 Following Olivier 's success in Shakespearean stage productions , he made his first foray into Shakespeare on film in 1936 , as Orlando in As You Like It , directed by Paul <unk> , " a charming if lightweight production " , according to Michael Brooke of the British Film Institute 's ( BFI 's ) <unk> . The following year Olivier appeared alongside Vivien Leigh in the historical drama Fire Over England . He had first met Leigh briefly at the Savoy <unk> and then again when she visited him during the run of Romeo and Juliet , probably early in 1936 , and the two had begun an affair sometime that year . Of the relationship , Olivier later said that " I couldn 't help myself with Vivien . No man could . I hated myself for cheating on Jill , but then I had cheated before , but this was something different . This wasn 't just out of lust . This was love that I really didn 't ask for but was drawn into . " While his relationship with Leigh continued he conducted an affair with the actress Ann Todd , and possibly had a homosexual <unk> with the actor Henry <unk> , according to the biographer Michael <unk> . 
