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Vivien Leigh

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Vivien Leigh (1913-1967)

Vivien Leigh (November 5, 1913 – July 7, 1967) was an English actress who achieved outstanding success in both theatre and cinema. She twice won the Academy Award for Best Actress playing "Southern belles", Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind (1939) and Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), but her film appearances were relatively few. She was a more prolific stage performer, highly regarded for playing Shakespearean roles, and for her frequent collaborations with her husband, the actor Laurence Olivier.

Lauded for her beauty, Leigh felt that it prevented her from being taken seriously as an actress and from obtaining some of the roles she sought, a viewpoint shared by some of her contemporaries, but ill health proved to be her greatest obstacle. Affected by bipolar disorder for most of her adult life, Leigh's extreme moods were often misunderstood, and as she gained a reputation for being difficult, her career went through periods of decline. She was further weakened by recurrent bouts of tuberculosis which was first diagnosed in the mid 1940s. After twenty years of marriage, Olivier was no longer able to tolerate her erratic behaviour and they were divorced. Leigh worked sporadically in film and theatre, until her sudden death from tuberculosis.

Early life

She was born Vivian Mary Hartley in Darjeeling, India to Ernest Hartley (who was of English parentage) and Gertrude Robinson Yackje (of Irish descent). An only child, she was sent to the "Convent of the Sacred Heart" in Roehampton, England at the age of six. (The school was also attended by fellow actress-to-be Maureen O'Sullivan). Leigh went on to graduate from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

In 1932 she married Herbert Leigh Holman, and they had a daughter, Suzanne, in 1933. She took her stage name "Leigh" from her husband and used it throughout her acting career.

Acting career

Leigh's career began in the play The Green Sash, though it was Mask of Virtue that brought her to attention. In 1935, she began her film career with such movies as The Village Squire, Things Are Looking Up, and Look Up and Laugh.

In 1937, Leigh starred in four films. Fire Over England and 21 Days (not released until 1940) both co-starred her with Laurence Olivier, and the two entered into a relationship despite the fact that both were married. Dark Journey paired her with Conrad Veidt, and Storm in a Teacup co-starred Rex Harrison. The films were modestly successful in Britain and Leigh was seen as a promising newcomer.

Her success led to her being cast as the flirtatious Elza in A Yank at Oxford with Robert Taylor, Lionel Barrymore and her school friend, Maureen O'Sullivan. The film was her first to be seen widely outside of Britain and it brought her some notice in the United States. Her next role was as the ambitious street performer Libby in St. Martin's Lane, which co-starred Charles Laughton.

Olivier had been attempting to broaden his film career; despite a number of successes in Britain in both the theatre and in film, he was not well known in the United States, and earlier attempts to introduce him to the American market had failed. Offered the role of Heathcliff in Samuel Goldwyn's production of Wuthering Heights (1939), Olivier travelled to Hollywood, leaving Leigh, who was working in a play in London. Goldwyn had been impressed by Leigh's performance in A Yank at Oxford and used her name during negotiations with Merle Oberon to play the role of Cathy in Wuthering Heights in an effort to drive down Oberon's fee. Goldwyn accepted that Oberon's box-office popularity would be to his advantage, and not wanting to risk making the film with two unknown stars, signed Oberon. He and the director William Wyler agreed that Leigh would be a suitable choice for the secondary role of Isabella but Leigh rejected it, telling Wyler she would play Cathy, or nothing. Template:Mn Wyler later recalled "She turned it down. I was astounded. I told Vivien she was totally unknown in America and that she wouldn't get anything better than Isabella for her first Hollywood part". Template:Mn. Without prospects, Leigh travelled to Los Angeles, ostensibly to be with Olivier, however she arranged meetings with prospective employers soon after her arrival.

Hollywood was in the midst of a widely publicized search to find an actress to portray Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939), and when Leigh met Myron Selznick he felt that she possessed the qualities his brother David O. Selznick had been searching for. Myron Selznick took Leigh and Olivier to the set where the "burning of Atlanta" scene was being filmed and introduced Leigh. The following day Leigh had read a scene for Selznick, who organized a screen test and wrote to his wife, "She's the Scarlett dark horse and looks damn good. Not for anyone's ear but your own: it's narrowed down to Paulette [Goddard], Jean Arthur, Joan Bennett and Vivien Leigh". Template:Mn Selznick weighed the problems of Leigh's contract to Alexander Korda, and the possibility of scandal should her adulterous relationship with Olivier be made public, and decided that she was his choice.

The role brought Leigh to mainstream success in Hollywood, and she was acclaimed for her performance, winning an Academy Award for Best Actress for the role however she was frustrated in her aim to work with Olivier, who was also highly in demand following his success in Wuthering Heights. Leigh made a screentest for Rebecca but was told by Selznick that the role would be to "the detriment of your career" and he did not believe audiences would accept her in a timid role after playing the fiery Scarlett, and cast Joan Fontaine. She next sought to play opposite Olivier in Pride and Prejudice but was ruled out of contention, in favour of Greer Garson. Leigh was then signed to appear in Waterloo Bridge on the understanding that Olivier would play the male lead, however Robert Taylor was cast, despite her protests.

Her beauty was also widely commented upon and future directors, along with publicity photographers such as George Hurrell emphasised the glamour that had also brought her attention in Britain. George Cukor noted that Leigh was a "consumate actress, hampered by beauty" Template:Mn and while her beauty contributed to her success, Leigh also felt that it prevented her from playing a wider range of roles, and from being taken more seriously as an actress. Garson Kanin shared her viewpoint, and recalling her years later he said that she was "a stunner whose ravishing beauty often tended to obscure her staggering achievements as an actress. Great beauties are infrequently great actresses – simply because they don't need to be. Vivien was different; ambitious, persevering, serious, often inspired." Template:Mn

In 1940, Leigh arranged for a divorce and Olivier also divorced his wife, the actress Jill Esmond, and they were married. In 1944, Leigh was diagnosed as having a tuberculosis patch on her left lung. Though she continued her career with such plays as Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth, the 1945 film Caesar and Cleopatra, and the 1948 epic film Anna Karenina, her illness was getting worse. In 1952, Leigh won a second Academy Award for her portrayal of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951).

Later life

Leigh suffered two miscarriages during her marriage to Olivier, and the severity of her recurring tuberculosis was incapacitating. She had also been plagued by manic-depression for some time, which was believed to be a factor in the failure to cure her ailment. She received shock therapy in London for clinical depression. In 1960, she and Olivier divorced on supposedly friendly terms, despite the reported volatility in their marriage, and Leigh insisted on keeping the title Lady Olivier until her death. Leigh continued to keep a framed photograph of him on her bedside table, even while living with her companion, actor Jack Merivale.

The actress died of chronic tuberculosis in her London home at the age of 53, and was survived by her mother, daughter and grandchildren. She was cremated, and her ashes were scattered on the lake at Tickerage Mill pond, near Blackboys, Sussex, England.

Vivien Leigh has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6773 Hollywood Blvd.

Filmography

Reference

Template:Mnb Shipman, David, Movie Talk, St Martin's Press, 1988. ISBN 0312034032
Template:Mnb Haver, Ronald. David O. Selznick's Hollywood, Bonanza Books, New York, 1980. ISBN 0517476657
Template:Mnb Berg, A. Scott. Goldwyn, Sphere Books, 1989. ISBN 074740593X

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