Vivien Leigh’s Extraordinary Life Beyond ‘Gone With the Wind’

The stunning star, Vivien Leigh, has long been considered a remarkable talent. She blew audiences away portraying Scarlett O’Hara in the 1939 film Gone with the Wind and stole hearts as the alluring Southern Belle, Blanche Dubois, in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). The actress was responsible for bringing just over 20 characters to life in many major pictures before her life was sadly cut short.

By the time she was 22 years old, Leigh was starring on the big screen. In 1937, only two years later, she booked her breakout role in the film, Fire Over England, which she starred in alongside her future husband, Laurence Olivier.

Leigh earned two Academy Awards for Best Actress over the course of her career, as well as a BAFTA Award. In 1960, the actress received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

On November 5, 1913, Vivian (note the “a” instead of “e” in her name) Mary Hartley was born in India. The future actress returned to England with her parents at the age of 6. Hartley was close friends with another future actress, Maureen O’Sullivan, whom she told she would be an actress when she grew up.

After she went on to study acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, the actress married her first husband, Herbert Leigh, at the age of 19, and had a daughter. When she went back to acting, she decided to craft a more glamorous stage name and chose to exchange the “a” for an “e” in her first name, as well as taking the last name of her husband.

She received her first film role in 1935 in The Village Squire, as well as roles three other roles. Leigh quickly became a consistent leading lady, starring alongside just as major actors.

In 1939, Leigh took on the role of the famous Scarlett O’Hara in the film, Gone with the Wind, alongside Clark Gable. Based on the 1936 book of the same name, Leigh scored the role of Scarlett over other better-known actresses, including Bette Davis and Katharine Hepburn. But Leigh stole everyone’s hearts as the Southern Belle, earning herself her first Academy Award.

Leigh left her husband, Herbert Leigh, in 1940 for another man, with whom she had a torrid affair. That man was Laurence Oliver, a former co-star.

Following her time in Gone with the Wind, Leigh continued to book lead roles. These included spots in Waterloo Bridge (1940), That Hamilton Woman (1941), Caesar and Cleopatra (1945) and Anna Karenina (1948).

In 1951, she scored yet another one of her famed roles as Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire, alongside Marlon Brando. While this is one of her most notable films, it was difficult for the actress behind-the-scenes. Leigh suffered from bipolar disorder while filming the movie, which also messed with her relationship with Olivier.

After A Streetcar Named Desire and her difficult experience on set, Leigh only appeared in a few movies, including The Deep Blue Sea (1955), The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961) and Ship of Fools (1965). With her bipolar disorder getting increasingly worse, Leigh began to pull back from acting.

The actress did continue to appear on the stage, starring in Duel of Angels (1960), Tovarich (1963) and Ivanov (1966). For her role in Tovarich, Leigh received a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical.

Sadly, in 1967, the actress died from chronic tuberculosis, at age 53. Although she passed very early in life, Leigh ended her career remembered as one of the greats.

Source: Particle News, Getty Images, moviestillsdb.com