Vivien LeighBy: Zhunusova

Aygerim, IR-23

Vivien Leigh, Lady Olivier (5 November 1913 – 8 July 1967) was a British stage and film actress. Vivien Leigh is best remembered for her Academy Award-winning roles as the

American southern belles Scarlett O'Hara and Blanche DuBois.Born Vivian Mary Hartley in the campus of St. Paul's School, Darjeeling in the then Bengal Presidency of British India, she was the only child of Ernest Hartley, an English officer in

the Indian Cavalry, and his wife, Gertrude Mary Frances (née Yackjee; 1888–1972), a devout Roman Catholic, believed to be of Irish and Armenian descent. Ernest and Gertrude

Hartley were married in 1912 in Kensington, London. In 1917, Ernest Hartley was transferred to Bangalore, while Gertrude and Vivian stayed in Ootacamund. Young Vivian made her first stage appearance at the age of three, reciting

"Little Bo Peep" for her mother's amateur theatre group. Gertrude Hartley tried to instill in her daughter an appreciation of literature and introduced her to the works of Hans Christian Andersen, Lewis Carroll and Rudyard Kipling, as well as stories of Greek

mythology and Indian folklore. At the age of six, Vivian Hartley was sent to the Convent of the Sacred Heart (now Woldingham School) in Roehampton, south-west London,

fromLoreto Convent, Darjeeling, by her mother. One of her friends there was future actress Maureen O'Sullivan, two years her senior, to whom Vivian expressed her desire to become "a great actress". She was removed from the school by her father, who took her travelling

in Europe with schools in the areas they travelled providing her schooling. They returned to Britain in 1931. She attended one of O'Sullivan's films playing in London's West End and told her parents of her ambitions to become an actress. Her father enrolled her at the

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London. Vivian Hartley met Herbert Leigh Holman, known as Leigh Holman, a barrister thirteen (13)

years her senior, in 1931. Despite his disapproval of "theatrical people", they wed on 20 December 1932, and she terminated her studies at RADA. On 12 October 1933 in London,

she gave birth to a daughter, Suzanne, later Mrs Robin Farrington, who, decades later, would make Vivien Leigh a grandmother three times over.

Vivien was proficient in the cello and piano, and took an interest in

studying ballet. She also loved languages and Egyptian history.

In January 1932 Vivien met Leigh Holman and

they married in December of that

year. A year later she gave birth to their

daughter Suzanne.

The first film Vivien had a small part in was

"Things Are Looking Up" (1934), but her one line

was cut. During the same year she saw

Laurence Olivier in a play and was so star struck that she was

convinced one day they would marry.

A year later she got the leading role in her first big play "The Mask of

Virtue". This play garnered much fame for the young starlet. After

being introduced to Shakespearean plays,

she starred in "Hamlet" and "A Midsummer

Night's Dream" opposite Olivier. In 1936 Vivien and Olivier starred in a movie together called "Fire Over England".

Meeting Laurence Olivier

Laurence Olivier saw Leigh in The Mask of Virtue, and

a friendship developed after he congratulated her on her performance. Olivier and Leigh began an affair

while acting as lovers in Fire Over England

(1937), but Olivier was still married to actress Jill

Esmond.

Olivier had been attempting to broaden his film career. He was not well known in the United States despite his success in Britain,

and earlier attempts to introduce him to

American audiences had failed. Offered the

role of Heathcliff in Samuel Goldwyn's

production of Wuthering Heights

 (1939), he travelled to Hollywood, leaving Leigh in London.

Goldwyn and the film's director, William Wyler,

offered Leigh the secondary role of Isabella; but she

refused, preferring the role of Cathy, which

went to Merle Oberon.

Around this time Vivien read Margaret Mitchell's

timeless novel "Gone With the

Wind". She became

determined to land the role of Scarlett in the much talked

about film. That same year Vivien did a screen test for "Gone With the Wind" and

snagged the role.

Casting to the “Gone with the

Wind”

Gone with the Wind brought Leigh immediate attention and fame; but she

was quoted as saying, "I'm not a film star – I'm an actress.

Being a film star – just a film star – is

such a false life, lived for fake values and

for publicity. Actresses go on for a long time and there

are always marvelous parts to play."[26] The

film won 10 Academy Awards

 including a Best Actress award for Leigh, who also

won a New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress

.

The First Night in Atlanta

In February 1940, Jill Esmond agreed to divorce Olivier, and Leigh Holman agreed to divorce Leigh,

although they maintained a strong friendship for the

rest of Leigh's life. Esmond was granted custody of

Tarquin, her son with Olivier. Holman was granted custody of

Suzanne, his daughter with Leigh. On 31 August 1940,

Olivier and Leigh were married at the San Ysidro

Ranch in Santa Barbara, California, in a ceremony attended only by their witnesses, Katharine Hepburn and Garson Kanin. Leigh had

hoped to co-star with Olivier and made a screen

test for Rebecca, which was to be directed by Alfred Hitchcock with

Olivier in the leading role. After viewing Leigh's

screen test, Selznick noted that "she doesn't seem

right as to sincerity or age or innocence", a view

shared by Hitchcock and Leigh's mentor, George

Cukor

In 1937, after acting in "Hamlet" with Olivier, she left

her husband and moved to Chelsea with the new love of

her life. Vivien's daughter went to live with her

grandmother. She was also offered the lead in the film "Waterloo

Bridge". Leigh Holman filed for divorce in 1940, the same

year that Vivien won Best Actress at the Academy

Awards for her phenomenal portrayal of heroine Scarlett

O'Hara. "That Hamilton Woman" was the last film that

Vivien and Olivier made together.

“Waterloo Bridge”

During the war Vivien filmed

"Caesar & Cleopatra" (1944). While

shooting Vivien suffered a

miscarriage after a fall. Around this time

she began experiencing mood-swings and severe health problems, a

result of manic-depression and

tuberculosis, which damaged her

marriage to Olivier. She was asked to

rest to take care of her illness but Vivien

preferred to continue working. In 1945 she starred in

"The Skin of Our Teeth" which was

highly acclaimed as one of her best

films. Finally, to help her health, she

agreed to rest for six months.

The year 1947 saw Vivien

playing Anna Karenina in the

film. While shooting she

suffered bouts of depression.

Most likely while in one of these

depressions she told Olivier she no longer loved

him.

Anna Karenina

Lady Hamilton

In 1960, she and Olivier divorced and Olivier soon married actress 

Joan Plowright. In his autobiography, Olivier discussed the years of problems they had experienced because of Leigh's

illness: "Throughout her possession by that uncannily evil monster, manic depression, with its deadly ever-tightening spirals, she retained her own individual

canniness – an ability to disguise her true mental condition from almost all except me, for whom she could hardly be expected to

take the trouble."

In May 1967, she was rehearsing to appear with Michael Redgrave in 

Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance when she suffered a recurrence of tuberculosis.[47]Following several

weeks of rest, she seemed to recover. On the night of 7 July 1967, Merivale left her as usual, to perform in a play, and returned home around midnight

to find her asleep. About thirty minutes later, he returned to the

bedroom and discovered her body on the floor. She had been attempting to

walk to the bathroom and, as her lungs filled with liquid, collapsed. She

was cremated at the Golders Green Crematorium and her ashes were scattered on the lake at her

home, Tickerage Mill, near Blackboys, East Sussex, England. A memorial

service was held at St Martin-in-the-Fields, with a final tribute read by John Gielgud. In the United States, she became the first actress honoured by "The Friends of

the Libraries at the University of Southern California". The

ceremony was conducted as a memorial service, with selections from her films shown and tributes provided by such associates as George Cukor.

LegacyLeigh was considered one of the most

beautiful actresses of her day, and her

directors emphasised this in most of her

films. When asked if she believed her

beauty had been an impediment to being taken seriously as an

actress, she said, "People think that if

you look fairly reasonable, you can't possibly act, and as I

only care about acting, I think beauty can be a great handicap, if you really want to look like

the part you're playing, which isn't

necessarily like you."

Some interesting Facts1. When she began working with a talent agent at the beginning of her career, her married name was Vivian Holman. Her agent wanted her to change her name to “April Morn.” She instead chose Vivien (changed

spelling) Leigh, after her husband Herbert Leigh Holman.2. Vivien and her ex-husband Leigh Holman remained close throughout her

life.3. Vivien Leigh was quoted as saying that she never forgave the first critic

who gave her a favorable review and called her a “great actress” because it put what she described as “such an onus and such a responsibility onto me,

which I simply wasn’t able to carry.”4. She ultimately won the role of Scarlett over Paulette Goddard, Jean Arthur,

Joan Bennett, who had been narrowed down for the part.5. Both Scarlett O’Hara’s and Vivien Leigh’s parents were French and Irish.

6. In the famous “I’ll never be hungry again” scene in Gone With the Wind—the part where Scarlett snarfs down a radish, then vomits—the vomiting

noises had to be recorded by Olivia de Havilland. Whether this was because Vivien Leigh could not produce a realistic enough retching sound OR refused

to do it because it wasn’t ladylike remains a point of dispute.7. Vivien Leigh was paid between $25,000 and $30,000 for her role of Scarlett. (Clark Gable was paid $120,000 for his role as Rhett Butler.)

8. Vivien Leigh was 25 when she filmed Gone With the Wind. The actress who played her mother was 28.

9. Vivien Leigh, a British actress, won two Oscars—both for playing the part of Southern belles: for Scarlett O’Hara/Gone With the Wind and Blanche

DuBois/A Streetcar Named Desire.10. Leigh reportedly had disproportionately large hands, and wore gloves

frequently to cover them up. (Leigh was 5’3″)11. As a publicity maneuver, fans of Gone With the Wind (the book) were asked to vote by ballot as to who should play Scarlett in the movie. Out of

hundreds of ballots, Vivien Leigh received one vote.

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