Vivien Leigh talks March Madness

With less than a month away before my annual Favorite Classic Movie Actress tourney begins, I thought a recap of last year's tournament would be in order. But instead of doing the usual post about it I thought it would be cool to do a series of posts about me conducting interviews with some of the women who competed. You know, if they were really alive and how they would respond to my questions. I thought I would begin with Vivien Leigh who had two very different tourney runs. Back in 2011 for the inaugural Favorite Actress tourney, she made it to the championship match against eventual winner Irene Dunne. So for 2012 she was naturally expected to do quite well. Didn't turn out that way as she got edged out by Gene Tierney in the second round. So here she is..Miss Vivien Leigh, having a little chat with me.

The happy and beautiful Vivien Leigh

Me: First off, Miss Leigh, thank you for coming on here to chat a little. I have tremendous respect for you and think you are one of the greatest actresses of all time.

Vivien Leigh: Why thank you Monty. So glad to be here, on your wonderful blog. I want to thank you and all the bloggers who keep classic film alive with your stories and events.

Me: Speaking of events, you know it's almost time for my annual favorite classic movie tourney. And I wanted to talk to you about your thoughts on your past experiences in them.

Miss Leigh: Oh sure..love to!

Me: Back in 2011, for the very first one I did, you did extremely well. I mean you made it all the way to the final match. What did you think about that whole experience?

Miss Leigh: It was kind of unreal to be quite honest. I never expected to make it that far. Coming from the era you had me in..the 40's. I think everyone pretty much assumed either Bette or Kate Hepburn would win. But after I kept winning match after match and week after week, it still never occurred to me that I could still be around competing.

Me: and compete you did. All the way to the last match with Irene Dunne. Now Irene had just an amazing Cinderella run through the tourney up to this point but you were seeded 4th and the oddsmakers had you a 7 point favorite over her. Your thoughts on that...

Miss Leigh: What's that sports saying you Americans always say Monty..that's why you play the game. It was a very tough match and I give all the praise and congrats to Irene who just would not give up. I was honored to be in the final match with her.

A very determined Vivien is ready to compete for

a third time

Me: Yeah it was a very unexpected tourney win by Irene that still a lot of fans can't believed happened. So now on to last year's tourney, where you had the pre-tourney ranking of #2 and everyone was wagering you would take the crown that year. But you had that unexpected 2nd round loss to Gene Tierney..

Miss Leigh: Yes..it was very heart-breaking to lose so early. But also at the same time, such a relief. Because I have to tell everyone that competing week in and week out can be quite stressful. So while it was very disappointing, it was quite calm for me afterwards.

Me: I can understand your viewpoint on that Miss Leigh. I wish you much success in this year's tourney and I want to thank you again for stopping by to chat with me and all your fans and followers.

Vivien: Thank you Monty. Thank you everyone.

Me: Miss Vivien Leigh everybody!

A thundering applause echoes from the studio audience. I will be back with another actress in a few days for another casual chat.

She may not have won the tourney but you can't

take away her Best Actress Oscar!