Apart from her looks, which were magical, she possessed beautiful poise... She
also had something else: an attraction of the most perturbing nature I had ever
encountered
"- Laurence Olivier, recalling Vivien Leigh in 1982.
Vivien Leigh loved clothes and jewellery, and was not afraid to mix historic jewels with contemporary couture, seen in the picture above in 1951. The picture is taken after the work with Tennessee Williams.
She wore a antique necklace of diamonds styled with leaves and flowers, oldminediamonds are setted on swags. Probably a gift from her husband Laurence Olivier 1940-1961.
She ownes a collection of antique jewellery, brooches, a large seldom cameo, rings and she had collected old small lady watches.
Her predilection for fashion was established early in her career when she modelled a magenta evening gown with turquoise tulle by Victor Stiebel for British Vogue in 1937. She remained lifelong friends with Stiebel.
Tennessee Williams, the creator of Blanche DuBois, considered Vivien the perfect choice for the role of his vulnerable Southern belle in A Streetcar Named Desire and the “Blanche I had always dreamed of”.
The pair hit it off instantly, becoming as ‘thick as thieves’; Williams felt that Vivien understood him and wondered whether “she realised that I lived with the same nervous torment”.
After Vivien and Marlon Brando’s acclaimed performances of the play on stage in London and New York respectively, they were chosen to star in the 1951 film adaptation. Vivien’s performance was to earn her a second Oscar as best actress.
She had found the role of Blanche DuBois more demanding than Scarlett O’Hara: “I had nine months in the theatre of Blanche DuBois. Now she’s in command of me in Hollywood. ” The film’s director, Elia Kazan recognised in Vivien “ the greatest determination to excel of any actress I’ve ever known. She’d have crawled over broken glass if she thought it would help her performans.
Leigh's fee of $100,000 for A Streetcar Named Desire made her the highest paid British actress in 1951; her costar,Marlon Brando, was paid $75,000 for his role as Stanley.
Leigh and Olivier remained married for 20 years before divorcing in 1960. Leigh died in 1967 and Olivier died in 1989.
In the 1948 Notley Abbey Inventory (The Vivien Leigh Archive, Victoria & Albert Museum, London THM/433/6/1) there is a vitrine cabinet and a collection of thirteen watches listed, many are gem-set and enamel and most are antique (op. cit, p. 18-20).
Vivien was a collector of fine, jewelled watches. The collection was diminished, possibly as a result of two burglaries and a further infamous incident in the April of 1960. Joan Fontaine and Vivien swapped apartments in London and New York and the actresses tenure in each others home did not end well.
Joan Fontaine was to write, (No Bed of Roses, New York, 1978) 'It seems she had an étagère filled with valuable watches that Laurence Olivier had given her. When I arrived at Eaton Square, I had had the housekeeper put away anything of value. I never saw the watches, but now they were missing ... Despite the fact that I never received a report from the F.B.I., or from Vivien, as to whether they were found or not, a New York columnist printed that I had stolen the valuable timepieces'.
A similar diamond necklace and choker was earlier in the possession of the Viscountess Galway.
The fine jewel necklace was offered at the Basel Fair in 2017.
Quellen:Sotheby's ; U.Butschal;Joan Fontaine No Bed of Roses, New York, 1978
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