Vivian Mary Hartley was born on November 5, 1913, in Darjeeling, India, a strange place for one of the world's most celebrated actresses to be born. She was to live in this beautiful country for the next six years. Her parents wanted to go home to England but because of World War I they opted to stay in India. At the end of the war the Hartleys headed back to their home country, where Vivien's mother wanted her daughter to have a convent education. She was one of the youngest in attendance, and it was not a happy experience for her. One of the few consolations was her friendship with a classmate who also became a successful actress, Maureen O'Sullivan While there her mother came for a visit and took her to a play on London's legendary West Side. It was there that Vivien decided to become an actress. At the end of her education, she met and married Herbert Leigh in 1932 and together had a child named Suzanne in 1933. Though she enjoyed motherhood, it did not squelch her ambition to be an actress. Her first role in British motion pictures was as Rose Venables in 1935's The Village Squire. That same year Vivien appeared in Things Are Looking Up, Look Up and Laugh and Gentlemen's Agreement. In 1938, Vivien went to the US to see her lover, Laurence Olivier, who was filming Wuthering Heights (she had left Herbert Leigh in 1937). While visiting Olivier, Vivien had the good luck to happen upon the Selznick brothers, who were filming the burning of Atlanta for the film, Gone with the Wind, based on Margaret Mitchell's novel. The role of Scarlett O'Hara had yet to be cast and she was invited to take part in a screen test for the role. There had already been much talk in Hollywood about who was to be cast as Scarlett. Some big names had tried out for the part, such as Norma Shearer, Katharine Hepburn and Paulette Goddard. In fact, most in the film industry felt that Goddard was a sure bet for the part. However, four days after the screen test, Vivien was informed that she had landed the coveted slot. Although few remember it now, at the time her casting was controversial, as she was British and many fans of the novel it was based on felt the role should be played by an American. In addition, the shoot wasn't a pleasant one, as she didn't get along with her co-star, Clark Gable. The rest, as they say, is history. The film became one of the most celebrated in the annals of cinema. Not only did it win Best Picture during the Academy Awards, but Vivien won for Best Actress. Already she was a household name. In 1940, she made two films, Waterloo Bridge and 21 Days Together, though neither approached the magnetism of GWTW. That same year saw Vivien marry Olivier and the next year they appeared together in That Hamilton Woman.

By the time of the filming of Caesar and Cleopatra, her life had begun to unravel. She had suffered two miscarriages, contracted tuberculosis, and was diagnosed as a manic depressive. However, she gave another excellent performance in that film and her public was still enthralled with her, although the film was not a financial success. She rebounded nicely for her role as Blanche DuBois for her second Oscar-winning performance in A Streetcar Named Desire opposite Marlon Brando in 1951. She wasn't heard from much after that. She made a film in 1955 (The Deep Blue Sea). In 1960, her marriage fell apart, as Olivier left her to marry actress Joan Plowright. She appeared on-screen again until 1961 in The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, co-starring Warren Beatty.

Vivien's final turn on the screen came in Ship of Fools, and that was a small part. She died at the age of 53 after a severe bout of tuberculosis on July 7, 1967.



A Streetcar Named Desire (1951): $100,000
Waterloo Bridge (1940): $100,000
Gone with the Wind (1939): $25,000

Ranked #48 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997] Mother of Suzanne Farrington. A heavy smoker, Leigh was smoking almost four packs a day during filming of Gone with the Wind (1939). After cremation at Golders Green, London, her ashes were scattered on the mill pond at her home, Tickerage Mill, at Blackboys in Sussex. Laurence Olivier's first wife, Jill Esmond, named Vivien as co-respondent in her February 1940 divorce from Olivier on grounds of adultery. Vivien would name Joan Plowright - Olivier's next and last wife - as co-respondent in her 1960 divorce from Olivier, also on grounds of adultery. According to legend, Myron Selznick introduced Vivien to his brother - Gone with the Wind (1939) producer David O. Selznick - with the words, "Hey, genius! Meet your Scarlett." A lover of cats, especially Siamese. Was offered the supporting role of Isabella in Wuthering Heights (1939), but decided to gamble and hold out for the lead role of Cathy. Director William Wyler thought she was crazy to pass up the opportunity, telling her, "You will never get a better part than Isabella for an American debut." Shortly after, she landed the plum role of Scarlett O'Hara. Her favorite role was that of Myra Lester, which she played in Waterloo Bridge (1940). Son-in-law's name is Robin Farrington. Godmother of actress Juliet Mills. Reportedly used one of her two Oscars to doorstop her bathroom. She desperately wanted to play the second Mrs. De Winter in Rebecca (1940) opposite her husband Laurence Olivier, but producer David O. Selznick thought the role would dilute her value as a Scarlett O'Hara type and cast Joan Fontaine instead. His decision severely strained her professional relationship with Selznick; neither she nor Olivier ever appeared in one of his films again. Fontaine won her first Academy Award nomination in the role. Although she was a British subject for her whole life, her ancestry was French and Irish. Was named #16 Actress on The American Film Institutes 50 Greatest Screen Legends She was supposed to star in the Paramount film Elephant Walk (1954) with Peter Finch and Dana Andrews, but after appearing in a few scenes she was replaced by Elizabeth Taylor. The reasons for Leigh's dismissal were rumored to be her difficult nature, having just been diagnosed as a manic-depressive. Further complications may have erupted because of an affair she had with co-star Finch while she was still married to Laurence Olivier, and Leigh and Olivier were still married in 1954. Laurence Olivier wrote in his autobiography, "Confessions of an Actor," that sometime after World War II, Leigh announced calmly that she was no longer in love with him, but loved him like a brother. Olivier was emotionally devastated. What he did not know at the time was that Leigh's declaration -- and her subsequent affairs with multiple partners -- was a signal of the bipolar disorder that eventually disrupted her life and career. Leigh had every intention of remaining married to Olivier, but was no longer interested in him romantically. Olivier himself began having affairs (including one with Claire Bloom in the 1950s, according to Bloom's own autobiography) as Leigh's eye and amorous intentions wandered and roamed outside of the marital bedchamber. Olivier had to accompany Leigh to Hollywood in 1950 in order to keep an eye on her and keep her out of trouble, to ensure that her manic-depression did not get out of hand and disrupt the production of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). In order to do so, he accepted a part in William Wyler's Carrie (1952) that was shot at the same time as "Streetcar". The Oliviers were popular with Hollywood's elite, and Elia Kazan and Marlon Brando both liked "Larry" very much (that was the reason that Brando gave in his own autobiography for not sleeping with Leigh, whom he thought had a superior posterior--he couldn't raid Olivier's "chicken coop" as "Larry was such a nice guy".) None of them knew the depths of the anguish he was enduring as the caretaker of his mentally ill wife. Brando said that Leigh was superior to Jessica Tandy -- the original stage Blanche DuBois -- as she WAS Blanche. Ironically, Olivier himself had directed Leigh in the part on the London stage. Her performance as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939) is ranked #3 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time. Gave birth to daughter Suzanne during her marriage to Herbert Leigh Holman. Her father was a full-blooded Englishmen, while her mother was of French and Irish descent. Was close friends with Rachel Kempson, the mother of Oscar-winning actress Vanessa Redgrave. Great grandchildren are: Ashua, Amy, Sophie and Tessa. The great grandchildren, the girls in particular, bear a striking resemblance to Suzanne. As of 2008, she is only one of six actors who have a 2-0 winning record when nominated for an acting Oscar. The others are Luise Rainer for The Great Ziegfeld (1936) and The Good Earth (1937); Helen Hayes for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931) and Airport (1970); Sally Field for Norma Rae (1979) and Places in the Heart (1984); Kevin Spacey for The Usual Suspects (1995) and American Beauty (1999); and Hilary Swank for Boys Don't Cry (1999) and Million Dollar Baby (2004). After Joan Crawford quit filming Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) Leigh was offered her role but she, however, turned it down. Olivia de Havilland, Leigh's co-star in Gone with the Wind (1939) was then offered and accepted the role. Was offered the part of Alice Aisgill in Room at the Top (1959), but she turned the role down. Simone Signoret was cast instead and she went on to win a Best Actress Oscar for her performance.