/12/82, Add Mss 79777; T.O.,
My Father
, p. 253; Croall,
Gielgud
, p. 518; Rayne,
Sunday Telegraph
, 3/10/82.

25
Raine,
London Review of Books
, 4/2/83; Carey,
Sunday Times
, 17/10/82.

26
Note by Furse, P.H. papers; D.G. tapes, interviews with Mills and Havelock-Allan; Burton,
Diaries,
p. 636; L.O. to Richardson, undated, Add Mss 82045.

27
J.P.,
And That’s Not All
, p. 269.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

1
D.G. tapes, interview with Mills.

2
Gielgud,
Letters
, p. 418; Sheridan Morley,
Our Theatres in the Eighties
(London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1990), pp. 135–6; Williams,
Diaries
, p. 764.

3
Shirley Luke to Gawn Grainger, 12/7/85, Add Mss 80589.

4
Niven to L.O., 14/4/82, Add Mss 79776; D.G. tapes, interview with Burton.

5
R.O.,
Stone Heart
, pp. 3 and 153;
Daily Mirror,
10/9/83; M.A. tapes 57.

6
Interview with Tom Stoppard; Eyre,
Utopia
, pp. 117–18.

7
Interview with Desmond Biddulph.

8
Interview with D.G.; Sheila Allen to J.P., 16/3/90, Add Mss 79883; Interview with J.P.

9
Piers Paul Read,
Alec Guinness: The Authorised Biography
(London: Simon & Schuster, 2003), pp. 567–8; Guinness to L.O., 11/12/83, Add Mss 79772.

10
Blakelock,
Round the Next Corner
, p. 54; Huggett,
Beaumont,
p. 275; Adrian in
Olivier
, ed. Gourlay, p. 41; L.O. to Hencher, 25/11/63, Add Mss 79935; Interview with R.O.

11
Add Mss 79868; Interview with Ronald Harwood.

12
Interviews with Blakemore and Grainger; Brandreth,
Gielgud
, p. 153.

13
R.O.,
Stone Heart
, p. 9; D.G. tapes, interview with Jayston.

14
D.G. tapes, interview with Harris; Dexter,
Honourable Beast
, p. 286.

15
Croall,
Gielgud
, p. 530; Gielgud,
Letters
, p. 473.

Acknowledgements

My first acknowledgement must go to Laurence Olivier’s widow, Joan Plowright. Without her support I would have never have undertaken this book. She has been unfailingly helpful, has shown me papers not previously made available to researchers, has not hesitated to point out when she disagrees with my interpretation of events, but has never sought to impose her view. Biographers traditionally shudder when confronted by the widow or widower of their subject; I have only had reason to rejoice in the existence of mine.

Tarquin Olivier, Laurence Olivier’s son by his first wife, Jill Esmond, has been similarly helpful. His advice has been invaluable and he has kindly made available to me a highly important cache of papers, particularly rich in letters between his father and mother. Laurence Olivier’s three children by Joan Plowright – Richard, Tamsin and Julie Kate – have been equally tolerant of what they must have considered with some gloom, as yet one more book about their father. Richard Olivier’s
Shadow of the Stone Heart
provided some perceptive insights into his father’s personality and relationship with his children.

Mark Amory interviewed Laurence Olivier for many weeks in preparatory work for Olivier’s autobiography. More than fifty hours of these interviews survive on tape and he has most kindly let me listen to them. Day after day I have had Olivier in my study, speaking with sometimes alarming candour about every aspect of his life and career. My biography has been immeasurably enriched as a result.

Derek Granger for a long time worked on what was to be Laurence Olivier’s official biography. His personal recollections of Olivier have been of great interest and he has allowed me access to his treasure trove of manuscript material, much of it unavailable elsewhere. Even more important, he has let me listen to the tapes of the interviews which he conducted while working on the book; many of which, for
a variety of reason, I would have been unable to repeat.

Hugo Vickers has written by far the most substantial biography of Vivien Leigh. He is a researcher of immense resourcefulness and has accumulated a highly important archive of unpublished material. It is my good fortune that his skill in the accumulation of material is matched by his generosity in sharing it with others.

The late Peter Hiley for many years worked closely with Laurence Olivier. I much wish that I had been in time to speak with him. I am most grateful to his son, Will Hiley, for allowing me to study the important collection of papers that he has inherited.

Michael Reddington, who as a young actor went with the Oliviers to Australasia in 1948, has allowed me to read the letters which he wrote home to his parents during the tour.

Ronald Harwood did me the signal kindness of reading this book in draft so as to pick up the errors and omissions that I feared my lack of theatrical background might have caused. Those that remain are, of course, entirely my responsibility.

Maggie Smith was kind enough to read the many passages in my book in which she featured. Generally she accepted them; though with the caveat that her final relationship with Olivier was more friendly than the record of her many clashes with him might have suggested was the case. Peter O’Toole also read the extracts in which he featured. He considered that they gave “an entirely false account of what actually happened” but did not feel disposed to divulge in what way they differed from his own recollections.

All biographers must owe a debt to those who have worked in the field before them. Nearly every book about Olivier contains at least one nugget of information which I would not have been able to obtain from other sources. The most considerable of previous biographies is that by Terry Coleman. I have benefited signally from his labours.

Archivists and keepers of public papers are nearly always helpful in their advice and generous in the time that they spare researchers. Kathryn Johnson of the British Library has far exceeded what might
have been expected of her: her contribution to this book has been of inestimable importance. Gavin Clarke of the National Theatre Archive was similarly helpful.

My old friend and publisher, Christopher MacLehose, has been indefatigable in his efforts to improve my text. He is a great editor; if his handwriting was as clear as his mind he would be the perfect one. To him, to his assistant, Paul Engles, and to the copy-editor, Nick de Somogyi, my obligation is enormous.

Many others have in one way or another contributed to my work: notably Desmond Biddulph, Michael Blakemore, Roger Braban, Simon Callow, Frank Dunlop, Mary Evans, Suzanne Farrington, Trader Faulkner, Frank Finlay, Patrick Garland, William Gaskill, Gawn Grainger, George Hall, Peter Hall, Laurence Harbottle, Rohan McCullough, Sarah Miles, Jonathan Miller, Ronald Pickup, Tom Stoppard, John Ure, Moray Watson, Hugh Whitemore and Joan Winterkorn. The list is not complete. There has been a sad breakdown in my filing system. I hope that anyone whose name I have omitted will forgive my incompetence.

Picture Credits

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 14, 18, 19, 20, 23, 25, 33: The British Library Archive

12, 13, 15, 16, 32, 35, 36, 43, 44, 45: Angus McBean Photographs (M.S. Thr 581).

27, 57, 58: Joan Plowright