Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Desert Island Discs
Presented by Lauren Laverne
Actress and dancer from Hollywood's golden age, best known for films such as Gigi and An American in Paris.
Eight records
When I was a little girl… my brother and I we lived in a little villa mansion… we had firm orders never to enter… But we loved going there because there was the butt club… His name was Albon and he played the accordion… And to me it was absolutely magic… Furthermore, I love that record of Edith Kof… The most marvellous thing in the world would be to be able to sing like she did.
Si Mi Chiamano Mimi (from La Bohème)Favourite
Maria Carlos. I think she's the greatest that ever lived… It just moves me every time I hear it.
It is a very profound song, very touching, moving. It's courageous too, because very few people will admit, please don't leave me.
I always was very touched by that song. It's all about the lynching of black people. And Ella Fitzgerald sings it fabulously well.
One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)
Well, Frederica was simply adorable… And one day he said You step on my foot. I said, No, friend, you stepped on my foot.
Vienna Singverein Choir, Vienna Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan
The Requiem from Mozart, which to me is perhaps the most beautiful piece ever written. Hearing a Requiem in a Church You can't stop crying. It's so beautiful.
And he wrote one song about pollution. It's called Burn On. And it's about a river that's so polluted that it burns on… the song is absolutely wonderful.
Not only is it a great song, But I knew the two people Involved. I knew Jacques Prevert quite well… So this Les Faux Mortes is very dear to me.
The keepsakes
The book
Maurice Burton
It is called The Sixth Sense of Animals, and it's written by Maurice Burton. It's a whole book about stories of animals who have given their lives to save humans. And if ever I'm in a dark mood, that's the book I will read.
In conversation
Presenter asks
So, Leslie, tell me, where does this work ethic of yours come from, do you think? And is it still as strong as ever?
Oh, no, no, no, no. I've learned to be almost retired. I do my exercise every day. Discipline is everything in life, I think, if you want to live a long life, which I'm trying to do.
Presenter asks
Leslie, when war broke out, what was life like for you during the war years?
On the third of September, nineteen thirty nine, my grandfather took me on his knee and cried, and said, My poor children, the war is declared. I remember the fear mustn't do this, mustn't do that, be careful. Don't talk about your mother being American. I mean they're men with machine guns which they can point to you if they want to. And Paris changed so much. All those s bags of sand and all those German signs everywhere. It wasn't Paris any more. It just was written in Gothic black and white letters you couldn't recognise where you were. It's it destroys the soul as well.
The recording
Timestamps play the recording from that turn
Speaker 3
BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts. Before you get stuck into this episode, I want to tell you about some changes we're making to where you can find this podcast. From next month, you can hear Desert Island Discs 28 days before anyone else, for free, on BBC Sounds. If you haven't already, you can download the BBC Sounds app to listen to Desert Island Discs first. It's easy. Once you're there, you'll find even more podcasts that are available on Sounds before anywhere else, live BBC radio and exclusive music mixes. Just search for Desert Island Discs, subscribe, and if you want, we'll send you a notification every time a new episode is ready. I told you it was easy. Now, let's get back to the podcast.
Presenter
Hello, I'm Lauren Laverne and this is the Desert Island Discs podcast. Every week I ask my guests to choose the eight tracks, book and luxury they'd want to take with them if they were castaway to a desert island. And, for rights reasons, the music is shorter than the original broadcast. I hope you enjoy listening.
Presenter
My castaway this week is the actress and dancer Leslie Carron, one of the standout stars of Hollywood's golden age. Her career has encompassed cinema, television, and theatre in every decade since the 1950s, including the title role in the classic film Gigi that took him a record nine Academy Awards. She broke through playing Ingenous, opposite Hollywood Royalty. There was an American in Paris with Jean Kelly in 1951 when she was barely out of her teens, Daddy Longlegs with Fred Astaire, and later the comedy Father Goose with Carrie Grant. But her performances show depth as well as brilliance, often drawing on her experiences of growing up in occupied Paris. The war robbed her family of their wealth, and her mother, who'd once been a dancer herself, developed severe depression. It was in a bid to please her that 11-year-old Leslie began ballet lessons. She was on stage as a teenage ballerina in Paris when her talent was spotted by an awestruck audience member, Jean Kelly. Her many accolades include BAFTAs, a golden globe, and presidential recognition on both sides of the Atlantic, though she puts her success down to a self-discipline that is as military as it is artistic. She says, I have been trained like a soldier to work. I'll die if I can't express myself that way. Leslie Carron, welcome to Desert Island Discs.
Presenter
Thank you. What a wonderful introduction. So, Leslie, tell me, where does this work ethic of yours come from, do you think? And is it still as strong as ever? Oh, no, no, no, no. I've learned to be almost retired. I do my exercise every day.
Presenter
Discipline is everything in life, I think, if you want to live a long life, which I'm trying to do.
Presenter
Do you still enjoy the atmosphere of being on a set or stage after all these years? I mean, we saw you quite recently performing in the I T V drama The Dorrels.
Presenter
Yes, but I do prefer to watch great actors act now, to see how skilful actors are.
Presenter
Is there part of you in your heart that that's on stage there with the cast and crew or would like to be? No, no, no, no, no, they can have it.
Leslie Caron
They don't know.
Leslie Caron
Can have it.
Presenter
I'm very happy sitting and admiring them. I should say that this isn't the first time that you've been to the Desert Island. At 90, you're still trying new things. Today, you're setting a new record here at Desert Island Discs. Your last appearance on the programme was in July 1956. As far as we know, yours is the greatest gap between trips to the island in our programme's 80-year history.
Leslie Caron
Uh
Presenter
Well, obviously I thought it was a good idea to go on a desert island for a bit, so I wanted to try it again.
Presenter
All right, well, let's dive in. Let's hear your first choice to day, Leslie Caron. What is it, and why have you chosen it? It's Lacordioniste.
Presenter
Sung by Edith Kauff.
Presenter
When I was a little girl
Presenter
My brother and I we lived in a little villa mansion and in the basement were the kitchens and the staff, and we had firm orders never to enter.
Presenter
But we loved going there because there was the butt club.
Presenter
His name was Albon and he played the accordion.
Presenter
And to me it was absolutely magic. I used to love to
Presenter
Run away down to the basement and listen around the kitchen table, listen to Albo.
Presenter
Furthermore, I love that record of Edith Kof.
Presenter
The most marvellous thing in the world would be to be able to sing like she did.
Presenter
So I used to practice on that record of hers, lacordioniste.
Presenter
Quantouche and vaccines.
Presenter
Che ra cheer a poudeur réven ze bal de faubour.
Presenter
Sona metanarotiste, Setan Rul Deptiga.
Presenter
And I code niste.
Presenter
He says we laugh at the men.
Presenter
Eré la travo, mesel na la dance por, et el nou gaud de mè panapis.
Speaker 2
Uh
Presenter
La Cordioniste, Edith Piaf. Leslie Cron, you were born in Paris in 1931 and your father was a pharmacist, your father Claude, your mother Margaret, she was American and she'd been a dancer and actually performed on Broadway. I think they met when she was on a trip to Paris and she'd been married before they met. What did your grandparents make of her?
Presenter
My grandparents did not quite approve.
Presenter
Because she had been a dancer, meaning she'd shown her legs on the stage.
Presenter
Furthermore, her hair was bleached, and furthermore, she smoked. Oh, wow I mean, she really had every sin.
Leslie Caron
Really have
Presenter
Hey.
Presenter
But she my my father was infatuated with her and adored her all his life. What was he like as a personality? How do you remember him?
Presenter
He was extremely polite. He taught me manners.
Presenter
He taught me you always take off your gloves to shake hands with some one.
Presenter
And he taught me to
Presenter
Dissect a fish.
Presenter
That doesn't sound very necessary, but when you're in a restaurant, it is. And I know very well, like as if I were a waiter, I know how to dissect a fish. Well, that might come in handy on your desert island, Leslie. That that skill might prove itself necessary today. Yes.
Leslie Caron
Get might prove itself necessary today.
Presenter
Your mother sounds like she was a little bit more of a complicated prospect.
Presenter
She unfortunately had been abandoned by her father.
Presenter
She never quite recovered from
Presenter
The abandonment it's like a stray dog. You adopt a dog who's been abandoned and he never forgets.
Presenter
having been abandoned.
Presenter
I have to be honest. My mother was very honest. And she said, Listen, I don't like children, and I'm not going to take care of you when you're little, because I'm not interested. But when you're a star
Presenter
I will be there.
Presenter
I knew what I had to do it was quite clear.
Presenter
It must have been shattering to hear your mother say that I don't like children. I I won't be bothering with you but when you're a star, I'll be there. I mean, do you remember your feelings at the time? You must have been heartbroken. No, no, I wasn't heartbroken. I knew my mother that's the way she was.
Presenter
She she would just say it the way she felt it.
Presenter
It's time for some more music, Leslie. What's your next track, and why are you taking it with you today?
Presenter
Maria Carlos. I think she's the greatest that ever lived.
Presenter
And there's one?
Presenter
Opera
Presenter
By Puccini.
Presenter
Which she never sang on the stage, I was told.
Presenter
She made a recording of it.
Presenter
It it just moves me every time I hear it.
Presenter
She sang Mikiamano, Mimi.
Speaker 2
See your breath.
Leslie Caron
Yeah.
Speaker 2
Lost Mary and they ever made
Speaker 2
A terrible silver recommendation.
Speaker 2
Sonramu ivo meus vago ardin.
Presenter
Pacini's Si Mi Chiamano Mimi from La Boheme, performed by Maria Callas with the Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Tullio Serafin.
Presenter
Leslie Curon, when war broke out, your father was drafted and he was sent to work on a hospital train. You were just eight years old at the time, but you have said that that time marked the end of your childhood. What was life like for you during the war years?
Presenter
On the third of September, nineteen thirty nine, my grandfather took me on his knee and cried, and said, My poor children, the war is declared. I remember the fear mustn't do this, mustn't do that, be careful.
Presenter
Don't talk about your mother being American.
Presenter
I mean they're men with machine guns which they can point to you if they want to.
Presenter
And Paris changed so much. All those s bags of sand and all those German signs everywhere. It wasn't Paris any more. It just was written in Gothic black and white letters you couldn't recognise where you were.
Presenter
It's it destroys the soul as well.
Presenter
And how was your mother coping during this time? Because you hadn't been able to rely on her before. What what happened when the war began? She took to her bed.
Leslie Caron
The wall began.
Presenter
and started to study the sixteenth, seventeenth century France on the
Presenter
Royalty sheep
Presenter
Start studying, studying Louis at all.
Presenter
What was going on, do you think, Leslie? Was she just trying to escape reality? Was she depressed?
Leslie Caron
Reality
Presenter
Yes, yes.
Presenter
The horror of it all, the greyness, love was grey, love was just
Presenter
Gray.
Presenter
Leslie, I think we'd better have some more music. It's your third choice today. What is it, and why are you taking it to the island with you?
Presenter
Ah, Jacques Brel
Presenter
The Merquita Pa
Presenter
And it is a very profound song, very touching, moving.
Presenter
It's courageous too, because very few people will admit, please don't leave me.
Presenter
Uh
Leslie Caron
Il fautublier tour
Leslie Caron
Possibly.
Leslie Caron
Qui san fu de jar.
Leslie Caron
Oblier Luton.
Leslie Caron
Des malentent du et le temp per dieu.
Leslie Caron
A savoir, comment, oblier cais, quietuit parfoi a coup de pourcroi, le queur, du bodeu.
Leslie Caron
You make it far.
Presenter
Nemequit Pas by Jacques Brell.
Presenter
So Leslie Carron, I want to ask you about dancing. You started taking ballet lessons during the war. It was something your mother had insisted on. Why do you think she was so determined for you to dance? And how did you feel about it?
Presenter
The thing is, she never
Presenter
enjoyed talking about anything else but ballet. So I automatically, in order to get the attention of my mother and perhaps her admiration,
Presenter
I thought ballet is the way. And your mother was behind the announcement that you gave during a Sunday lunch with your grandparents when you were in your early teens. What did you tell them? I opened my mouth and I said, I want to be a dancer.
Presenter
My grandfather
Presenter
was outraged, was absolutely shocked.
Presenter
He turned to my mother, and whispered loud enough for me to hear.
Presenter
Margaret, do you want your daughter to be a whore?
Presenter
Because in those days that's what it amounted to you showed your legs, your thighs.
Presenter
And that meant you were available for men. How did you feel about that? You must have been shocked to to overhear that. Obviously, he hadn't meant for you to hear him, but you know.
Leslie Caron
No, he hasn't.
Presenter
I remembered it for years and years and years and years, but uh nevertheless I just kept doing it because I loved it.
Presenter
At sixteen you started at the famous Roland Pettis company Le Ballet de Champs Elysees, and during one performance you were spotted by someone in the audience, Gene Kelly. A year later you got an irresistible offer. What was it?
Presenter
I received a phone call saying
Presenter
Leslie Chinkelly has decided and the studio.
Presenter
have decided you're going to be the leading lady in their most important musical called An American in Paris?
Presenter
Oh?
Presenter
What's that?
Presenter
And Gershwin.
Presenter
Uh who?
Presenter
Gertrude, the greatest American composer of the day. Speaking of music, we'd better have your fourth disc now. What's your next choice?
Presenter
Miss Otis Regrets. Now I always was very touched by that song. It's all about the lynching of black people.
Presenter
And Ella Fitzgerald sings it fabulously well.
Speaker 2
And the moment before she died
Speaker 2
She lifted up her lovely head and cried
Leslie Caron
Yeah.
Speaker 2
Maddoo
Leslie Caron
Maybe.
Leslie Caron
Uh
Speaker 2
Miss O
Presenter
Regrets she's unable to lunch today
Presenter
Miss Otis Regrets. Ella Fitzgerald. So Leslie Caron, you got the part in An American in Paris. You flew out to Los Angeles and started filming. You've described Gene Kelly as having a mathematical technician's passion and a kid's imagination, which sounds like a wonderful combination. How did you find working with him?
Presenter
He called me the kid and he called me
Presenter
Leicester the Pastor.
Presenter
Uh, but he looked after me. I know that you were still quite shy at that point, though. You started out doing some of your some of your scenes with your back to the camera.
Presenter
Yes, Jean would tell me.
Presenter
Kiddo, turn your face towards the camera, or your grandmother won't know you were in the film.
Presenter
You know pushover, though, Leslie. You also had ideas of your own about how you wanted your character to look, for example. You had strong thoughts on her hair, I think. Yes, I thought those people don't know what the latest Paris fashion is. I keep telling them shorter, shorter, shorter. But, you know, they wouldn't do it. So, the night before, I took my little nail scissors, I chopped it all. I chopped my hair like a boy. So I arrived.
Presenter
At make up disaster.
Presenter
I mean, everybody turned up the producer, Vincent Minelli, Jean Kelly, of course, and I was with my
Presenter
shoulders against the brick wall, and they were all facing me exactly like the firing squad. So I bet they weren't too happy. No. How did they w what w what happened? How did you work? They shook their heads.
Leslie Caron
Oh have
Presenter
And said, Oh my God. And then Jean took me aside and said, Honey.
Presenter
The fire goes for less than that.
Presenter
And they had to postpone the shooting that day and for a whole week or two or three.
Presenter
And put in other scenes. I mean, it was a dishonour, you can't do that.
Presenter
It's time for your fifth disc, Leslie, and this I think relates to another of your co-stars, doesn't it?
Presenter
Well, Frederica was simply adorable.
Presenter
And polite
Presenter
And one day he said
Presenter
You step on my foot. I said, No, friend, you stepped on my foot. Oh, so sorry, so sorry.
Presenter
I stepped on the foot of Redister.
Speaker 2
We're drinking, my friend.
Speaker 2
To the end of
Leslie Caron
Yeah.
Speaker 2
Uh
Leslie Caron
A brief episode.
Leslie Caron
Naked one for my baby.
Leslie Caron
And one
Leslie Caron
Father
Speaker 2
I got the routine.
Speaker 2
So drop another nickel in the machine.
Presenter
Yeah.
Presenter
Fred Astaire, with one for my baby, from the film The Sky's the Limit. Leslie Carrone, you're one of only six women who's danced with both Fred Astaire and Jean Kelly. I know better than to ask you your favourite dancer because you won't tell me. But tell me a little bit about how their styles compared. What was it like dancing with them? May I also mention Baryzhnikov and Nureyev? I mean.
Presenter
Please do. Okay, okay, I'm boasting, but I did.
Leslie Caron
Okay, okay, yeah.
Presenter
I'm never going to answer that one, because they were both very different. One was very modern and more like a footballer, which has beautiful gestures, beautiful bodies.
Presenter
It was more sports, that's Jean, and Fred was always one and a half foot off the ground.
Presenter
He made everything beautiful. I saw him walk into a shop.
Presenter
and walked to the counter and he was dancing.
Presenter
He walked beautifully.
Presenter
So Leslie, you got married at 19, but that relationship ended four years later. And in 1955, you came to London to star in a stage production of Gigi. It was directed by Peter Hall, who went on to found the Royal Shakespeare Company. You fell completely in love with Peter and became pregnant with your son Christopher. You said about that time that it was a matter of survival to have this child and live with this remarkable man. Why did you feel so strongly about where your future lay?
Presenter
Oh, I think it's important to follow your heart.
Presenter
Don't follow plans that's deadly. No, you have to follow your heart wh wherever it leads you. And I was so in love with Peter.
Presenter
And I succeeded in having two
Presenter
Remarkable children.
Presenter
So we started a good thing there.
Presenter
In nineteen fifty eight you went on to play Gigi in the feature film, but you later found out that your singing parts had been dubbed. How did you feel about that? Terrible. I was very, very angry because
Presenter
Arthur Freed hadn't told me. He was the producer, Arthur Fried. Yeah. Did you talk to him about it? Did you speak to him?
Presenter
I went up to his office, and as soon as I sat down he said, Just a minute, got up and walked out towards his secretary, and then there I was, waiting, waiting, waiting, and after about ten minutes I stood up and said
Presenter
To the secretary, what's happened? Where's
Presenter
I'll say
Presenter
And she said, Oh, didn't he tell you? He left ten minutes ago.
Presenter
That's Joe Biz.
Presenter
That's Arthur Frege. He was a great, great, great producer, but.
Presenter
He didn't like confrontation.
Presenter
Leslie, I want to take you on a few years. Your marriage to Peter Hall was under strain. You'd separated and you then had a two year affair with the actor Warren Beatty. You became Hollywood's it couple. How do you look back at that time in your life?
Presenter
Well, what distressed me was that Peter didn't want
Presenter
Me to work?
Presenter
and didn't want to work with me.
Presenter
I was to stay home. So I walked out.
Leslie Caron
Mm-hmm.
Presenter
And Warren happened to be there.
Presenter
And what was life with him like?
Presenter
Well, Warren was real Hollywood.
Presenter
He understood the workings of Hollywood, what you have to do to keep your status and so on. Always be in front of the press. And for me that was exhausting, and I didn't like that. I thought this was artificial.
Presenter
So our affair lasted two years, that was it.
Presenter
It's time for some more music, I think. This is your sixth choice. Why are you taking it to the island with you, and what is it?
Presenter
The Requiem
Presenter
from Mozart, which to me is perhaps the most beautiful piece ever written. Hearing a Requiem in a Church You can't stop crying. It's so beautiful.
Presenter
Part of the opening of Mozart's Requiem in D minor, performed by the Vienna Singferine Choir with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Herbert von Karian. Leslie Caron, in nineteen sixty seven you received some terrible news. Your mother had taken her own life. It must have been a dreadful time for you. How did you cope?
Presenter
You don't cope.
Presenter
You you survive, but you don't cope.
Presenter
I'm so sorry there was not much help in those days.
Presenter
But it little by little she
Presenter
She she got worse and worse, drinking and taking pills.
Presenter
No, it it just was I guess a real down moment in my life very, very down.
Presenter
I mean, it must have been devastating for all of you and and and obviously, you know, you you had your own life to keep going as well. Yes, and of course I had two lovely children.
Presenter
That I had to take care of.
Presenter
The 70s and 80s were difficult for you professionally too. The acting jobs dried up, so you started writing fiction and you even renovated a property in Burgundy which you turned into an inn. But your mental health began to deteriorate and you had your own problems with alcohol too. It must have felt like a time of such uncertainty.
Presenter
Yes, but I was determined to survive. Who helped you? Who did you turn to?
Presenter
I went to
Presenter
Places where they
Presenter
They cure you for
Presenter
addiction and
Presenter
Digital
Presenter
Pretty good job, about it.
Presenter
And I decided
Presenter
Two
Presenter
Come.
Presenter
Close to my family.
Presenter
I moved to London.
Presenter
And that was very important for me.
Presenter
I do believe in looking for happiness.
Presenter
So
Presenter
You get there if you want to.
Presenter
I think it's time for some more music. It's your seventh disc today, Leslie. What's it going to be, and why have you selected it?
Presenter
Well, there's one American singer whom I really admired.
Presenter
Randy Newman.
Presenter
And he wrote one song about pollution. It's called Burn On. And it's about a river that's so polluted that it burns on. I mean, it's a figure of speech, but the song is absolutely wonderful.
Presenter
There's a red moon rising.
Presenter
On the Cuyahoga River
Leslie Caron
Oh.
Presenter
No
Speaker 3
Holding in the clean
Leslie Caron
Two
Presenter
There's a red
Presenter
Moon rise
Presenter
On the Cuyahoga River
Presenter
Rolling into Cleveland to the lake
Presenter
Randy Newman and Bernard. So, Leslie Carron, life had started to get better and get brighter. You started getting parts again. In 2002, you starred in the merchant ivory film Le Divos, and a few years later, you won an Emmy Award for your performance in the American television series Law and Order Special Victims Unit. I wonder what the experience of looking back at your life and your career is like for you, Leslie. Are you proud of your achievements? I know you were very hard on yourself when you were. I'm much more older than I used to be.
Leslie Caron
Hard on yourself when you're young.
Presenter
I used to think, oh, I've done nothing, I have never succeeded in anything.
Leslie Caron
I use
Presenter
I used to be very negative about my career.
Presenter
I'm now, I think, I've done pretty well. Yeah.
Presenter
I'm about to cast you away to our desert island. It's not the first time, but of course you haven't been there for a while. What will you miss most, do you think? Friends, friends, family. Dogs. I am more and more impressed by animals and their companionship, their kindness, their solicitude for us humans. We do have one more disc to hear from you before you go. What's your last choice to day going to be? Only for what?
Presenter
Sung by Yves Moutheau
Presenter
Not only is it a great song,
Presenter
But
Presenter
I knew the two people
Presenter
Involved. I knew Jacques Prevert quite well.
Presenter
He was a friend of Felix.
Presenter
Jean Venoir
Presenter
and used to come and see our play.
Presenter
'Cause I did a play with Jean Noir in Paris.
Presenter
Uh he used to come
Presenter
Oh, you know, two, three, four times, always with his cigarette bit hanging out of his mouth.
Presenter
Also the music is by Joseph Cosmal.
Presenter
And Cosmar was a wonderful composer, and the play that I did with Renoir had music by Cosmar. So this Les Faux Mortes is very dear to me.
Presenter
Des jours reunusétienz ami.
Presenter
Right.
Leslie Caron
Certain la viette flubelle.
Leslie Caron
Elle solais ple brilliant cojourdui.
Leslie Caron
Le fayum de sur masta la belle
Leslie Caron
What?
Leslie Caron
Rune pasubliers.
Leslie Caron
Les pa morte sur masta pa
Presenter
Le Foyer Mortes, performed by Yves Montan.
Presenter
Composed by Joseph Cosma, with lyrics by Jacques Privert.
Presenter
So, Leslie Caron, it's time I'm going to cast you away to the desert island. I'm going to give you the Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare to take with you. I'm sure you remember from the first time around. You can also choose a book of your own. What would you like to have with you?
Leslie Caron
Uh
Speaker 3
Yeah.
Leslie Caron
Okay.
Presenter
Of all the great, great books written
Presenter
In history I've chosen something quite modest.
Presenter
It is called The Sixth Sense of Animals, and it's written by Maurice Burton.
Presenter
It's a whole book about stories of animals who have given their lives to save humans.
Presenter
And if ever I'm in a dark mood, that's the book I will read. You can also, Leslie, have a luxury item. What have you chosen for that? You won't believe it. It's a cutlass.
Presenter
Every girl needs a cutlass on a desert island.
Leslie Caron
Every day
Presenter
Now, I happen to know that your idea of a cutlass takes you back to filming Father Goose in Jamaica with Carrie Grant. You stayed in a house with your own butler. What happened, Leslie?
Presenter
Well, we were each given a house. Carrie had a house, I had a house.
Presenter
and every morning my butler, who was dressed in black with a bow tie and a pair of black shoes, would take off the shoes,
Presenter
Take the cutlass between his teeth and climb up the cocoanut tree.
Presenter
And when he got to a coconut, slam, he would.
Presenter
Get one or two coconuts for breakfast. Well, you know, Leslie, I'm not really supposed to allow you to choose a practical item for your luxury. But because this is involving Carrie Grant, you, this amazing story and the possibility of you shinning up a tree to hack down some coconuts, I'm absolutely going to allow you this cutlass. How could I refuse? Of course, it's yours. Thank you for that story. Thank you.
Leslie Caron
Thank you for that story.
Presenter
And finally, one more question, Leslie Caron. Which one track of the eight pieces that you've shared with us today would you save from the waves if you could choose only one?
Presenter
I think Maria Carla's mi camano, me, me, it's delicious. She had such a fabulous voice.
Presenter
Leslie Caron, thank you so very much for letting us hear your Desert Island discs.
Presenter
What a pleasure it was
Presenter
Thank you.
Presenter
I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Leslie, and I do love that image of her shining up a coconut tree with a cutlass between her teeth. We've cast many other actresses away, including Lauren Bacall, Dame Helen Mirren, Dame Emma Thompson, and Helen McCrory. You can find their episodes in our Desert Island Discs programme archive and through BBC Sounds. The studio manager for today's programme was Jackie Marjoram, the assistant producer was Christine Pavlovsky, and the producer was Paula McGinley. Next time, my guest will be the writer Anne Tyler. I do hope you'll join us.
Speaker 2
Alright, here we go OT. 5, 6, 7, 8. Dance. It has the power to connect and to entertain. And in a new series for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds, I explore the iconic dancers who have been doing just that. Dance, it really, I think, saved my life. Join me, Oti Mawuse, as I delve into the lives of the innovators and the mall breakers who have changed dance forever.
Leslie Caron
Gene Kelly was this working class guy that I just really connected with that.
Speaker 2
Ultima voices Dancing Legends on Radio 4 and PVC sounds.
Presenter asks
I want to ask you about dancing. You started taking ballet lessons during the war. It was something your mother had insisted on. Why do you think she was so determined for you to dance? And how did you feel about it?
The thing is, she never enjoyed talking about anything else but ballet. So I automatically, in order to get the attention of my mother and perhaps her admiration, I thought ballet is the way.
Presenter asks
So Leslie, you got married at 19… You fell completely in love with Peter and became pregnant with your son Christopher. You said about that time that it was a matter of survival to have this child and live with this remarkable man. Why did you feel so strongly about where your future lay?
Oh, I think it's important to follow your heart. Don't follow plans that's deadly. No, you have to follow your heart wh wherever it leads you. And I was so in love with Peter. And I succeeded in having two Remarkable children. So we started a good thing there.
Presenter asks
Leslie, I want to take you on a few years. Your marriage to Peter Hall was under strain. You'd separated and you then had a two year affair with the actor Warren Beatty. You became Hollywood's it couple. How do you look back at that time in your life?
Well, what distressed me was that Peter didn't want Me to work? and didn't want to work with me. I was to stay home. So I walked out. And Warren happened to be there. And what was life with him like? Well, Warren was real Hollywood. He understood the workings of Hollywood, what you have to do to keep your status and so on. Always be in front of the press. And for me that was exhausting, and I didn't like that. I thought this was artificial. So our affair lasted two years, that was it.
Presenter asks
I'm about to cast you away to our desert island… What will you miss most, do you think?
Friends, friends, family. Dogs. I am more and more impressed by animals and their companionship, their kindness, their solicitude for us humans.
“Discipline is everything in life, I think, if you want to live a long life, which I'm trying to do.”
“My grandparents did not quite approve. Because she had been a dancer, meaning she'd shown her legs on the stage. Furthermore, her hair was bleached, and furthermore, she smoked.”
“I thought ballet is the way.”
“You don't cope. You you survive, but you don't cope.”
“I do believe in looking for happiness. So You get there if you want to.”
“I used to think, oh, I've done nothing, I have never succeeded in anything. I used to be very negative about my career. I'm now, I think, I've done pretty well.”