When I Feel Down, I Change Eras

Ginger Rogers

The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle

Originally written for TCM’s Now Playing Guide in 2016 by our late host Robert Osborne (May 3, 1932 - March 6, 2017).

I confess it: as a Brit would say, I have been one very lucky bloke. It has never ceased to amaze me that a fellow with no connections whatsoever to show business, and who grew up in a small farm community in the Northwest (population: 2500), could end up on a national television network with the dream job of talking about classic movies as I get to do on TCM. Something else which constantly reminds me of how lucky I am is the 40-year friendship I’ve had with TCM’s Star of the month for this July, Olivia de Havilland.

I first met Olivia in 1976 when I did an interview with her for a magazine article I’d been assigned. At that point she’d long since been semi-retired from acting in films and was happily living in Paris as the wife of Pierre Galante (the editor of the renowned publication Paris Match), living life as Madame Galante, and being the mother of a son, Benjamin, and daughter, Gisele. Our interview was scheduled for an hour in the commissary of the Universal studios–it lasted four hours, accompanied by a great many champagne bubbles. It turned out to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship, Louie.

During that initial visit we spent a great deal of time talking about her Hollywood years and her strong, thoughtful memories of the great films she’d made– Gone With the Wind (1939), The Heiress (1949), the underrated In This Our Life (1942) and the nine films she made with Errol Flynn, including The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), which forever after defined Olivia and Errol Flynn as one of the great screen teams. She also talked about the clinkers, which she’d been forced to do under the old studio contract system, recounting them with great flashes of humor. The first film she’d made had been Warner Bros’. lofty and distinguished A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935) and, she said, “When they asked me to sign a long-term contract I thought ‘Shakespeare–what better way could one have an acting career than by doing Shakespeare?'” Soon came a rude awakening. 

Next, they assigned her to do a weak little comedy about baseball with Joe E. Brown, followed soon after by Wings of the Navy (1939), which she considers the absolute nadir of her career. It was as far afield from Shakespeare as one could get, and she said to herself, "Whoa, Olivia. This doesn’t bode well for you at Warner Bros.” From then on she began campaigning for better roles, and they did eventually come her way, along with two Academy Awards and the reputation of being one of the screen’s finest actresses.

We’ll be sharing many of Olivia’s stories with you on Friday nights this month as we also celebrate a great landmark birthday for her–her 100th. It is her birthday but we’re the ones who get the presents. Every Friday we’ll be toasting Olivia, showing 39 de Havilland films in all, including all the biggies such as To Each His Own (1946, Oscar #1), The Snake Pit, (1948, Oscar nomination #3), The Heiress (Oscar® #2) and several which are lesser known, such as when she played France’s Queen Mother in the era of the Three Musketeers in the rarely shown The 5th Musketeer (1979) with Rex Harrison, Jose Ferrer and Cornel Wilde. And just for the fun of it, you can see 1939's Wings of the Navy and decide if you agree with Olivia’s assessment of it.

Through the years, in addition to all the many assets that are such an integral part of her, she’s also proven to be someone who always makes good on promises. The night she celebrated her 80th birthday in Paris in 1996, Olivia told me she’d just made a vow to live to be 100. And she’s done it. During a more recent phone chat, she said, “I’ve changed my goal. I’ve decided I want to live to be at least 110.” That’s the best birthday present this amazing woman from Hollywood’s golden era could give us. I have no doubt she’ll make it. Bravo, Olivia!

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