 Bette Davis (qv) had originally wanted Laurence Olivier (qv) for  the role of Lord Essex, claiming that Errol Flynn (I) (qv) could  not speak blank verse well. She remained extremely upset about this  through the entire filming, and Flynn and Davis never worked again  together in a film, but according to Olivia de Havilland (qv), she  and Davis screened the film again a short while before Daviss  stroke. At films end, Davis turned to de Havilland and declared  that she had been wrong about Flynn, and that he gave a fine  performance as Essex.