drkbogarde:One night, early on in the production, we were all gathered together in a dank, abandoned
drkbogarde:One night, early on in the production, we were all gathered together in a dank, abandoned chapel. Björn and I were dressed and ready. A little removed from us, as she almost always seemed to be in some curious way, Silvana Mangano sat in a chair doing a crossword. Her hair and make-up finished, but not yet in her costume. She wore a pair of slacks and a fur coat; quiet and contained.‘You know, man?’ Björn was twisting his sailor cap thoughtfully in his hands. ‘You know, she is just so beautiful. Don’t you think so?’‘Yes, I do. The funny thing is, she doesn’t. She thinks that she is plain’'You kid me! She thinks that? I think she is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life, man’'Why don’t you tell her? Or have you?’'Tell her! Crazy, man, crazy’He looked at me with astonishment. 'Tell her. She’d think we were nuts’'No she wouldn’t. If you really feel that about her, that she is so beautiful, then I think it is your duty to tell her so. It’s a very great compliment from a young man: I’ll come with you’'You would?’'Sure. We’ll both go across and kneel…’'Kneel! He looked horrified, twisted his cap around and around'You can’t make a statement of that kind to a woman is she is sitting and you are towering over her, and so we kneel’Which we did, one on either side of her chair. Silvana looked up without surprise.'We are probably interrupting you…’ She waved my remark away lightly. 'But Björn has something which he wants to say to you’He was kneeling upright in his blue sailor suit, a tumble of fair hair around his shoulders, cap in his hand. 'I think that you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in all my life’, he said, and looked across at me.'And I agree’, I saidSilvana didn’t move; a very small, warm smile. Then she put out her hand and touched his cheek. 'Thank you, Björn. You know you are kneeling in your new uniform?’'I know’'Thank you’, she said gently. 'You are both mad. But thank you, thank you, really’Back in our chairs across the dingy chapel, Björn pushed his hair from his forehead. 'I think she liked that, she had tears,’ he said. 'That was a very nice thing to do, man’. From Bogarde’s autobiography, “An Orderly Man”. -- source link