Walk On The Wild Side

Dana Andrews, Vivien Leigh and Peter Finch prepare to leave London to film on location in Ceylon, January 26, 1953

"Vivien Leigh is in Hollywood to complete her role in Elephant Walk, for which exteriors were filmed in Ceylon. When I saw her on the set, she was happily poring over a 10-page handwritten letter from her husband, Laurence Olivier..." -- Bob Thomas' column, March 6, 1953

"Vivien Leigh is dropping out of the movie Elephant Walk, and will return to England...Her studio said yesterday she was quitting the picture because of an acute nervous breakdown." -- Associated Press, March 18, 1953

Covered by a sheet, Vivien Leigh is carried aboard a plane on a stretcher, following her breakdown in Los Angeles, March 18, 1953

"If you want to take pictures of Miss Leigh, please don't get too close to her. I would appreciate it if none of you attempted to question her. She is ill. She might get frightened." -- Laurence Olivier to the assemblage of press meeting their airplane, March 19, 1953

"Screen star Vivien Leigh, hysterical when she boarded a plane in New York yesterday, stepped blithely out of it today, smiling happily...Somewhere over the Atlantic, she had made a remarkable -- if only temporary -- recovery from a nervous breakdown...Weeping hysterically, Miss Leigh had been put on the plane in New York's Idewild International Airport yesterday by Laurence Olivier and their friend, Danny Kaye..." -- Robert Musel for the United Press, March 20, 1953

Original wire photo caption: "3/19/53...Smiling, though obviously ill, actress Vivien Leigh is pictured with husband Sir Laurence Olivier on arrival in New York today from Los Angeles, en route to London. Suffering from a 'complete nervous breakdown,' the actress was carried into her plane last night on a stretcher."

"There will be two stars playing the same role now that Liz Taylor is in and Vivien Leigh is out of Elephant Walk...The studio will use many of Vivien's long shots, filmed in India." -- Erskine Johnson's column, March 31, 1953

"Elizabeth Taylor's poodle haircut was a real headache when she suddenly replaced Vivien Leigh in Elephant Walk. She had to have longer locks to match up with the Ceylon long shots of Vivien. She'll virtually be wearing a wig. Also, she is heavier than Vivien..." -- Harrison Carroll's column, March 31, 1953

"Elizabeth Taylor, according to producer Irving Ascher, is just right in all three dimensions -- bust, waist and hips -- for the camera in Elephant Walk. She has lost 30 pounds..." -- Erskine Johnson's column, May 9, 1953

Elizabeth Taylor in Elephant Walk (Paramount, 1954)

"If bad beginnings make for good endings, Elephant Walk should be the best picture of all time. Elizabeth Taylor has just one more day of shooting to finish, but the doctors don't know when she will be able to leave the hospital. The bit of flint that lodged in her eye during a storm scene on the set was rusty. The injury is not only very painful, but her face is badly swollen." -- Louella Parsons' column, May 14, 1953

"Elizabeth Taylor, recovered from an eye operation, revealed today she nearly lost the sight of one of her famous orbs...'You can still see the sear -- a fraction from the retina. If it had been a hair's width to the right, I wouldn't be able to see.'" -- Aline Mosby's column, June 5, 1953

Elizabeth Taylor in Elephant Walk (Paramount, 1954)

"You mustn't blame the elephants...I hope Elizabeth Taylor is very good in the part." -- Vivien Leigh to the United Press, July 18, 1953

Elizabeth Taylor in Elephant Walk (Paramount, 1954)

That Boy John

Three of our favorite films when we were growing up were Imitation of Life (1959), Back Street (1961), and Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967) -- which, incidentally, explains a lot about us. There were several connecting threads to these movies: lavish Ross Hunter productions all, they also featured stunning Jean Louis costumes; more gay icons than you could shake a David Webb choker at; and all of them co-starred one of our first adolescent crushes, the impossibly handsome John Gavin.

With Lana Turner in Imitation of Life (Universal, 1959)

With Susan Hayward in Back Street (Universal, 1961)

With Mary Tyler Moore in Thoroughly Modern Millie (Universal, 1967)

 Although he never became a superstar, for a few short years, John Gavin was keeping some pretty impressive company: in 1960 alone, he appeared in two certified classics, Psycho and Spartacus. The common theme for these two, happily, was that our man Gavin spent a good deal of time shirtless in both.

With Janet Leigh in Psycho (Paramount, 1960)

With Laurence Olivier in Spartacus (Universal, 1960)

Often derided for being understated to the point of being wooden, Gavin could rise to the occasion when given proper direction and good material (surely, Hitchcock and Kubrick must have seen something in him, besides his flawless chest); and he proved that he had a healthy sense of humor about his square-jawed image, spoofing it with impressive comic timing in Millie. It's undeniable that he's not at his best in Imitation or Back Street; in all fairness, although he's ostensibly the male lead in both, they're really Enormous Star Vehicles for Lana Turner and Susan Hayward and their wardrobes -- you try to be 100% effective when sharing the screen with Susan Hayward's sable-trimmed cuffs, and see how well you make out. Personally, we think Gavin's best acting was in an episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour entitled "Run for Doom." Pitted against Britain's blowzy blonde bombshell, the splendiferously trashy Diana Dors, and playing against type as a naive cuckold, Gavin acquitted himself admirably with a tense, nervous performance.

So, here's to John Gavin: one of the handsomest men to ever grace the silver and small screens; former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico; a would-have-been James Bond; and an all around class act. We here at SSUWAT salute you!

JOHN GAVIN
April 8, 1931

And So it Goes

with Laurence Olivier in Rebecca (Selznick International, 1940)

with Cary Grant in Suspicion (1941, RKO)

with Tyrone Power in This Above All (1942, 20th Century Fox)

with Charles Boyer in The Constant Nymph (1943, Warner Bros.)

with Louis Jourdan in Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948, Universal)

with Gavin MacLeod in The Love Boat (1981)

Three's a Crowd...

...Talu's a party!

The Voices in Her Head

Swanson Sings! And Larry Olivier squirms.

Smooth Operator

One of our favorites: the heart-stoppingly handsome John Gavin. Often dismissed as cardboard or wooden, we think he's underrated; good-looking as he was, we're sure Kubrick and Hitchcock wouldn't have cast him in Spartacus or Psycho (both 1960) if they didn't think he could bring something to the table besides an utterly fabulous chest. Although, frankly, that would be enough for us.



Equally at home in the glossy environs of Imitation of Life (1959) and Back Street (1961) as he was on the dusty trails of his Western TV series, Destry (1964), Gavin also proved he could ably spoof his square-jawed matinee idol image in Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967) -- unlike Hitch or Kubrick, we think it's a fairly safe bet that Ross Hunter, who cast Gavin in five films (including the three mentioned above) was undoubtedly smitten.

JOHN GAVIN'S QUINTET OF ROSS HUNTER PRODUCTIONS, FROM TOP: IMITATION OF LIFE (1959) WITH LANA TURNER; MIDNIGHT LACE (1960) WITH DORIS DAY; TAMMY TELL ME TRUE (1961) WITH SANDRA DEE; BACK STREET (1961) WITH SUSAN HAYWARD; THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE (1967) WITH JULIE ANDREWS

Gavin's career faltered after Millie; he famously lost the role of James Bond when Sean Connery was lured back for Diamonds are Forever (1971). He turned his attention to the stage, appearing in, among other productions, Michael Bennett's See Saw (1973). Gavin replaced the original male lead, Ken Howard, in the original Broadway production with future Knots Landing star Michele Lee, and then toured the country with the show, opposite Lucie Arnaz.

After two terms as President of the Screen Actors' Guild, and a string of guest spots on such obligatory 1970's fare as The Love Boat and Fantasy Island, Gavin withdrew from entertainment and became the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico during the Reagan administration; he is currently retired, and, judging by the most recent photo below, looking just dandy.

We love the hat and the knit tie.

When in Rome...

...do as Laurence Olivier does.