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Vivien Leigh Gift to Lawrence Olivier Gold Loving Cup Pendant "Darling Larry"

$18,500
£14,047.49
€16,064.35
CA$25,847.18
A$28,747.71
CHF 15,011.16
MX$349,829.04
NOK 191,715.43
SEK 179,795.25
DKK 119,894.41
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About the Item

Vivien Leigh's gift to Sir Lawrence Olivier, this extraordinary piece of Hollywood and Theater History is a 14 Karat Gold Loving Cup Pendant Charm engraved in Vivien Leigh's handwriting, "Darling Larry" and "May / 22nd / 1939," along with the small box in which Lawrence Olivier kept his treasured gold mementos. From the estate of the legendary Sir Lawrence Olivier is this Loving Cup Pendant Charm given to Olivier by Vivien Leigh. The cup is engraved with a replica of Vivien Leigh's handwriting with "Darling Larry" on one side and dated May/22nd/1939 on the reverse. The love affair between Vivien Leigh and Lawrence Olivier is one of the great love affairs of the 20th Century. In 1939, when it was at its peak, they wrote to each other: Olivier wrote, “I woke up absolutely raging with desire for you my love … Oh dear God how I did want you. Perhaps you were stroking your darling self.” Leigh responded, writing, “Oh dear sweet, I haven’t done anything … If we loved each other only with our bodies I suppose it would be alright. I love you with much more than that. I love you with, oh everything somehow, with a special kind of soul.” This Loving Cup from one to the other is an extraordinary testament to the love between two of the greatest actors of all time. Vivien Leigh went to America in 1939 to film "Gone With The Wind." The next year was filled with good news for the couple. Leigh became the first British woman to win a best actress Oscar for her performance as Scarlett O’Hara. The couple also received the news that the divorces they’d requested from their spouses in England had been granted. They were now free to marry whenever they pleased. Until this point, Leigh and Olivier had been forced to keep their relationship out of the public eye. The couple wed soon after on August 31, 1940, in Santa Barbara, California. Provenance: The Loving Cup pendant charm came directly from the estate of Sir Lawrence Olivier. It will be sold with the small faux leather box in which it was kept. The charm was kept in the box along with other treasured items in gold which belonged to Olivier and which are also available. Sir Laurence Olivier (born May 22, 1907, died July 11, 1989) was a towering figure of the British stage and screen, acclaimed in his lifetime as the greatest English-speaking actor of the 20th century. He first met Vivien Leigh in 1936, and the two began an affair sometime that year. Of the relationship, Olivier said that "I couldn't help myself with Vivien. No man could. This was love that I really didn't ask for but was drawn into." Lawrence Olivier was the first member of his profession to be elevated to a life peerage (given the title, Sir). He scored a significant triumph as star of an unabridged 1937 staging of Hamlet. He returned to Hollywood to play the tormented Heathcliff in Samuel Goldwyn’s production of Wuthering Heights (1939). He went on to star in three additional Shakespearean film adaptations, two of which he also directed: Hamlet (1948), which won him Academy Awards for both best picture and best actor; Richard III (1955), and Othello (1965). He was married three times, to actresses Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright. The Loving Cup pendant charm is 5/8 inch (17mm) tall and 5/8 inch wide. The Cup is 14 Karat Gold. The Cup weighs 1.3 grams. The faux leather box is 3 inches by 2 inches by 1.5 inches deep. We also have jewels from the estates of Olivia Newton-John, Opera Legend Jessye Norman, Broadway and Hollywood Legend Chita Rivera, Mexican American singer Vikki Carr, Hollywood Legend Lauren Bacall, Hollywood Writers Jackie Collins and Barbara Taylor Bradford, Hollywood Legend Ginger Rogers, and actress Sylvia Miles - Academy Award nominee for Midnight Cowboy, Actress Celeste Holm, Senator Diane Feinstein, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's Pins, and jewels worn by the legendary performer Carol Channing - please ask us!
  • Metal:
  • Weight:
    1.3 g
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 0.63 in (16.01 mm)Width: 0.63 in (16.01 mm)
  • Style:
  • Place of Origin:
  • Period:
  • Date of Manufacture:
    1939
  • Condition:
    Wear consistent with age and use.
  • Seller Location:
    New York, NY
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU1476226010062

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