Vivien Leigh, the
greatest beauty of her time, died on 8 July 1967 at her home in Eaton
Square, Belgravia, London at the age of 53. The actress was under
treatment for a recurrence of tuberculosis which she had incurred in
1944.
Vivien Leigh was
born Vivian Mary Hartley at Darjeeling in the then Bengal Presidency
of British India in 1913. At the age of six she went to the Convent
of the Sacred Heart in southwest London. She was removed from the
school by her father, who took her travelling through Europe and she
was educated in schools in the areas they travelled. In 1931 she
returned to Britain and was enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dramatic
Art in London. In the same year she meets Herbert Leigh Holman, a
barrister 13 years her senior and they wed on 20 December 1932. On 12
October 1933 in London, she gave birth to a daughter, Suzanne.
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| Vivien Leigh, age two, with her mother Gertrude Mary France in 1915 |
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| Vivien Leigh age three, first stage performance |
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| Herbert Leigh Holman and Vivien Leigh at their wedding in 1932 |
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| Vivien Leigh with her daughter Suzanne in 1935 |
Her film debut was
in "Things are Looking Up" (1935). She took Vivien Leigh (her
husbands middle name) as her professional name and made her first
West End appearance in Ashley Dukes's "Mask of Virtue" (1935).
she was an overnight success and was quickly signed up by Alexander
Korda for the film "Fire Over England" in which she played
opposite Laurence Olivier. They appeared together again in 1937 in
the Old Vic production of "Hamlet" at Elsinore, Denmark.
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| Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier in "Fire Over England" (1937) |
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| Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh in Elsinore, Denmark (1937) |
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| Vivien Leigh in "Fire Over England" (1937) |
In 1938 she was
introduced to producer David O. Selznick for the role of Scarlett
O'Hara in the planned film version of Margaret Mitchell's novel "Gone
with the Wind". Other candidates for the role were Paulette
Goddard, Jean Arthur and Joan Bennett. The film appeared a year
later, in December 1939, and won her an Academy Award. On 31 August
1940, after her divorce with Leigh Holman, she married Laurence
Olivier in Santa Barbara, California, in a ceremony attended only by
their witnesses, Katharine Hepburn and Garson Kanin.
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| Vivien Leigh signing her "Gone with the Wind" contract (1938) |
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| Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh in "Gone with the Wind" (1939) |
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| Vivien Leigh as Scarlett
O'Hara in "Gone with the Wind" (1939) |
An international
career was open to her, but after a two more Hollywood films with her
husband, the Oliviers returned to wartime Britain. During her tour,
performing for troops, through North Africa in 1943 she became ill
with a persistent cough and fevers. In 1944 she was diagnosed as
having tuberculosis in her left lung. While filming "Caesar and
Cleopatra" (1945) she discovered she was pregnant, but she suffered
a miscarriage. She fell into depression and several breakdowns
related to bipolar disorder. Her husband Laurence Olivier came to
recognise the symptoms of an impending episode as several days of
hyperactivity followed by a period of depression and an explosive
breakdown, after which she would have no memory of the event.
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| Vivien Leigh in "That Hamilton Woman" (1941) |
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| Vivien Leigh in "Caesar and Cleopatra" (1945) |
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| Vivien Leigh in "Anna Karenina"(1948) |
In 1948 she joined
her husband in the Old Vic Theatre, and they embarked on a six-month
tour of Australia and New Zealand. The success of the tour encouraged
the Oliviers to make their first West End appearance together. After
that Leigh was cast in the role of Blanche DuBois in the West End
stage production of Tennessee Williams's "A Streetcar Named
Desire". After the stage production she was engaged for the film
version with Marlon Brando in 1951 which won her a second Academy
Award for Best Actress, a British Academy of Film and Television Arts
Award for Best British Actress, and a New York Film Critics Circle
Award for Best Actress.
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| Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh in "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951) |
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| Vivien Leigh and Jack Merivale in the play "Lady of the Camellias" (1961) |
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| Vivien Leigh and Lee Marvin in "Ship of Fools" (1966) |
In 1958 Leigh began
a relationship with the actor Jack Merivale. Merivale knew Leigh's
medical condition and assured Olivier he would care for her. In 1960
Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier divorced. Since then, most of her
appearances had been abroad. Her last film was "Ship of Fools"
(1966).
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| Vivien Leigh (right) with her mother (left), her daughter Suzanne (middle) and her grandson |
