Showing posts with label Picturegoer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Picturegoer. Show all posts

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Twenty Questions Vivien Answers Herself

Picturegoer, November 26, 1955


You might say I'd brought it on myself. It all began when I criticized Vivien Leigh (Picturegoer, September 10) for her descent into The Deep Blue Sea, writes Margaret Hinxman.

The comments from readers about that were so various and positive that I thought this surely was the moment for a searching interview with the lady whose recent silence had caused such speculation.

So why not, I suggested in a letter to her, give me an interview and help set the score straight? There were many questions I wanted to ask on behalf of Picturegoer readers.

Her reply was brisk and to the point: Miss Leigh would be pleased to see me for fifteen minutes between performances at Stratford-on-Avon.

They were fifteen minutes I shan't easily forget. I hadn't thought that such a tiny woman could be so awe-inspiring. On the dot I was ushered into her presence.

Trim and self-possessed under vivid stage make-up, she parried some questions, enlarged on others and quite bluntly answered the rest.

She was unfailingly charming. In between times, she toyed with a cigarette, signed autographs, accepted a gift from a Swiss "fan."

And here are the replies she gave to the questions everyone is asking about Vivien Leigh:

Question: For choice, would you prefer now to concentrate on the stage or the screen?
Vivien Leigh: I honestly don't mind. Both are exciting. I love my profession in any form.

Future Plans
Q: It's been reported that you will go to Hollywood to appear in "Anastasia." True?
VL: No. You don't want to believe all you read. I've no immediate plans to film in Hollywood. Of course, we have an interest in the play "Anastasia"; we put it on in London.

Q: What other plans have you for the future?
VL: Two months' rest after the Stratford season (now finishing). I haven't had a break since I started The Deep Blue Sea.

Q: I understand that you've been looking for a good comedy in which to appear. What luck have you had?
VL: I'm always looking for comedies, but they're very difficult to find. When a good part -drama or comedy- comes along, I take it.

Favorite Roles
Q: Do you find it easier playing comedy?
VL: Not particularly. None of it is easy. It's all very difficult. Acting is difficult. That is what makes it so interesting.

Q: What do you most like playing on the screen?
VL: I like to do roles I've played on the stage. I find it helps a great deal with my interpretation on the screen.

Q: Did you enjoy making "The Deep Blue Sea"?
VL: Very much. Although I would have liked to have had more time-- but the Stratford season forced us to a deadline date.

Q: Were you satisfied with the film? Do you think it could have been a better picture?
VL: I thought it was very good. But I wasn't very happy about the flashbacks. I felt the picture should have retained the claustrophobic, intimate quality of the play.

Q: Were you happy working with Anatole Litvah?
VL: He's a fine director. Very understanding and very patient.

Q: What in your opinion are the mistakes you have made in your career?
VL: That's a difficult question. I can't think of any just now. Everything helps to give you some kind of experience in your work.

Q: What in your opinion are the wisest moves you have made?
VL: Shakespeare. It's the most sensible thing any actor could do. This season I think "Titus Andronicus" is my favorite play.

"He's Helped Me"
Q: Some critics have suggested that Sir Laurence has, in a sense, been the power behind many of your stage performances. Do you agree?
VL: Of course. He's helped me enormously. That's quite natural, isn't it?

Q: Do you think that on the stage sometimes he tries to angle the spotlight on to you rather than himself?
VL: I don't understand you. But if you mean: "Does he concentrate on my performance rather than his own?", of course not.

Q: Is he a very exacting person, professionally, to work with?
VL: We're both very exacting people. We both work tremendously hard.

Q: Why do you choose to play these great tragic roles?
VL: I think I've answered that in replying to your fourth question.

Q: Do you feel as a personality that you are right for them?
VL: I'm never satisfied with my performances, but I'm an actress. An actress should play anything she considers worthwhile.

Q: What is your reaction to press criticism? Do you think a lot of it is unfair?
VL: I dislike generalizations. I think a lot of it is thoughtless. After all, an actor lives with a part for months before the critics see it.

Business Brain?
Q: In what way, do you think some criticism is thoughtless?
VL: I think very often an actor is credited with faults in a performance that aren't due to him at all.

Q: It has been said that you have a very shrewd business brain. Do you think this is true?
VL: No, it's not true at all. I'm not particularly interested in the financial side of this profession.

Q: Do you think that, as an actress, you drive yourself too hard?
VL: All actresses are inclined to do that. I don't think I do, any more than any other true artist. The theatre is a very exacting profession.