A Wartime Letter
from Flight Officer
Lawrence Olivier

Actor Lawrence Olivier (1907 – 1989) first heard that a state of war existed between Britain and Germany while enjoying the breezes off the coast of Southern California in a sailboat skippered by Hollywood’s heir expectant, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and it was to Fairbanks that the attached letter was addressed. When this letter was written, Olivier was posted to the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm where he gained the understanding that aeronautics was an acquired taste, and one that he simply could not cultivate.

In his book International Stars at War, author James Wise noted that Flight Officer Olivier would soon be judged incompetent by the Royal Navy and released for other duties more in line with his abilities (like writing this self-conscious letter to his Hollywood friend).

By contrast, Fairbanks played a vital role in the U.S. Navy and by the war’s end was sporting a chest-full of ribbons.

More about W.W. II Hollywood can be read here.

From Amazon: International Stars at War

Click here to read a few Japanese opinions about the movie Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)…