When Olivia Met (and Almost Married) Jimmy
When Olivia Met (and Almost Married) Jimmy You know who almost got married? Olivia de Havilland and Jimmy Stewart. Can you imagine? But when they got to the marriage license bureau, they were intercepted by the Minister of Fabulousness, who told them it would be just too much for them to join together in wedlock. Okay that’s not actually what happened. Here’s what did. In December 1939, Olivia and Jimmy were both bound for New York—she to attend the city’s premiere of Gone With The Wind at the Astor Theatre, and he to visit his sister for Christmas. Irene Mayer Selznick—daughter of Louis B., wife of David O., and no slouch herself in the mover-and-shaker department—suggested to Jimmy’s agent, the legendary Leland Hayward, that his client escort Olivia to her big event. And Jimmy, who was intrigued when he’d met the actress briefly in Hollywood, seized on the chance to get to know her better. “Jimmy met me at LaGuardia airport,” Olivia recalled to James Fishgall, author of Pieces ...