"Caesar & Cleopatra" ~ Laurence Olivier & Vivien Leigh ~{Live Radio}~ 1951

Laurence Olivier & Vivien Leigh perform part of George Bernard Shaw's "Caesar & Cleopatra" on American radio, prior to their Broadway performances. This broadcast is from NBC's "The Big Show", hosted by Tallulah Bankhead, September 30th 1951. ***Some of the photographs in this montage are courtesy of LIFE Magazine, respecting their non-profit specification. Other photographs are of Vivien Leigh as Cleopatra from the 1946 film "Caesar & Cleopatra".

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Laurence
• Olivier
• Vivien
• Leigh
• George
• Bernard
• Shaw
• Caesar
• Cleopatra
• American
• Radio
• Broadway
• NBC
• The
• Big
• Show
• Tallulah
• Bankhead
• September
• 30th
• 1951
• B&W
• Photograph
• Montage
• LIFE
• Magazine

[bobbsyjo72]

I've never ever wanted to 'look like' any other women, ive always accepted my looks, what else can you do, but Judy Garland and Vivien Leigh break that rule. They were so beautiful, beautiìful in a very interesting way.

Oliviers voice is incredible, you can understand why he was called the worlds best actor. G.B.S. was not convinced of Viviens talents.Personally I think she lacked nothing.I think recording equipment of the day maybe in this case were'nt ideal for her.

Just great anyway.thanks

[TallulahDahling]

Cheers!

[Neverfallforfun]

...I wanna marry Laurence Olivier... Who cares if he's dead? I go weak at the knees when I hear his voice....

[tklogan111809]

one can almost hear Cleopatra say, "oh Caesar, how you do run on. Left alone, you'd be giving them chicken three times a day and tucking them to sleep with eiderdown quilts."

[pluglather]

of course olivier is good, but claude rains definately does it better

[Rico8458]

laurence and burton, the two best of all times.

[arthurkrieck]

I think this might have worked better onstage than it does on radio, with the mike right in front of them. The live audience in this theater makes them play to it rather than to the the mike. I think Olivier gets the character as written by Shaw beautifully. This is a different kind of writing than we are used to, now. I can't see a Shaw play working well today, except perhaps "Pygmalion".

[MGMpresentsSEB]

Nooooooooooooooooo this is all wrong.....  what a dreadful reading... Thank Gaaahd we have the 1945 film....

[MGMpresentsSEB]

I must say I prefer Claude Rains over Sir Laurence..... Olivier is much to much on the hammy side...