Very few actresses go into a movie production so cynically as Vivien Leigh in May 1940 "Waterloo Bridge." Just after achieving superstar status with her Oscar-winning performance as Scarlett O'Hara in 1939's "Gone With The Wind," she felt terribly miscast as a London ballerina in the middle of World War One who ends up as a hooker. She was also disappointed in hearing an American actor was going to be her co-star.
"Robert Taylor is the man in the picture," she wrote to her lover actor Laurence Olivier, "and as it was written for Larry, it's a typical piece of miscasting. I'm afraid it will be a dreary job." Producer David O. Selznick, who had Leigh under contract, felt the Robert E. Sherwood play was a perfect vehicle for his star actress after his and her mega-hit Civil War movie. Vivien desperately wanted to be in the upcoming production of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice," where her soon-to-be husband was scheduled to play Mr. Darcy. But Greer Garson ended up getting the role of Elizabeth Barrett, leaving Leigh to play opposite Robert Taylor, 29, an actor she played alongside in 1938's "A Yank in York."
For Taylor, he was looking forward to be in a role with meat on its bones instead of playing the pretty boy who is strung along by his lovers. He strove for more intellectual parts, and he found it in "Waterloos Bridge" as British officer captain Roy Cronin. He meets Myra Lester (Leigh) on the Waterloo Bridge during an air raid, and both retreat to the subway's underground for protection. Both quickly fall in love. Taylor adored his part as a British office and enjoyed working alongside his co-star. "It was the first time I really gave a performance that met the often unattainable standards I was always setting for myself," Taylor said after filming wrapped. "Miss Leigh was great in her role, and she made me look better." Leigh changed her mind about the movie after seeing "Waterloo Bridge" on the screen. Both she and Taylor claimed this was their personal favorite film. Taylor secured a print and stored it in his house. During his last remaining months, the actor would project the movie several times, reminiscing with great satisfaction how good his role was.
Selznick had a lot riding on this movie after Leigh's Best Actress Oscar performance in "Gone With The Wind." He hired Academy Award winner Joseph Ruttenberg, the director of photography in 1938's "The Great Waltz," to be his cinematographer. The producer wrote, "Miss Leigh is not one of those girls who can be photographed by any cameraman," and leaned on Ruttenberg to capture her "very strange beauty." Film reviewer Paul Mavis likened the movie to "a silent film, with a resolute left/right POV visual schematic, and silhouetted and shimmering back-lit close-ups that linger for moments on our photogenic pair (the expert, dewy lensing by Ruttenberg is a key element to the film's success)."
It wasn't easy for Leigh to play a down-and-out unemployed dancer once Roy leaves the city for the war front. The scriptwriters had to hint around the edges of Myra's profession to put food on the table, something the 1931 Pre-Code film with the same name, directed by James Whale with Mae Clarke and Kent Douglas, could be more forthright in its depiction. The 1940 version is also known as the first Hollywood movie to include the recently broiling World War Two in its plot, with both the front and back ends describing how England is under a state of war with Germany after the September 1939 invasion of Poland. The aging Roy is seen on the Waterloo Bridge recalling the events 24 years earlier in a flashback when he first meets Myra.
The production of "Waterloo Bridge" also came in the middle of Leigh and Olivier's long sought-after divorces from their spouses so they could marry each other. Vivien received an agreement with her husband Leigh Holman, with the stipulation he was granted custody of their daughter, Suzanne, while Oliver had a similar divorce decree from his wife Jill Esmond, giving custody of their son to her. In a private ceremony in Santa Barbara, Olivier and Leigh wedded on August 31, 1940, a marriage that lasted until January, 1961.
"Robert Taylor is the man in the picture," she wrote to her lover actor Laurence Olivier, "and as it was written for Larry, it's a typical piece of miscasting. I'm afraid it will be a dreary job." Producer David O. Selznick, who had Leigh under contract, felt the Robert E. Sherwood play was a perfect vehicle for his star actress after his and her mega-hit Civil War movie. Vivien desperately wanted to be in the upcoming production of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice," where her soon-to-be husband was scheduled to play Mr. Darcy. But Greer Garson ended up getting the role of Elizabeth Barrett, leaving Leigh to play opposite Robert Taylor, 29, an actor she played alongside in 1938's "A Yank in York."
For Taylor, he was looking forward to be in a role with meat on its bones instead of playing the pretty boy who is strung along by his lovers. He strove for more intellectual parts, and he found it in "Waterloos Bridge" as British officer captain Roy Cronin. He meets Myra Lester (Leigh) on the Waterloo Bridge during an air raid, and both retreat to the subway's underground for protection. Both quickly fall in love. Taylor adored his part as a British office and enjoyed working alongside his co-star. "It was the first time I really gave a performance that met the often unattainable standards I was always setting for myself," Taylor said after filming wrapped. "Miss Leigh was great in her role, and she made me look better." Leigh changed her mind about the movie after seeing "Waterloo Bridge" on the screen. Both she and Taylor claimed this was their personal favorite film. Taylor secured a print and stored it in his house. During his last remaining months, the actor would project the movie several times, reminiscing with great satisfaction how good his role was.
Selznick had a lot riding on this movie after Leigh's Best Actress Oscar performance in "Gone With The Wind." He hired Academy Award winner Joseph Ruttenberg, the director of photography in 1938's "The Great Waltz," to be his cinematographer. The producer wrote, "Miss Leigh is not one of those girls who can be photographed by any cameraman," and leaned on Ruttenberg to capture her "very strange beauty." Film reviewer Paul Mavis likened the movie to "a silent film, with a resolute left/right POV visual schematic, and silhouetted and shimmering back-lit close-ups that linger for moments on our photogenic pair (the expert, dewy lensing by Ruttenberg is a key element to the film's success)."
It wasn't easy for Leigh to play a down-and-out unemployed dancer once Roy leaves the city for the war front. The scriptwriters had to hint around the edges of Myra's profession to put food on the table, something the 1931 Pre-Code film with the same name, directed by James Whale with Mae Clarke and Kent Douglas, could be more forthright in its depiction. The 1940 version is also known as the first Hollywood movie to include the recently broiling World War Two in its plot, with both the front and back ends describing how England is under a state of war with Germany after the September 1939 invasion of Poland. The aging Roy is seen on the Waterloo Bridge recalling the events 24 years earlier in a flashback when he first meets Myra.
The production of "Waterloo Bridge" also came in the middle of Leigh and Olivier's long sought-after divorces from their spouses so they could marry each other. Vivien received an agreement with her husband Leigh Holman, with the stipulation he was granted custody of their daughter, Suzanne, while Oliver had a similar divorce decree from his wife Jill Esmond, giving custody of their son to her. In a private ceremony in Santa Barbara, Olivier and Leigh wedded on August 31, 1940, a marriage that lasted until January, 1961.