Vivien Leigh
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Vivien Leigh on stage and screen. Vivien Leigh in 1948. Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando in the 1951 film A Streetcar Named Desire. British actress Vivien Leigh (1913–1967) was born in Darjeeling, India; her family returned to England when she was six years old.
TitleDateTheatreRoleThe Green Sash1935GiustaThe Mask of Virtue1935Henriette Duquesnoy1936The Happy Hypocrite1936Jenny Mere- Who Was Vivien Leigh?
- Early Life
- Film and Onstage Debuts
- 'Gone with The Wind'
- Declining Health
- Continued Success
- Final Years and Death
Vivien Leigh was convent-educated in England and throughout Europe and was inspired by her schoolmate Maureen O'Sullivan to embark on an acting career. Leigh earned international popularity and an Academy Award for her unforgettable portrayal of Scarlett O'Hara in David O. Selznick's production of Gone with the Wind.
Leigh was born Vivian Mary Hartley on November 5, 1913, in Darjeeling, India, to an English stockbroker and his Irish wife. The family returned to England when Hartley was six years old. A year later, the precocious Hartley announced to classmate Maureen O'Sullivan that she "was going to be famous." She was right, though her fame would eventually c...
Leigh made both her onstage and film debuts in 1935. She starred in the play The Bash, which wasn't particularly successful but it allowed Leigh to make an impression on producer Sydney Carroll, who soon cast the actress in her first London play; and landed the lead role in the aptly titled movie Things are Looking Up(1935). Although Leigh was init...
Around the same time, American director George Cukor was hunting for the perfect actress to play the lead role of Scarlett O'Hara in his film adaptation of Gone with the Wind. "The girl I select must be possessed of the devil and charged with electricity," Cukor insisted at the time. An impressive list of Hollywood's top actresses, including Kathar...
Tragedy struck in 1944 when Leigh fell during a rehearsal for Caesar and Cleopatraand suffered a miscarriage. Her health took a turn for the worse; she became increasingly unstable while simultaneously battling insomnia, bipolar disorder and a respiratory ailment that was eventually diagnosed as tuberculosis. Hoping for relief, Leigh underwent elec...
That changed in 1949 when Leigh won the part of Blanche Du Bois in a London production of Tennessee Williams's play, A Streetcar Named Desire. After a successful run that lasted nearly a year, Leigh was cast in the same demanding role in Elia Kazan's 1951 Hollywood film adaptation, in which she starred opposite Marlon Brando. Her portrayal of Du Bo...
Despite these triumphs, bipolar disorder continued to take a heavy toll on Leigh. After another miscarriage, she had a breakdown in 1953, forcing her to withdraw from the filming of Elephant Walkand earning her a reputation for being difficult to work with. Additionally, her relationship with Olivier became more and more tumultuous; in 1960, their ...
May 2, 2020 · Up until quite recently, Vivien Leigh, the legendary star of stage and screen, was branded with the label nymphomaniac, a derogatory-sounding term which makes it sound like she was a sex addict.
Apr 2, 2011 · By Kendra + April 2, 2011. In 1966, Elaine Dundy (ex-wife of Kenneth Tynan) interviewed Vivien Leigh backstage at the National Theatre in Washington DC during the run of Ivanov. The article, in which Dundy describes being snubbed by a curiously closed-off Vivien, ran in The Village Voice.
Vivien Leigh, born Vivian Mary Hartley on November 5, 1913, was a British actress renowned for her captivating beauty, exceptional talent, and iconic performances on both stage and screen. Rising to international fame for her portrayal of Scarlett O’Hara in the epic film “Gone with the Wind” (1939), Leigh captivated audiences with her ...
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Despite her fame as a screen actress, Leigh was primarily a stage performer. During her 30-year career, she played roles ranging from the heroines of Noël Coward and George Bernard Shaw comedies to classic Shakespearean characters such as Ophelia, Cleopatra, Juliet and Lady Macbeth.
May 7, 2014 · She had star quality in abundance, and what came across on stage was magnified on the screen. Today I’m going to talk about Vivien Leigh the film star. I’m aware that she would probably hate that. She spent much of her career rejecting that very label and replacing it with “actress.”
