Jill Esmond: Last News

“Gone With the Wind” was hell on earth.The film would go on to become the top grossing movie of all time (adjusted for inflation, it boasted ticket sales of $1.823 billion), winning ten Academy Awards in 1939. But it took a significant toll on its 25-year-old female lead.

The house is thought to be named after Westonbirt House in Gloucestershire, which was owned by Sir George Holford and who left his friend Sir Alfred the money for the build.After Sir Alfred's death in 1930 the house was bought by the actress and suffragette Eva Moore, the mother of actress Jill Esmond who married actor and director Sir Laurence Olivier in the same year. The house is most memorable for being the destination where Olivier and his first wife spent the first night of their honeymoon.  The pair first met in 1928 when they co-starred in the theatre production Bird in the Hand and eventually tied the knot in 1930 at All Saints Church on Margaret Street in London. The couple went on to welcome their first son Tarquin Olivier in