Vivien Leigh
Vivien Mary, Lady Olivier (November 5, 1913 – July 8, 1967), known as Vivien Leigh, was an English actress who won two Academy Awards for her portrayals of American "southern bells". She was the first non-American to win a "Best Actress" Oscar. Her thirty-year career was marked by two marriages, one child, severe bouts of depression, and world reknown for her talent. Leigh was a classic beauty, her trademarks were her green eyes and her cat-like smile, which she made famous in her role as Scarlett O'Hara in Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind.
Early life and acting career
Vivian Leigh was born as Vivian Mary Hartley in Darjeeling, British India just before the outbreak of World War I. An only child, her parents, Ernest Hartley and Gertrude Robinson Yackje, moved to India during a time when a simple officer in the Indian Cavalry could live like a king in India. Her father was English, while her mother was of French and Irish descent.[1]
At the young age of three, Leigh was already appearing on stage. She recited "Little Bo Peep" in her mother's amateur theatre group production. Leigh was introduced to Hans Christian Andersen, Lewis Carroll, and Rudyard Kipling at a very young age, and her mother was responsible for her good education and her appreciation of literature and art. Leigh particularly loved the stories from Greek mythology and was often found reading them with her mother.
As a young girl, Leigh was sent to England for her education, as her mother was worried that she wouldn't receive proper instruction in Bangalore, where the family was residing at the time. Thus, Leigh was sent to the "Convent of the Sacred Heart" in Roehampton in 1920. One of the only highlights of her education at Sacred Heart was the close friendship she formed with Maureen O'Sullivan a future actress. She confided in Maureen that her greatest desire was to become "a great actress." [2]
After finishing at the "Sacred Heart", Leigh finished secondary education in Europe, and upon graduation she returned to where her parents were living in England around 1931. Leigh was surprised and excited to see that her old friend, Maureen O'Sullivan had a film playing in London's West End and this moment brought back all of the desires she had had as a child. She told her parents she had decided to become and actress and they showed their support by helping her to enroll at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London.[3] Her studies at RADA did not last long. In the same year she met Herbert Leigh Holman, a barrister who happened to be thirteen years older that she. Holman was not interested in "theatrical people" and in fact, disapproved of them, but he fell in love with Vivien and they were married on December 20, 1932. Their marriage was the end of her theatrical studies. She became pregnant almost immediately and gave birth to a daughter, Suzanne, on October 12, 1933.
Leigh's nature did not seem to be one of motherhood at such an early age, although she loved her daughter deeply, she often felt stagnant and frustrated with the monotony of domestic life. It was at this time that Leigh accepted a small part in the film Things Are Looking Up, this was her first motion picture appearance. Immediately upon completion, Leigh hired John Gliddon as her agent. It was Gliddon who suggested a name change as he did not think "Vivian Holman" was an appropriate name for an actress. After many versions, including the name "April Morn", Leigh decided on "Vivian Leigh" for her professional name.[4]
With a new agent and a new name, Vivien began her career in earnest. In 1935, she received excellent reviews for her role in the play The Mask of Virtue. In one such review from the Daily Express, Leigh's acting was depicted with the phrase, "a lightning change came over her face". This review would prove to be the first mention of one of Leigh's most distinguished characteristics, that of her rapid mood changes. [5] Her performance led to a film contract and one last name change, that of "Vivian" to "Vivien". Years after the highlight of her career, Leigh remembered her the influence of her first brush with fame and greatness. She said, "some critics saw fit to be as foolish as to say that I was a great actress. And I thought, that was a foolish, wicked thing to say, because it put such an onus and such a responsibility onto me, which I simply wasn't able to carry. And it took me years to learn enough to live up to what they said for those first notices. I find it so stupid. I remember the critic very well, and have never forgiven him."[6]
Meeting Laurence Olivier
One of the most famous couples ever to have graced Hollywood,Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh had a relationship that saw its many ups and downs. Olivier first say Leigh when he attended one of her performances in The Mask of Virtue. After the play was over, Olivier was so impressed that he went backstage to congratulate the actress on her remarkable performance. From that moment, a friendship developed. A short time later, the two were cast in the 1937 film Fire Over England. During filming the attraction between the two was evident, and at the end of the production, the two began an affair.
Leigh portrayed Ophelia opposite Olivier's portrayal of Hamlet in an Old Vic Theatre production. This production was one of the first indications Olivier had to Leigh's unstable and unbalances nature. During one evening's performance, Leigh abruptly changed her mood, yelling and screaming at Olivier shortly before appearing onstage. As suddenly as she began screaming, she stopped, calmed herself down, and went out to perform without mishap or incident. By the following day, Leigh was completely normal and couldn't even remember the incident had occurred. [7] They began living together; Holman and Olivier's wife, the actress Jill Esmond, each having refused to grant either a divorce.
In 1938, Leigh appeared in another film, this time with her childhood friend, Maureen O'Sullivan, along with Robert Taylor and Lionel Barrymore. The film was A Yank at Oxford, and it marked a shift in her career, as it was the first of her films to be widely received in the United States. It was also the film that spurred comments by those who worked with her that she was difficult and unreasonable to work with. In fact, the film company warned her that her contract would not be renewed if behavior did not improve. [8] She moved onto her next role immediately, starring in St. Martin's Lane (1938) with Charles Laughton.
Achieving international success
During the filming of her two films of 1938, Vivien Leigh read Margaret Mitchell's best-selling novel Gone with the Wind. Leigh heard that a film version was going to be made, and she became very interested in playing the role of Scarlet O'Hara.[9] She remarked to a journalist, "I've cast myself as Scarlett O'Hara", and the film critic C. A. Lejeune recalled a conversation her had with Leigh where she made the prediction that Olivier "won't play Rhett Butler, but I shall play Scarlett O'Hara. Wait and see."[10]
Thus, in February 1938, Vivien Leigh requested that she be placed in the running for the role of Scarlett. That month, the producer of the film, David Selznick, watched Leigh's two most recent pictures. Although he never thought he would like her, Selznick was won over by Leigh's beauty and her acting talent. After that, she was considered one of the main choices for the film. Selznick deliberated for several months, studying Leigh's work and photographs of the actress in depth. On October 18, Selznick wrote in a confidential memo to director George Cukor, "I am still hoping against hope for that new girl."[11] When Leigh traveled to Los Angeles to be with Lawrence Olivier, she had a chance meeting with Selznick's brother Myron. Myron was serving as Olivier's American agent, and he took the couple to the set of the film and introduced Leigh to his brother. Shortly after, Leigh did a formal audition and a screen test for David Selznick. After the audition, Selznick 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". The director of the film, George Cukor, agreed with Selznick and noted that the "incredible wildness" of Leigh was perfectly suited to Scarlett. Leigh was given the infamous part soon after.[12]
The production of Gone with the Wind was frought with hard times. First of all, Cukor was fired and replaced with Victor Fleming as the new director. This change led to several conflicts in personality between Leigh and Fleming. Leigh believed that Cukor was the man for the job, thus, along with Olivia de Havilland, the two actresses met with Cukor secretly to ask advice on how the roles of Scarlett and Melanie should be played. Leigh truly admired and befriended Clark Gable, his wife Carole Lombard and de Havilland. However, her relationship with Leslie Howard was tense and strained. Leigh was required to perform several of the most emotional scenes with Howard, she also worked seven days a week, and often long evenings. She missed Olivier who was in New York, and she because tired and distraught. She wrote in a letter, "I loathe Hollywood.... I will never get used to this – how I hate film acting."[13]
Many rumors flowed concerning Leigh's behavior during the filming of one of American's most loved films. And finally, in 2006, Olivia de Havilland spoke out against the rumors and publications. She said of Leigh, "Vivien was impeccably professional, impeccably disciplined on Gone with the Wind. She had two great concerns: doing her best work in an extremely difficult role and being separated from Larry [Olivier], who was in New York." [14]
Gone with the Wind brought Leigh much attention, laud, and fame. However, she never bought into the idea of being a huge star. She once said, "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."[15] Gone with the Wind was nominated for severalAcademy Awards, winning ten of them. Among the ten was a Best Actress award for Leigh, who also won a New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress. In 1993, her Academy Award statuette was sold at auction for $510,000. [16]
Marriage and joint projects
In February 1940, both Olivier and Leigh obtained divorces although, neither of them gained custody of the children they had in those marriages. In August of that same year, the couple was married in a small wedding attended only by the two witnesses, Katharine Hepburn and Garson Kanin.
The couple loved working together, though Leigh met with disappointments as she was passed over for the leading lady role in Olivier's two films Rebeccadirected by Alfred Hitchcock and Pride and Prejudice (1940). When the film Waterloo Bridge (1940) was in the making, it was to star the couple, however, Selznick replaced Olivier with Robert Taylor. Both Leigh and Taylor were at the top of their fame, and the film proved to be a major success.
Olivier and Leigh decided to take a break from the film work and decided to perform on the stage in a production of Romeo and Juliet for Broadway. However, the press was not favorable in their remarks. Brooks Atkinson, a reporter for the New York Times wrote, "Although Miss Leigh and Mr Olivier are handsome young people they hardly act their parts at all."[17] Sadly, the plays failure caused severe financial strain for the two, who had invested almost all of their savings into the production. [18]
The couple went on to film That Hamilton Woman (1941) a World War II film that became very successful, especially in the Soviet Union.The film was popular in the United States, but was an outstanding success in the Soviet Union. Winston Churchill was very close to the couple, and he often requested them to attend dinners and other occasions. He once said of Leigh, "By Jove, she's a clinker."[19]
The Oliviers returned to England, and the beginning of the couple's troubles began. Leigh contract tuberculosis after completing a tour through North Africa. Then, she discovered she was pregnant while filming Caesar and Cleopatra (1945). A short time later she suffered a miscarriage that caused her to fall into a deep depression. She began verbally and physically attacking Olivier, and suffered her first of many breakdowns as a result of manic-depression, or bipolar mood disorder. Olivier came to recognize the symptoms, and prepare himself for them. The episodes were followed by Leigh having no memory of the event, but feeling deeply remorseful.[20]. In 1947, the couple ventured to Buckingham Palacewhere Olivier was knighted. Leigh became Lady Olivier, a title she used the rest of her life.
By 1948 Olivier was on the Board of Directors for the Old Vic Theatre, and to raise funds, the couple decided to tour through Australia and New Zealand in order to raise funds for the theatre. The tour was long and exhausting, Leigh suffered from insomnia, and the couple fought often. At the very end of the tour, Olivier told a journalist, "You may not know it, but you are talking to a couple of walking corpses." Later he commented that he "lost Vivien" during the tour to Australia.[21]
Leigh followed a few stage performances with her role asBlanche DuBois in the West End stage production of Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire. Leigh's run lasted 326 performances, and garnered her the same role in the upcoming film version starring Marlon Brando. Leigh and Brando got along well, but she conflicted with the director, Elia Kazan, who felt that Leigh "had a small talent". However, Kazan would soon change his mind, he became "full of admiration" for "the greatest determination to excel of any actress I've known. She'd have crawled over broken glass if she thought it would help her performance."[22] Vivien Leigh received her second Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Blanche, as well as a BAFTA Award and a New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress. Indeed, the author, Tennessee Williams commented that Leigh was "everything that I intended, and much that I had never dreamed of", but in later years, Leigh said that her time as Blanche DuBois "tipped me over into madness".[23]
Continuing illness
In January 1953, during the filming of Elephant Walk with Peter Finch, Leigh suffered another breakdown. Paramount Studios replaced Leigh with the popular Elizabeth Taylor. Olivier brought Leigh back to their English home to recover. During this time, Leigh said that she was in love with Peter Finch and had been having an affair with him. Gradually, over a period of months, Leigh made a recovery.
As a result of this breakdown, many of the Oliviers' friends who had paid visits, learned just how sick Leigh had become. David Niven said she had been "quite, quite mad", and in his diary Noël Coward expressed surprise that "things had been bad and getting worse since 1948 or thereabouts."[24]
Upon Leigh's recovery, she played in The Sleeping Prince with Olivier in 1953. Two years later, the couple performed at Stratford-upon-Avon in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Macbeth and Titus Andronicus. The theater was always packed, and the two received favorable reviews. However, another miscarriage through her into another period of severe depression. Again, after recovery, the couple performed in a European tour of Titus Andronicus. The tour did not go well, Leigh, becoming more susceptible to her moodiness, had frequent outbursts. Olivier took her home once again, even calling upon Leigh's ex-husband, Leigh Holman, to help calm her.
In 1958, Leigh decided that the marriage was over, and she began another affair with the actor Jack Merivale. Merivale said he was aware of Leigh's condition and assured Olivier that he would take good care of her. In 1959, Leigh found more success with the Noël Coward comedy Look After Lulu. The Times critic described Leigh as "beautiful, delectably cool and matter of fact, she is mistress of every situation."[25]
In 1960 she and Olivier formally divorced, and Olivier soon married the actress Joan Plowright. In his autobiography, Olivier wrote, "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."[26]
Final years and death
Merivale held true to his promise, and offered a stable environment for Leigh. The couple seemed happy, but Leigh was quoted by Radie Harris as confiding that she "would rather have lived a short life with Larry [Olivier] than face a long one without him".[27] Leigh was still prone to depression and anxiety, but she continued to act. In 1963, Leigh won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role in the Broadway musical Tovarich. She also appeared in the films The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961) and Ship of Fools (1965).[28]
In May 1967 Vivien had another bout of tuberculosis. She rested, and seemed to be on the road to recovery. However, on the night of July 7, Merivale went to perform in a play, and returned home around midnight to find Leigh sleeping peacefully. But, thirty minutes later (by now July 8), he returned to the bedroom and discovered her body on the floor.[29] Apparently, Leigh had been attempting to walk to the bathroom, and her lungs filled with liquid, causing her to collapse.[30] Merivale contacted Olivier immediately. In his autobiography, Olivier described his "grievous anguish" as he traveled quickly to Leigh's home. Olivier paid his respects, and "stood and prayed for forgiveness for all the evils that had sprung up between us",[31] before helping Merivale make funeral arrangements.
Vivien Leigh was cremated. Following a memorial service, and a final tribute read by John Gielgud, Leigh's ashes were scattered on the lake at her home, Tickerage Mill, near Blackboys, East Sussex, England. In the United States, Leigh was the very first actress to be honoured by "The Friends of the Libraries at the University of Southern California". The ceremony was conducted like a memorial. Several of her friends, including George Cukor, gave tributes, mixed with clips of various films she had done.[32]
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Work |
|---|---|---|
| 1939 | Academy Award for Best Actress (won) New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress (won) |
Gone With the Wind |
| 1952 | Academy Award for Best Actress (won) BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role (won) Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama (nominated) New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress (won) Venice Film Festival - Volpi Cup (won) |
A Streetcar Named Desire |
| 1963 | Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical (won) | Tovarich |
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: Bette Davis for Jezebel |
Academy Award for Best Actress 1939 for Gone with the Wind |
Succeeded by: Ginger Rogers for Kitty Foyle |
| Preceded by: Judy Holliday for Born Yesterday |
Academy Award for Best Actress 1951 for A Streetcar Named Desire |
Succeeded by: Shirley Booth for Come Back, Little Sheba |
| Preceded by: (tie) Anna Maria Alberghetti for Carnival and Diahann Carroll for No Strings |
Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical 1963 for Tovarich |
Succeeded by: Carol Channing for Hello, Dolly! |
See also
- For a full chronology of Leigh's theatre and film work, see Vivien Leigh chronology of stage and film performances.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- ↑ Edwards, Anne. Vivien Leigh, A Biography, Coronet Books, 1978 edition. ISBN 0-340-23024-X p 12
- ↑ Edwards, Anne. Vivien Leigh, A Biography, Coronet Books, 1978 edition. ISBN 0-340-23024-X pp 12-19
- ↑ Edwards, Anne. Vivien Leigh, A Biography, Coronet Books, 1978 edition. ISBN 0-340-23024-X pp 25-30
- ↑ Edwards, Anne. Vivien Leigh, A Biography, Coronet Books, 1978 edition. ISBN 0-340-23024-X pp 30-43
- ↑ Coleman, Terry, Olivier, The Authorised Biography, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2005, ISBN 0-7475-8306-4 p 74
- ↑ Actors Talk About Acting - Vivien Leigh interview (1961) Edited by John E. Boothe and Lewis Funke. Retrieved January 7, 2006
- ↑ Coleman, Terry, Olivier, The Authorised Biography, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2005. ISBN 0-7475-8350-1; p 97-98
- ↑ Coleman, Terry, Olivier, The Authorised Biography, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2005. ISBN 0-7475-8350-1; p 97
- ↑ Selznick wrote in a memo on February 3, 1938, "I have no enthusiasm for Vivien Leigh. Maybe I will, but as yet have never even seen a photograph of her. Will be seeing "Fire Over England" shortly, at which time of course will see Leigh . . ."
- ↑ Coleman, Terry, Olivier, The Authorised Biography, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2005, ISBN 0-7475-8306-4 pp 76-77, 90, 94-95
- ↑ Selznick, David O. (2000). Memo from David O. Selznick. New York: Modern Library, 184. ISBN 0-375-75531-4.
- ↑ Haver, Ronald. David O. Selznick's Hollywood, Bonanza Books, New York, 1980. [ISBN 0-517-47665-7]; p 259
- ↑ Taylor, John Russell. Vivien Leigh, Elm Tree Books, 1984. ISBN 0-241-11333-4, pp 22-23
- ↑ The Washington Examiner Bob Thomas, The Associated Press, published January 3, 2006. Retrieved January 7, 2006, quoting Olivia de Havilland
- ↑ Taylor, John Russell. Vivien Leigh, Elm Tree Books, 1984. ISBN 0-241-11333-4, pp 22-23
- ↑ stacks.ajc.com "Mystery voice on phone gets GWTW Oscar for $510,000", citing The Atlanta Journal, published December 16, 1993. Retrieved December 29, 2006.
- ↑ Edwards, Anne. Vivien Leigh, A Biography, Coronet Books, 1978 edition. ISBN 0-340-23024-X p 127
- ↑ Holden, Anthony, Olivier, Sphere Books Limited, 1989, ISBN 0-7221-4857-7, pp 189-190
- ↑ Holden, Anthony, Olivier, Sphere Books Limited, 1989, ISBN 0-7221-4857-7, pp 202, 205 and 325
- ↑ Holden, Anthony, Olivier, Sphere Books Limited, 1989, ISBN 0-7221-4857-7, pp 221-222
- ↑ Holden, Anthony, Olivier, Sphere Books Limited, 1989, ISBN 0-7221-4857-7, pp 295
- ↑ Coleman, Terry, Olivier, The Authorised Biography, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2005, ISBN 0-7475-8306-4 pp 233-236
- ↑ Holden, Anthony, Olivier, Sphere Books Limited, 1989, ISBN 0-7221-4857-7, pp 312-313
- ↑ Coleman, Terry, Olivier, The Authorised Biography, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2005, ISBN 0-7475-8306-4 pp 254-263
- ↑ Edwards, Anne. Vivien Leigh, A Biography, Coronet Books, 1978 edition. ISBN 0-340-23024-X pp 219-234 and 239
- ↑ Olivier, Laurence, Confessions Of an Actor, Simon and Schuster, 1982, ISBN 0-14-006888-0 p 174
- ↑ Walker, Alexander. Vivien, The Life of Vivien Leigh, Grove Press, 1987. ISBN 0-8021-3259-6 p290
- ↑ Edwards, Anne. Vivien Leigh, A Biography, Coronet Books, 1978 edition. ISBN 0-340-23024-X pp 266-272
- ↑ Vivien Leigh's death certificate
- ↑ Edwards, Anne. Vivien Leigh, A Biography, Coronet Books, 1978 edition. ISBN 0-340-23024-X pp 304-305
- ↑ Olivier, Laurence, Confessions Of an Actor, Simon and Schuster, 1982, ISBN 0-14-006888-0 pp 273-274
- ↑ Edwards, Anne. Vivien Leigh, A Biography, Coronet Books, 1978 edition. ISBN 0-340-23024-X p 306
External links
- Vivien Leigh at the Internet Movie Database
- Vivien Leigh at the TCM Movie Database
- Vivien Leigh at the Internet Broadway Database
- Vivien Leigh at the Notable Names Database
- Australian National Library, photographs from Australian tour
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Leigh, Vivien |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Hartley, Vivian Mary |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | actress |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 5 1913 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Darjeeling, India |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 7 1967 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | London, England |
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