Happy Birthday, Vivien! [5 Things I Love]

Since my birthday posts tend to be a little aimless and rambling, I thought I would try what I used on Carole Lombard's birthday: listing my five favorite things about the person whose birthday is in question! This is going to be with a little less detail than Carole's post, because I made Vivien a video, too.

WARNING: Rianna somehow turns into a crazy cat lady (DESPITE THE FACT SHE HAS NEVER OWNED A CAT) in this post and brings up cats indubitably. Excessively. I mean it. So if you have a problem with cats, it's probably better to turn away...

Happy birthday, Vivien!

#5: Her cat smile.

I've mentioned this several times before ;-) but it's true that she does have a cat smile, doesn't she?? I'm currently reading her biography, and at one point someone recalls an incident in which Vivien was sitting and "smiling like a Cheshire Cat". :D I don't think she would mind her smile being called that, either - she once said, "I'm mad about cats!"

#4: Her eyes.

I don't want to be too repetitive and call her eyes "cat eyes", but they kind of are. I mention this because in my art class we're doing in a project to draw a single eye, and we can make it as abstract or as real as we want, etc., and I'm using Vivien's blue-green eye (complete with her famously arched eyebrow) as my model. 

#3: Her love of cats.

Okay, okay, I promise this will be my last mention of cats in this post!!! (No, I'm not even a crazy cat lady or anything - I don't even own a cat, really!). I'm making her seem.... very... catty, which she was, but not in the proper sense of the word. Anyhow. ;) She really did love cats, you know. I believe she had several Siamese ones, and she and Larry once took a stray tabby cat off the street to take care of it. In her biography, I read that when she was about six or seven her parents sent her away from her home (India) to England to study at the Sacred Heart Convent. Vivien brought with her a little, tiny kitten and even though pets weren't allowed they just had to make allowances for Vivien.

Isn't she adorable with that cat???

#2: Her marriage to Larry Olivier.

Well, yes! They were married 1940-1960, just like Lucy and Desi. And though, of course, the latter couple will always been my favorite Classic Hollywood couple, "Viv and Larry" are up there as well. I learned a lot more about them after watching "Larry and Vivien: The Oliviers in Love". Certainly gossipy but worth a watch. It's on Youtube, and you can click the picture below to go to the video page.

YES, I had to use the photo of them with a cat....

#1: Scarlett O'Hara.

Well, this in it itself is pretty obvious, isn't it??? "Gone With the Wind" being one of my favorite movies and Scarlett O'Hara one of my favorite characters - and for goodness sake, this blog is called Frankly, My Dear! Anyway, I think Vivien's performance as Scarlett is exceptional, and not only does she bring justice to the Margaret Mitchell character she makes is come alive on screen. She really seems to fit the bill, if you read the actual book and Margaret Mitchell's descriptions. This is stereotypical to say, but this must be one of my favorite performances ever. And I also love the fact that when she turned down the role of Isabelle in "Wuthering Heights" (she wanted the lead, of course), the producers went something along the lines of, "Now, you're real stupid - you won't get a better role than this for your American debut!" And she went and got Scarlett O'Hara, of course.

And here is my tribute video for the lovely lady. I was planning to use "Tara's Theme", but the more I looked at the clips of Vivien I had, the more I realized that the excitement of that theme was in a sharp contrast to the more somber clips of hers. So I went with the theme from "Now, Voyager" - I adore that theme, it's got to be one of my favorite movie themes, and it seemed to fit her.

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That's it for today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, VIVIEN, and have a happy Saturday, readers! I'll leave you with a photo of Greer and Vivien, as we all know I'm currently in Greer Garson obsessive mode. Oh, and Leslie Howard, too, but I'm not exactly a huge Leslie fan...

PS: Sorry I turned in a crazy cat lady, really! I guess it's catching, maybe from all the reading I've been doing about Vivien!
PSS: Also, birthday wishes to Roy Rogers and Joel McCrea!