A new biography of Sir Laurence Olivier suggests that Marilyn wasn’t the only co-star he fought with. Philip Ziegler‘s Olivier will be published next month, reports The Independent.
“Before penning the book, historian Philip Ziegler listened to taped interviews with Olivier that were originally intended for the actor’s own memoirs. The star made some choice omissions: chiefly, the parts where he eviscerates some of old Hollywood’s brightest stars. Joan Fontaine, his co-star in Rebecca, was ‘loathsome’, according to extracts seen by The Sunday Times, while Merle Oberon was a ‘silly little amateur’.
Olivier ‘didn’t care to be taught acting’ by Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas on the set of 1959’s The Devil’s Disciple, and his ‘hatred’ for Marilyn Monroe – a flaky and undisciplined presence during the filming of The Prince and the Showgirl – was ‘one of the strongest emotions I had ever felt’. He was ‘flabbergasted’ when the final cut was released by ‘how wonderful’ she was.”