British actress Shirley Anne Field starred alongside Sir Laurence Olivier in The Entertainer (1960), and it seems her experience of working with the great actor was no happier than Marilyn’s in The Prince and the Showgirl, four years earlier.
“I wasn’t impressed. I’m in bed with him, filming in a caravan. And he starts talking. ‘Now who’s your favourite actor or actress, dear?’ I said: ‘Marilyn Monroe,’ and he went off into a fit (saying): ‘Dreadful girl! Never shows up on time!’ Two days later he tries again, very patronising. ‘Who else do you admire?’ So I said: ‘I love Vivien Leigh,’ (Olivier’s ex-wife) and he went into a fury. He was horrible. I got out of his bed and said: ‘I’m not staying here with you.’”
