| Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh Now, in my opinion, here�s a wacky couple. Their story proves that when you love some- thing (or someone) so passionately that you can�t eat or sleep without it (or him), you will lose your mind. Olivier and Leigh fell hard for each other. And, in all truthfulness, marriage was probably the worst thing for them. The mystery and romance disappeared and turned into obsession. On more than one occasion, Vivien fell ill and summoned Olivier to her side. He obliged, wanting nothing more than to have her feel safe and secure in his love. After a while, though, the beckons across continents failed to evoke the same sense of emergency. Vivien epitomized the Boy Who Cried Wolf. They attempted to live the simple elegant life, hosting regular dinner parties. Above all else, Olivier wanted Vivien to maintain her stature as a lady. But it had become apparent: Olivier�s feelings were waning. Vivien was one hell of an escapist and to fill the void Olivier no longer cared about, she played out her onscreen roles in real life. She began drinking and slept around to �do research� for her role in A Streetcar Named Desire. Their marriage ended with Vivian�s despair. She died years later with Olivier�s picture on her bedstand. He didn�t entirely forget her either, though. His marriage to a young Joan Plowright was calm and stable�just his cup of tea. But a biography of him states that when Joan would, for example, wear gloves that were not perfectly white, he�d been known to admonish her with such statements as, �Vivien never would have worn soiled gloves.� Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton What a perfect way to round out our picks for some of the greatest lovers of all time. We began with Antony and Cleopatra and now end with the two perfectly cast stars who played them in the extravagant film of the early �60s. When Taylor and Burton met on the set of Cleopatra, the chemistry was readily apparent. And like their characters, the love they shared was, in a single word: excessive. Their union spawned media attention beyond belief. Liz and Dick were ubiquitous. (Think Roseanne Barr and Tom Arnold if anyone cared. Or better yet, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston if they valued their privacy a little less and fought�a lot�in public.) People around the world ate it up and lived vicariously through Liz and Dick. Did I say their love could be described by a single word? How about: lust, anger, vagrancy, quarreling, drunkenness, opulence� True, these are all excessive traits, but at least they define Taylor and Burton�s excesses a bit. As Burton himself admitted when the separated (for the first time) in 1974, together, the two were like sticks of dynamite. They couldn�t live without each other, though, and apparently phoned each other several times a day questioning whether they had done the right thing in breaking up. They remarried again in 1975, but this time, the union lasted only four months. Taylor went on to marry again (#6) later the same year. A year later, Burton found solace in another marriage (#3 for him) but still spoke passionately about Elizabeth Taylor. When Burton died, Taylor was inconsolable. But unlike the Lombard-Gable proximity in perpetuity, Burton�s wife forbade Liz's presence at the funeral and made arrangements to one day be buried next to him. The separation is only physical, though, for the idea of Liz and Dick lives on for eternity. And now just a few honorable mentions for those (fictional) lovers who have succeeded in entertaining us� 1. Popeye and Olive Oyl I think they recently got engaged or something. Although it�s just a comic book, 60 some-odd years is a long time to wait for that special spinach-spokesman of guy to pop the question. 2. Superman and Lois Lane In one movie she knew his real identity. Then she forgot. There�s nothing like having two fictional (or real, for that matter) lovers finally get together to ruin their success on the screen. Just look at what happened to Moonlighting. Frankly, I don�t think the glasses hide his identity one bit, do you? Oh well, in the TV series, Lois knew who her guy was and it seemed to get good ratings. 3. Marge and Homer Simpson Now, this is love personified. How else could Marge put up with Homer�s barbarism and all of her sisters� constant griping? These two are the common man�s Damon and Pythias. Due to space constraints, we couldn�t include everyone who�s shared a kiss. Are there any lovers you think we should�ve chronicled? |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |