Summary
- Sir Patrick Stewart had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to watch Gone with the Wind with Vivien Leigh, and it was a remarkable experience.
- Despite having to wear a used dinner jacket, Stewart was proud and thrilled to be sitting next to Leigh while watching the iconic film.
- Leigh was deeply touched by the film and became emotional, revealing her sadness over the loss of her colleagues. Stewart was moved by her sincerity and kindness.
Conan O’Brien rightly likened what follows as someone having the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to watch Citizen Kane (1941) with Orsen Welles. During his lifetime, Sir Patrick Stewart has achieved a number of unforgettable milestones, particularly professionally where film and television are concerned. But during his life, Stewart met and became friends with Scarlett O’Hara herself: actress Vivien Leigh. In fact, Stewart even had the chance to watch Gone with the Wind (1939) with its Golden Age star and her boyfriend, John Merivale.
Years before he’d be addressed as Sir Patrick Stewart, and years before he sat in the captain’s chair of the U.S.S. Enterprise-D, a much younger Stewart found himself working with Leigh in a theatrical touring company operating out of London.
In fact, when Stewart was invited to watch Gone with the Wind alongside Leigh — literally in the seat next to her — the 20-year-old had to scratch together the money to procure a used dinner jacket for the occasion. It didn’t matter, though, because he was watching one of the greatest films of all time with one of Hollywood’s true legends. Stewart told O’Brien on the Team Coco podcast:
We’re sitting side by side. And I am so excited and thrilled and proud to be sitting alongside her.
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Patrick Stewart Remembers Friend Vivien Leigh
MGM | Warner Bros.
Sir Patrick Stewart joked with Conan O’Brien that the jacket he wore that night to watch Gone with the Wind resembled “a blanket!” In the end, it didn’t matter because Stewart was enjoying director David O. Selznick’s four-hour epic with its star, Vivien Leigh. While Stewart reveled in the evening and the film, he couldn’t help but notice Leigh softly wiping tears away from her eyes during the screening. Stewart told O’Brien in the same sit-down:
“She turned to me, and she took my hand. And she said, ‘Patrick, I’ve going to have to leave. This is so upsetting, you see. So many of these lovely people I worked with are dead — and it’s upsetting me so much. So, thanks for sharing this. I hope you enjoy the night.’ And she got up. And she and John [Merivale] walked out.
I was so touched. She could have just left — she didn’t have to say, ‘Thank you for coming, and it’s very good of you.’ And explain to me why she was crying. She was a superstar of her day. There’s no actress today that’s ever been bigger than Vivien was.”
Stewart went on and praised the Hollywood starlet — she was unquestionably one of the most beautiful women to grace the Silver Screen — for her acting talent, which won her two Academy Awards for Best Actress (Gone with the Wind, A Streetcar Named Desire). Having known Vivien quite well, as friends, Stewart gushed about her being a “nice person,” but he also recalled her “temper.”
Leigh and Stewart worked together in three productions — they were performers in London’s Old Vic Theatre — one of which was William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Stewart spent 15 months performing with the Gone with the Wind star, and she even attended Stewart’s 21st birthday party. Leigh gave Stewart a golden handkerchief as his present, and it was “sprinkled with the perfume that she always wore.” After moving several times over the years, Stewart lost the handkerchief for a time, but recently found it. Stewart told O’Brien:
The smell was gone, but the memories were still in place.
Check out the Team Coco podcast featuring Patrick Stewart and his wonderful story about Gone with the Wind’s Vivien Leigh in its entirety below:
You can view the original article HERE.
