Darlings of the Gods | |
---|---|
Based on | Darlings of the Gods by Garry O'Connor |
Written by | Roger Simpson Graeme Farmer |
Directed by | Catherine Millar |
Starring | Anthony Higgins Mel Martin Jerome Ehlers |
Country of origin | Australia United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of episodes | 2 x 2 hours |
Production | |
Producer | Roger Le Mesurier |
Running time | 120 min (2 episodes) |
Production companies | Australian Broadcasting Corporation Film Victoria Simpson Le Mesurier Films Thames Television |
Original release | |
Network | ABC |
Release | 27 September 1989 |
Darlings of the Gods is a 1989 Australian mini series about the 1948 trip to Australia by Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh and the Old Vic Company, where Olivier and Leigh met Peter Finch. [1]
Not Currently Available on DVD
Vivien Leigh, styled as Lady Olivier after 1947, was a British actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice, for her performances as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939) and Blanche DuBois in the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), a role she had also played on stage in London's West End in 1949. She also won a Tony Award for her work in the Broadway musical version of Tovarich (1963). Although her career had periods of inactivity, in 1999 the American Film Institute ranked Leigh as the 16th-greatest female movie star of classic Hollywood cinema.
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier was an English actor and director who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, was one of a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage of the mid-20th century. He also worked in films throughout his career, playing more than fifty cinema roles. Late in his career he had considerable success in television roles.
Frederick George Peter Ingle Finch was an English-Australian actor of theatre, film and radio.
Jill Esmond Moore was an English stage and screen actress.
Anthony Higgins is an English stage, film and television actor. His credits include A Walk with Love and Death (1969), Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970), Hadleigh (1976), The Eagle of the Ninth (1977), Love in a Cold Climate (1980), Quartet (1981), The Draughtsman's Contract (1982), Lace (1984), The Bride (1985), Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), Napoleon and Josephine: A Love Story (1987), Sherlock Holmes Returns (1993), Nostradamus (1994), Peak Practice (2000), Chromophobia (2005), Heroes and Villains: Napoleon (2007), Lewis (2009), Malice in Wonderland (2009), Bel Ami (2012), and Tutankhamun (2016).
Elephant Walk is a 1954 American drama film produced by Paramount Pictures, directed by William Dieterle, and starring Elizabeth Taylor, Dana Andrews, Peter Finch and Abraham Sofaer. It is based upon the 1948 novel Elephant Walk by "Robert Standish", the pseudonym of the English novelist Digby George Gerahty (1898–1981).
A Yank at Oxford is a 1938 comedy-drama film directed by Jack Conway and starring Robert Taylor, Lionel Barrymore, Maureen O'Sullivan, Vivien Leigh and Edmund Gwenn. The screenplay was written by John Monk Saunders and Leon Gordon. The film was produced by MGM-British at Denham Studios.
Mel Martin is an English actress.
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21 Days is a 1940 British drama film based on the short 1919 play The First and the Last by John Galsworthy. It was directed by Basil Dean and stars Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier and Leslie Banks. The film was renamed 21 Days Together for the American market.
Storm in a Teacup is a 1937 British romantic comedy film directed by Ian Dalrymple and Victor Saville and starring Vivien Leigh, Rex Harrison, Cecil Parker, and Sara Allgood. It is based on the German play Sturm im Wasserglas by Bruno Frank, as well as the English-language adaptations: London's Storm in a Teacup and Broadway's Storm Over Patsy, both written by James Bridie. A reporter writes an article that embarrasses a politician. Meanwhile, the newspaperman is also attracted to his target's daughter.
Garry O'Connor is an English playwright, biographer and novelist.
Creswick Jenkinson was an Australian writer, producer and director. As a screenwriter, he wrote the film Captain Thunderbolt (1953) as well as episodes of the TV series Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, and early soap opera's Autumn Affair and Motel.
Kurt Kaiser, better known as Sydney John Kay, was a German-born composer, musician and theatre entrepreneur.
Tamara Tchinarova, also known as Tamara Finch, was a Romanian-born émigré Russian and French ballerina who contributed significantly to the development of Australian dance companies and was a Russian/English interpreter for touring ballet companies. She was a dance writer and author, as Tamara Finch, of a number of non-fiction books. She was the first wife of actor Peter Finch.
A film of Macbeth with Laurence Olivier as director and in the lead role was a project for which Olivier was ultimately unable to gain financing.
Ronald "Trader" Faulkner was an Australian actor, raconteur and flamenco dancer, best known for his work in the UK on the stage and television.
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Helga's Folly is an Art Nouveau boutique hotel situated in Kandy, Sri Lanka owned by Helga de Silva Blow Perera, daughter of Fredrick de Silva. Gregory Peck, Peter Finch, William Holden, Mahatma Gandhi, Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Kelly Jones of the Stereophonics are some of the notable guests who stayed at the hotel. Jones went on to write and record the song "Madame Helga" after his stay at the hotel. Helga's Folly has been described as "insane, kind of creepy, but awesome at the same time."
The Imaginary Invalid is a 1948 Australian stage play adapted by Creswick Jenkinson from The Imaginary Invalid by Moliere. While an adaptation, its production became famous in Australian theatre folklore because Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh saw a production at O'Brien's Glass Factory in Sydney, which lead to them inviting its star, Peter Finch, to London. It was also an adaptation of the play which cut it down to 50 minutes, enabling it to be performed at workplaces during lunch time; was unusual in Australian theatre at the time.