Sir Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh Farewell Australia

In 1948, Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh toured Australia and New Zealand with the Old Vic Company, receiving an enthusiastic reception wherever they performed.

Those who couldn’t see them live were able to hear them in a one-hour radio special titled Farewell to Australia. During the broadcast they both speak warmly of Australia, and how touched they are by the reception of its people.

What the broadcast concealed, though not intentionally, was how unhappy the couple’s experience was down under, Olivier later remembering that it was the beginning of the end for their marriage.