Leigh's Biography
The Early Years:Vivian Mary Hartley was born in Darjeeling, India, November 5, 1913. Later on in life she would tell people she was from India, and some would assume it was a larger percentage than it actually was. Vivian was beautiful, and her parents, Ernest and Gertrude, were both rich. Little Vivian soon became a spoiled child, so it was her mother's decision to send her off to an all-girl's school in Roehampton, England called Sacred Heart Convent in when she was six years old.
Her charm brought her easy popularity, and her kindness to bring out the good in other people brought her respect and friendship in return. Vivian soon made a friend by the name of Maureen O'Sullivan. They were best friends, inseperable.
Every month the older girl's had contests, such as who was the prettiest, smartest, so on. Vivian won The Prettiest instantly, and Maureen in second place. Maureen was later seen that day crying, however. Not because of the great defeat of coming in second, but because she thought herself not nearly good enough to be ranked second. The two girl's would often talk of what they would be when they were older. Maureen wanted to be a pilot, and Vivian a great actress.
The Beginning:The years passed by, and eventually she grew too old to be in the school, and her family moved to England. By this time, she had grown up. Vivian loved shopping with friends, like most girl's her age. But when she passed by with her friends, people's heads woukd turn to watch her because of her beauty- Even complete strangers. Everyone was shocked, of course, when word came from America that Maureen had just starred in a movie. The person who was the most shocked- and jealous -was Vivian.
When she was 19, December 30, 1932, she met a young man named Leigh Holman. Gertrude was against this marriage, because in her opinion her daughter was too young, but love doesn't wait. Vivian then joined a drama workshop, the RADA, and acted there until she had a daughter, Suzanne, in 1933. This was only a short rest from acting to her. She said her first line in a movie in 1934 entitled "Things Are Looking Up". In August 1935 she got an agent, Alexander Korda. He did not allow her to keep her real name, and even Vivian Hartley wouldn't work. The next day, it was decided.
Vivien Leigh was born.
One day, she went to audition for one role, and sat down at the end of a long table with the actresses. Her agent went inside to work out a deal with a man, and when the man came out he said, pointing to Vivien, "You have a deal if that young lady is her."
OlivierEven though she was happy with Leigh, her mind had set up an image of a knight in shining armor. She soon met this knight. His name was Laurence Olivier. As she worked his way into his heart and tried to detach him from his wife, Jill Esmond, and son (Jill was pregnant with him at the time), something else was introduced to her. Margaret Mitchell's book Gone With the Wind appeared in England, and it soon became Vivien's favorite. She thought of herself as Scarlett O'Hara, the feisty heroine. On another subject happening at that time, she would often visit Jill at the coffee shop, trying to discover Laurence's favorite things and what he thought. Jill then realized what was going on behind her back. She gave Vivien an invitation to the coffe house, planing on telling her to back off. But when her rival had arrived, she knew it was too late. Larry (Laurence's nickname) had fallen in love. Larry and Vivy wanted to announce to everyone that they loved each other, but their agents thought popularity would wear down if some found out they were having an affair. Finally, divorce was granted, reluctantly in case of Leigh and Jill, but they were able to introduce everything that had happened to England.
Gone With the Wind:In 1938, Laurence Olivier left for America to film Wuthering Heights. In November 38, Vivien also left, because she heard that they were going to film Gone With the Wind. While she was in USA waiting to meet Selznick's brother, she reread Gone With the Wind, and the book became a Bible to her. She knew that if she got this part it could mean the beginning of a famous career. Finally the day came that she and Larry went to meet the brother of the director, and he was enchanted by her and her cheshire cat smile. Mitchell had kept comparing her to a cat in GWTW, such as "eyes of a hungry cat" and so on. Selznick knew, too, that she was Scarlett- As far as looks went. And right after they had been introduced and he was talking, Selznick realized that he was staring over his shoulder at the scene The Burning of Atlanta. Her pretty blue/green eyes flooded over with tears at the scene, as if it was real, as if it were her country.
The millions-of-dollar search for O'Hara was at the end, and to say the least everyone was surprised. Tulullah Bankhead was a serious nominee, as was Lucille Ball. To give the theatre's greatest role to an unknown British actress was absurd, as far as they were concerned. The movie itself was hard to film, and Vivien detested Clark Gable. "He would leave every day at 5:30, as if this were a normal job." she once said. His false teeth made his breath smell bad, even though she didn't have the heart to tell him. Vivien knew a lot of swears, and most of the men respected her and didn't mind cursing in front of her. But she herself did obnoxious things. She carried her "bible" around with her daily on the set, making points of what was correct and what wasn't.
The came that GWTW was done, and then there was the premiere, which Vivy later recalled was "hard on your fanny."
Caeser and Cleopatra and Insanity:In 1944, Vivien Leigh heard about a new movie about ot filmed called Ceaser and Cleopatra. She went to a party where the director was. Vivy was charming and witty, and had people in hysterics over her stories. It was at the end of the evening the director looked at her and said, "You know, you'd be perfect as the role of Cleopatra."
Vivien looked demurely at him. "You really think so?"
"Of course- You don't have to be well known to play this part."
She was pregnant when she did Ceaser and Cleopatra, and it was in one scene, where she picks up a cup, ready to throw it, when she accidently slipped and was rushed to the hospital. She lost the baby she was carrying, and slipped into depression. Then the fits started. They usually lasted an hour, sometimes longer, and when it happened she became violent and loud, unlike the sweet little girl Larry had married. When they ended, she became quiet like a kitten, purring almost.
When she got a role in The Skin of Our Teeth, a strange, yet brillant play, her problems got worse and worse. They only performed the play 60-some times before they found Vivien had tuberculosis, and they dropped her. She then moved to a mansion in the country in England with Larry, where Henry the sixth lived once. There she could manage some quiet into the ends of her days, trying to survive mentally and physically.
In the years between 55-60, she had yet another miscarriage. Her daughter then married and yet a baby, who Vivien adored. Besides Suzanne visiting, Larry's son would often come. He was afraid of his father, but he adored Vivien. There were still troubles with Leigh and Olivier.
Larry showed up at a premiere with a young, beautiful actress. The press were all over her that day, then they got involved with her companion. The girl's dress strap then broke, and giving a soft cry so all eyes would turn to her -which they did-, she quickly fixed it before being totally exposed. When a reporter asked her if she had staged that, she merely smiled.
In 1960, Laurence simply couldn't take the outbursts anymore. He divorced his wife and became involved with another woman. Vivien went on anyway, despite her pain, and found Jack. Jack was tall, dark, and handsome, but Vivien still kept her picture of her ex-husband on the dresser in front of her, so that every morning when she woke up she'd see his face.
In 1965, she was in Ship of Fools. Then, she wanted to be in Elephant Walk, but her tuberculosis came back again. She was not able to act in it, so a young Elizabeth Taylor played her role instead. She knew her illness had defeated her, so she moved back to her mansion in England, where she pondered on her good old days.
In 1967, July 8th, Jack left for fiteen minutes to get something downstairs. When he came back, Vivien was lying face-down on the floor. He checked her pulse, but it was too late.
Apparently, her lungs had filled up with fluid, and she couldn't breathe. She had struggled to get to the door and call for help, but did not make it. No one had ever told her that tuberculosis often claimed it's victims that way. When Laurence Olivier heard the news, he hurried over to her. He locked himself in the room where she died and cried the whole night. Vivien's ashes were thrown over the river in the back yard, where she requested. As a tribute, England shut all the lights off for the night- That was the highest honor ever for a woman actress.
And while she may be gone physically, we know that she never left us in many ways.
Biography written by Callista Loveday.
