Did anyone over in England catch the “Celebrating..The South bank Show” on ITV3 last week?  I’m asking because I just saw a news article about it online and remembered that Melvyn Bragg (the host) did that long interview with Laurence Olivier that got turned into the Emmy Award-winning documentary, Laurence Olivier: A Life, which is so fabulous and candid (and everyone can watch it on youtube).

In his interview with the Times, Bragg gives some insight on what it was like to interview many famous celebrities, including Olivier.  Here’s what he had to say about Sir Larry:

One of the biggest coups was Olivier. Driving down to Brighton with the great man, Bragg remembers him “boring the lives out of us” about an article he had read about alcohol impairing memory. “This is the guy who had just recovered from cancer and was learning Lear by heart, but it was destroying his memory, he decided. He was really serious. By the time we got to Brighton to meet John Osborne, it’s an awful thing to say about the greatest living actor, but I just wanted to get out of this van to stop him telling us not to drink.”

Osborne was sitting in the corner of the restaurant with a glass of champagne. Spotting him, Olivier, “in his huge Henry V voice, because he was not above drawing attention to himself when he wanted to, [said]: ‘I will never drink again… except with my great friend John Osborne! Johnny! Johnny!’ And bounded over, and we went for it.” By the end of lunch “they were out of their minds. We went out to do the interview and that was probably a mistake, the sea air hitting them. Osborne was hanging on to the railings.” In the film, Olivier can barely speak for giggling.

Through his interviews with Olivier, Osborne and Arthur Miller, Bragg pieced together the story of Olivier taking the lead in Osborne’s The Entertainer. Olivier had been scathing about Osborne’s mould-breaking Look Back in Anger, which he said was “rubbish” about “dreadful nihilists”. But when he was filming The Prince and the Showgirl with Marilyn Monroe, Miller and Monroe stayed with him in an effort to avoid the swarms of press following her. Miller got frustrated about being cooped up and insisted on going out to see the play that everyone was talking about. Under duress, Olivier hatched a plan, involving decoy cars and blond wigs, to get the three of them to the Royal Court.

Miller and Monroe were so keen on the play when they met Osborne backstage that Olivier changed his mind about it and wrote to Osborne the next day, asking: “If you write another play and could find a tiny part for me I would love to be in it.” Osborne sent Olivier The Entertainer. Many Olivier fans were appalled at the great actor playing the washed-up thespian Archie Rice, but it became a huge stage (and then movie) hit and Olivier left Vivien Leigh for his co-star, Joan Plowright.

“The Entertainer role changed Olivier’s career, helped to change the direction of British theatre and his personal life, and all because of Marilyn Monroe,” Bragg says.

For many, A South Bank Show interview is a landmark career event. Tracey Emin said that she had dreamt about it since the age of 10. According to Bragg, Spacey wanted to emulate Olivier, asking “Do you think you can interview me on the stage [of the Old Vic] where you interviewed Larry?” Bragg offered to even “put the chairs in the same position”.

I have a VHS copy of Laurence Olivier: A Life that I watch on occasion, and I find it really interesting. But I love hearing these little inside anecdotes about him and Vivien Leigh. I’ve read before (and seen some photos) that Larry liked drinking, liked going to the pub for a pint with friends, liked getting drunk with friends, etc. I love it, it just makes him seem somehow more human to read these little anecdotes.

Anyway, if anyone would be willing to record that Celebrating South Bank program next time it comes on and to send me a copy, I’d be really grateful, I want to see all these interviews!

You can see photos of Olivier drinking with friends (a particular favorite is one where he’s getting drunk with John Mills in France) among many others in the Gallery at www.vivandlarry.com