My big brother, who thinks he ...
Question: My big brother, who thinks he knows it all, insists that actor Danny Kaye was gay and the lover of Sir Laurence Olivier. I say he was not, that Kaye was married and had children. This has been a bone of contention between us; he thinks I'm being stubborn and that he's right just because he's older. I would seriously like to rub his nose in it. Can you help me?
Answer: To rub your brother's nose in it? Not really, unless you want to claim the high ground by pointing out the difference between gay and bisexual. Needless to say, I wasn't there and can't claim first-hand knowledge of the sex lives of actors Danny Kaye (1913-1987) and Laurence Olivier (1907-1989). But the claim that they had an ongoing relationship for the better part of 10 years is persistent and came up from underground in Donald Spoto's biography of Olivier. Both were married during the time in question, Kaye to Sylvia Fine, his wife of 47 years, and Olivier to his second wife, Vivien Leigh; Kaye and Fine had a daughter and Olivier had a son from his first marriage (he went on to have three more later in life). Olivier and Leigh were divorced in 1960, and Olivier is said to have ended the relationship with Kaye when he married for the third and last time, because his new bride, actress Joan Plowright, voiced her objections.