Most of my friends had nowhere to live although there was always somewhere to stay. We were very promiscuous. We became known as the Chelsea Set and we shared much of what we had. When I married Leo we never had two penny's to rub together. Leo got an offer of some work in Italy but there was such a thing as the quota system... you could only have two non-Italians playing major parts in any film. So he couldn't do it. He got a little job but not enough money to cover all our hotel bills. But I would rather be with Leo than anyone if I were in a tight spot... he always thought of a way out. He called a cab for 6 a.m. With all the money we had we left... we fled having written a bad cheque at the hotel. We had to get out. We made our way to the south of France where Leo had been brought up, next door to Somerset Maughan. For a while we exploited Leo's good name and were doing quite well... living at least. Well somehow they found out about the bad cheque in Italy... I think they traced us through our passports. It caught up with us and... God what a terrible fuss! They insisted we left. I was allowed to take only the clothes I stood up in. On a hot day in June I was wearing a winter fur coat and high heels. All my summer clothes were in the cases. Leo put on his beautiful mohair suit. We ran away to Nice where we slept on the beach... him in his suit and me in a winter coat and high heels.
We got back to England and scrambled through the first week until I got another job. It was the week Margaret Rutherford sent us £10... Leo shared it with me and life just about went on. Leo somehow rented a lovely old cottage with a wishing well and doors 1, 2, 3, in the middle. I don't know how he got it. It had an enormous 16 th century hall attached. There was no water and no light but it was good fun. He paid sixteen schillings a week ... low rent from Farmer Perkins. Somehow he got the electric on credit, bought curtains and made it habitable. We had an acre of land just the other side of Peterborough. It had three front doors and a grand hall and if you walked up the stairs the bedrooms were all connected so you could pass straight through. One day the vicar came round to see us and Leo was so rude. He said, "We don't accept visitors". When the vicar who was at the gate said, "When?" Leo said, "Never!" Very rude indeed. Leo was an atheist. He borrowed money from the bank and we paid a gardener. I planted snowdrops around the door. I wonder if they're still there? David went up to build a fireplace in the great hall and Leo got him so drunk in The Markham he knocked all the glasses off the counter and we ended up being banned even though the landlord had a fancy eye for me. Very disappointing. The Markham was lovely a real country pub with polished chairs where the poachers would sit. David did a lovely job on the fireplace... built out of empty whisky bottles. Anyway I received a letter saying I'd got a job in London so I had to come back. Leo had wanted me to give it up and stay with him, but I only ever did at weekends. Leo was naughty he really thought of himself as the squire... come to think off it he was a bit of a show off... but you had to live with it. He had such charm. I always handed my money straight over to him; he could always do much more with money. Leo had his ways. He was never a truly popular man. He was too flamboyant to be a star... far too much the big I am. He went into a nursing home organised for him by Noel Coward... but he was unsociable. He couldn't mix. He described the Chelsea Set as "People who could not be accounted for"
Leo was such a kind man. When he lived in Ebury Street... it was pouring with rain and freezing cold when there was at the door. It was a young girl covered in dirt and ragged clothes and he took her in. She was little more than a tramp. He let her sleep in his bed while he slept on the sofa. He said he wouldn't touch her and she wasn't to worry. He bought her clothes and he had her teeth straightened and he gave her the stage name of Sandra Downe. She went on to quite a glittering career and he never had a penny. He'd worked as a theatrical agent before taking up acting himself... in fact he discovered Margaret Rutherford... who sent us £10 and a lovely thank you to Leo for getting her started one day. We bought a pair of shoes each with it. Long after we divorced I went to visit Leo in Blackheath in the nursing home... he'd become old and sad but I always loved him right to the end. I was working in Burberry's, which I'm sure you know is the Queens raincoat maker and we were busy with their January sales when I got a phone call. One of the floor managers got quite annoyed with me as we couldn't take personal calls but I got the message ... Leo had died that morning. He fell out of bed reaching for a bottle of whisky and couldn't get up again. She got quite upset with herself for being so insensitive but she couldn't have known really. I went with David and my brother Victor to his funeral. There were three people at the funeral.
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