Julie Christie and Warren Beatty were the most beautiful and celebrated couple of the late 60s and early 70s.
By Chris Hastings, "Telegraph" Arts and Media Editor - 03 May 2008

Beatty publicly referred to Julie Christie as his wife even though they never married, and she gave up a string of roles to be close to him. But newly discovered correspondence seen by "The Sunday Telegraph" shows that Christie's friends did not approve of the match.

The director John Schlesinger urged her to break up with Beatty, whom he described as a serial womaniser who "gets through women like a businessman through a dozen oysters". Schlesinger, who catapulted her to fame by giving her roles in the films "Billy Liar" and "Darling", thought Beatty would be bad for her career.

Christie and Beatty first saw each other at the 1966 Royal Command performance of the film Born Free. Beatty is said to have fallen for Christie while watching her shake hands with the Queen. The couple began seeing each other shortly after Beatty paid a visit to her on the set of the film "Petulia". At first the romance remained an open secret among Hollywood's A-list. But by 1968 the couple were being seen together in public.

It was at this time that Schelsinger, who directed film classics such as "Midnight Cowboy" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday", contacted Christie to try to persuade her to end the relationship. On April 22 1968 he wrote to film critic and friend Peter Harcourt: "I've caught glimpses of Julie. She's very much hooked up to Warren Beatty these days and I am not at all sure that this is really very good for her future. "He seems to get through women like a businessman through a dozen oysters, but one can't interfere in these matters, even though he has tried his best to do so with her career. I've written a very lengthy letter to her explaining my feelings and about everything and I've never had a reply. And since at last she's allowed herself to be seen on television in his company at the Oscars, I suppose it's all official."

Christie, however, did not follow her friend's advice. In 1971 rumours began to circulate that the couple had secretly married while playing lovers in Robert Altman's film McCabe and Mrs Miller. The famously private Christie told reporters: "If we are, we are. If we're not we're not." Beatty continued to see other women during his time with her and, tired of his womanising, she broke off the relationship in 1973. However, they remained friends and Christie co-starred alongside Beatty in "Shampoo" in 1975, and "Heaven Can Wait" three years later. Beatty went on to dedicate his 1981 Oscar-winning masterpiece "Reds" to "Jules".

Schlesinger's exchange of letters with Christie, given to the British Film Institute after his death in 2003, reveal a touching concern for his protégé. At the beginning of 1965, the 24-year-old actress had just begun work on David Lean's epic "Doctor Zhivago", and was nervously awaiting the release of "Darling", for which she later won the Best Actress Oscar. In postcards to Schlesinger from the film's set, Christie reveals that she and her co-star Tom Courtenay were feeling lovesick and homesick.

"As you probably know David works very slowly, so I've had a lot of free time, which has enabled me to catch up on sleep, but is dreadfully depressing. Tom's been my help in time of need - we've both been very homesick and lovesick (he particularly, me generally). So we have become great friends and moon around like a couple of lovesick cows. Also, he's the only person in the whole unit with any camp to him. David is marvellous but eternally serious."

Christie later writes: "I have suddenly been getting awful fears about me in Darling. God I do hope I don't let everyone down."

In a letter sent two months later, Schelsinger told Christie: "Well your ears should certainly be burning - it [Darling] has been a huge success my dear and you of course need never look back. Though as I say that 'of course' we both know that it's a silly remark. The success we have in America carries with it problems."

Schlesinger's comments about Beatty do not appear to have damaged his own friendship with Christie. The letters show he went on a three-day break to Arizona with her in 1969.