out in a world of tears

Vivien Leigh, who played Blanche in the London stage production, was brought from England for the movie, and I’ve always thought it was perfect casting. In many ways she was Blanche. She was memorably beautiful, one of the greatest beauties of the screen, but she was also vulnerable, and her own life had been very much like that of Tennessee’s wounded butterfly. It had paralleled Blanche’s in several ways, especially when her mind began to wobble and her sense of self became vague. Like Blanche, she slept with almost everybody and was beginning to dissolve mentally and to fray at the ends physically. I might have given her a tumble if it hadn’t been for Larry Olivier. I’m sure he knew she was playing around, but like a lot of husbands I’ve known, he pretended not to see it, and I liked him too much to invade his chicken coop. —Marlon Brando, Songs My Mother Taught Me

Marilyn Monroe and Bert Stern during a photo shoot, 1962.

Marlon Brando with his Oscar, circa 1955.

Nine-year-old Betty Perske photographed by her mother Natalie outside of the Highland Manor School for Girls, c. 1933. Unknown to young Betty, in ten years she would begin her career as one of the most iconic and beloved film stars of all time: Lauren Bacall.