Publicity still for Caesar and Cleopatra

A publicity still for the 1945 film Caesar and Cleopatra in which Vivien Leigh starred alongside Claude Rains, Stewart Grainer and Flora Robson. These kinds of stills were produced by studio publicity departments for promoting the film and could be used in press coverage. The typed text pasted on the reverse of the image gives some brief information about the production and its stars.

The film was directed by Gabriel Pascale and was adapted from the 1901 play by George Bernard Shaw. The production was shot in Technicolor and was reportedly the most expensive film ever produced in Britain.

The film performed well in America but ultimately lost money.

Vivien Leigh again played the role of Cleopatra on stage in 1951 at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York where she alternated nightly between the two plays Caeser and Cleopatra and Antony and Cleopatra. 

According to biographer Alan Strachan, Vivien Leigh did not see the film until six years after its release when she was preparing to again play the role on stage.



References
Strachan, Alan. 2019. Dark Star: A Biography of Vivien Leigh. London: I.B. Tauris.