English actress, winner of two Oscar awards for her roles as South American beauties: Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939) and Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951).

The real name of the actress is Vivian Mary Hartley.

Born in Darjeeling (India). Her father, Ernest Hartley, an Englishman by birth, was an officer in the Indian cavalry. The mother, Gertrude Robinson Yaki, was of unknown origin. She was most likely Irish. The parents married in Kensington, London in 1912. An only child, Vivienne Hartley was sent to the Convent of the Sacred Heart in England in 1920 (her mother was a very devout Catholic), then continued her education in Europe, returning to her parents in England in 1931. She dreamed of becoming an actress, and her parents supported her. Her father helped her enter the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London.

One day, in February 1932, Vivian, while walking with friends, ran into a man who greeted the company in a friendly manner. “This is Lee Holman,” Vivian’s friends explained. "Do you know anything about him? He's attractive, isn't he?"
"I think he looks like the perfect Englishman. I'll marry him!" - Vivian answered.
"He's practically engaged to another girl!" - the friends objected.
“It doesn’t matter. He hasn’t seen me yet...” Vivian retorted.
Herbert Leigh Holman, a lawyer, was 14 years older than her. Despite the fact that he did not approve of "people associated with the theater", they married on December 20, 1932. Vivien completed her studies while already married. On October 12, 1933, she gave birth to a child - a girl named Suzanne (Vivien later had no more children), but Vivien was suffocating from the role of a housewife imposed on her. Friends recommended her for a small role in Things Are Looking Up, and this role became Vivienne’s debut on the silver screen. She hired agent John Giddon, who assured her that the name "Vivien Holman" was not suitable for an actress, and, rejecting the proposed pseudonym "April Morne", she took the name "Vivien Leigh".

Having played in the play “The Mask of Virtue” in 1935, Vivienne received excellent reviews, followed by interviews and articles in newspapers. Among these articles was one from the Daily Express in which the journalist noted how "a lightning-quick change had taken place in her face." This was the first time the public noticed Vivienne's quick mood swings, which set her apart from other actresses. John Benjaman described her as "the spirit of English girlhood".

It was in the theater, in the play “The Mask of Virtue,” that Laurence Olivier saw Vivien for the first time. He congratulated her on her performance, and a friendly relationship began between them. She went to all his performances. According to the official version, their famous romance began in 1937 on the set of the film Fire Over England, marking the beginning of one of the most famous love stories of the 20th century. Both Vivienne and Olivier were married to others at that moment. They began to live together because neither Holman nor Olivier's wife, actress Jill Esmond, agreed to give the couple a divorce. On February 19, 1940, the actress divorced Lee Holman (Olivier did the same on January 29), and on August 31 of the same year the couple got married. She was less than 27 years old, he was 33 years old. The only witnesses at the ceremony were Katharine Hepburn and Garson Kanin. The son of Esmond and Olivier remained with his mother, and Vivienne's daughter, Suzana, remained with her father. The actors lived together for 20 years. Vivienne was never able to give birth to a child in her marriage to Olivier. In 1944, during the filming of Caesar and Cleopatra, after a second pregnancy failure, she began to experience deep depression, which developed into hysteria.

They divorced on December 2, 1960. Even after the divorce, the actress constantly kept photographs of Lawrence on her bedside table, and on the license plate of her Rolls-Royce she left the letters VLO (Vivienne Lady Olivier) and asked to be addressed as Lady Olivier. Although afterwards the actor Jack Merival was with her.

With daughter Vivien Leigh from her first marriage. HOW they look at each other here!

1939 was a turning point in Vivien Leigh’s career. It was then that she starred in America in the film Gone with the Wind, receiving a fee of 25 thousand dollars and an Oscar for this role in 1940.

Leigh and Olivier starred together in That Hamilton Woman (1941), where Lawrence played the role of Horatio Nelson and Vivienne played the role of Emma Hamilton. This role established Lee's status as Hollywood star and the film was not only critically acclaimed and popular among viewers, but became the actress's favorite film. The film was extremely popular not only in the USA and Great Britain, but also in the USSR. Winston Churchill organized a private screening, which was attended by Franklin D. Roosevelt, and at the end of the screening he addressed those who came, saying: “Gentlemen, I thought that this film would interest you, it shows great events like those in which you just took part". Olivier and Lee became Churchill's favorites. For the rest of his life, he invited them to dinner parties and considered Vivien a role model.

The next key year was 1951, with the release of A Streetcar Named Desire. 326 performances of A Streetcar Named Desire were performed, after which Vivien was invited to take part in the creation of a film version of this performance. Her often raunchy sense of humor helped her communicate with Marlon Brando, who also starred in the film version. However, Vivien had difficult relationships with director Elia Kazan, who did not appreciate her as an actress. He said she didn't have much talent. But the work continued, and now he admired her determination to be different from all other actresses of her time. “She would crawl on broken glass if she thought it would help her perform her role better.” And Lee said that the role was very exhausting for her: “For nine months I was Blanche DuBois, and she still controls me.” At the 1951 Venice Film Festival, Vivien was given the Volpi Cup for Best Actress, and in 1952 she was awarded the Oscar in the Best Actress category. She was also nominated for a Golden Globe for this role. In 1953, the British Academy awarded her a golden mask as the best British actress for the same role. A few years later, Vivien Leigh would say that it was the role of Blanche DuBois that led her to madness.

Sometimes it seemed to Lee that because extraordinary beauty She is not taken seriously as an actress, but her main obstacle to roles was her poor health. Firstly, she suffered from manic depression and therefore gained a reputation as an actress who was difficult to work with. Vivien experienced panic fear in front of hospitals. In the early fifties, the actress was placed in psychiatric clinic. Secondly, she herself actively undermined her health, as she had always been a heavy smoker. For example, on the set of the film Gone with the Wind, she smoked four packs a day. And at the same time, Li suffered from chronic pulmonary tuberculosis. This diagnosis was first made to her in 1945. The disease affected the actress’s psyche; fits of madness began, during which Vivien threw herself at her husband with her fists, and then did not remember anything. She was treated for both tuberculosis and mental illness, including terrible electric shock sessions, but it only got worse. Vivienne was not a very diligent patient; she believed that the best medicine was Larry's love. She wanted to have a child, but it didn’t work out for her. In rare moments, Vivien managed to perform in films and on stage. However, the progressive illness led both Laurence Olivier and Vivienne to greater and greater despair. According to the doctors' conclusions, the actress died from tuberculosis. After Vivien Leigh's death, it was established that doctors, when prescribing her treatment for tuberculosis, prescribed a drug that turned out to cause mental disorders. It turns out that the more she was treated, the more she was destroyed. The actress needed peace, affection, love, and gentle treatment most of all. But that was precisely what she lacked. And the attacks were very severe - once, in a fit of madness, Vivien Leigh even tried to jump out of an airplane while it was moving.

Tired of hopelessness, Laurence Olivier started an affair with a young actress. On Vivienne’s 45th birthday, he gave his wife a wildly expensive Rolls-Royce and immediately announced a divorce. Of course, Vivien went through the divorce very hard, but she never allowed anyone to speak badly about Larry.

HABITS AND PASSIONS

Vivien was embarrassed about her hands, considering them very large and covering them with either gloves or many rings. Here are some of them: Vivien Leigh wore a topaz ring that once belonged to Laurence Olivier, but he broke it and asked Vivien to keep it (Vivien straightened it and wore it on her finger). Another ring, in the form of two hands intertwined in a friendly handshake, was given to her by George Cukor during the war. She also wore THREE wedding rings, unfortunately, in rotation. She lost the first in the cinema, the second was stolen and the third, which Olivier gave her with the words: “This is your last, I hope.”

She often used obscene expressions in her speech.

Vivien Leigh called Laurence Olivier "Larry".

She liked sandwiches with smoked salmon or sandwiches with black bread and honeycomb (the honey should not flow).

Her favorite perfume was Joy by Jean Patou.

She loved cats.

Vivien Leigh loved flowers and enjoyed spending time in her garden.

These are her later photographs. Look how unhappy her eyes are!

Vivien Leigh played in the theater until her death. She was 53 years old. In the last days of May 1967, the attending physician told Vivien that tuberculosis had invaded both lungs, that the situation was critical and she needed to go to the hospital immediately. Tired of the useless treatment, Vivienne refused. And a month and a half later, on July 7, 1967, she had another tuberculosis attack, which finished her off.

Vivien Leigh was cremated and the actress's ashes were scattered over the lake at her estate in Tickerage, England, on October 8th of the same year.

Lee Holman died in the seventies. He never married again. All he has left is his daughter Suzanne and his grandchildren.

Laurence Olivier, the love of her life, survived Lee by 22 years, married for the third time (3 and a half months after his divorce from Vivienne) and had three children in his new marriage.

Such a memorial plaque hangs in London
St. Paul's Church, Covent Garden

Vivien, you are forever in our hearts. You were always so trembling, defenseless and very unhappy. Rest in peace. Everlasting memory.

Prepared based on website materials

The legend of British cinema, actress Vivien Leigh was the only child in the family of an English soldier. The beauty's real name is Vivian Mary Hartley. She was born in India on November 5, 1913. The actress's mother, Gertrude Robinson Yaqui, is half French and Irish by birth, was a housewife for some time, and then worked as an actress in a small theater.

The little girl performed on stage for the first time at the age of three, reading a poem before a production in which her mother played. As a child, Vivienne was interested in literature, including Greek mythology, and also studied music and dancing. She has been since early age decided to become great actress.

To receive her first education, the girl was sent to England to school at the Convent of the Sacred Heart, and then, with the support of her father, she entered the Dramatic High School, which was located in London. While studying, the young girl had to act in small roles in films and commercials. First worthwhile role in the film “Things Are Looking Up,” which became her debut, she received in 1934.

Already during this period creative biography the actress decides to change her real name to a pseudonym, and despite the fact that her manager John Giddon suggested her name April Morne, the actress became Vivien Leigh.

Carier start

At the age of 22, Vivien Leigh made a splash on London audiences with her performance leading role in the play “Masquerade of Virtue”. The play was performed on a small stage, and the hall could not accommodate everyone who wanted to attend the production. Therefore, the director decided to move the performance to a large hall. Since Vivienne's voice was too weak for the large space, the popularity of the play quickly waned.


Vivien Leigh in the play "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

However, during this period, Vivienne managed to meet the main character of her life, Laurence Olivier. The legendary British director and actor invited the actress to collaborate in the film “Fire on the Island”, after working on which Vivien Leigh became known throughout the country. The audience fell in love with the tender image of the heroine, and directors began to offer her new roles.

Movies

Thanks to her new connections and strengthened talent, the young actress managed to get a role in the Hollywood bestseller Gone with the Wind in 1939. Vivien Leigh, at 26 years old, showed herself to be a true professional, and the love story, brilliantly played out with the artist on screen, grew into a great friendship between the British actress and the American’s family. The film became a box office leader for many years, and also received many Oscar awards, including for the performance of the best leading female role.


Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable in the film Gone with the Wind

Two years later, the English drama “Lady Hamilton” appeared on cinema screens, in which Vivien Leigh played along with Laurence Olivier. I especially loved the creative couple for this picture. He actively supported the actors, invited them to social events and always admired the skill and beauty of Vivien Leigh.

At the end of the war, two more films with the participation of the actress were released - “Caesar and Cleopatra” and “Anna Karenina”. But on the set of the film about the Egyptian beauty, for the first time Vivien Leigh had an attack of hysteria, which was provoked by a busy work schedule. She manages to pull herself together, and on the London theater stage she appears in the title role in the production of "The Skin of Our Teeth".


The end of the 40s was marked theatrical production A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Laurence Olivier. But critics did not receive this premiere with much enthusiasm. After the theater troupe performed more than 300 performances, Vivien Leigh was invited to the film adaptation of this play. The beauty’s partner in the legendary film was the young man.


Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire

Despite the fact that while working on the image of Blanche Dubois, the actress developed a serious mental disorder, she coped with the role flawlessly. In professional circles, her performance is still considered a benchmark, which was confirmed by her receipt of an Oscar and a BAFTA award. Tennessee Williams himself was delighted with Vivien Leigh's performance.


In the 50s, the actress starred in several more minor roles, but her reputation on the set was already tarnished by inappropriate behavior and constant psychoses. During these years, only for her performance in the musical “Comrade” she received a small theater award. Gradually Vivienne moves away from professional activity in the cinema and theater and retires to his home.

Personal life

Vivien Leigh was married twice. The beauty's first husband was lawyer Herbert Lee Holman, who married her when Vivien was 19 years old. Herbert himself was over 31 years old at that time. Soon a daughter, Suzanne, was born into the family. The role of a housewife, which Vivienne's husband had prepared for her, was not to her taste, and she soon began her theatrical career. And after her first success on the London stage, the beauty met a man who changed her personal life.


This was a young ambitious director and actor Laurence Olivier, specializing in Shakespearean productions. Vivien Leigh was happy with him for a quarter of a century. The lovers were able to get married only in 1940 in the town of Santa Barbara in the USA, after the spouses of both gave them consent to divorce. Vivienne's daughter remained to live with her father.


The marriage between Lee and Olivier lasted until 1960, after which Lawrence married his young passion Joan Plowright. In many ways, the estrangement between the spouses was influenced by the actress’s illness. Despite the divorce, during which a Rolls-Royce was registered in Vivienne’s name as compensation from Lawrence, ex-wife before last days signed the name Vivien Lady Olivier.

Illness and death

In the mid-40s, Vivien Leigh began to develop an illness that manifested itself as mental disorders. Gradually, the disease began to worsen not only in home environment, but also on work sites. The actress acquired the image of a capricious, wayward star, which began to push directors away from her.


Vivien Leigh in recent years

The exacerbation of the pathology was facilitated by two miscarriages that occurred 10 years apart. In addition, when Vivien Leigh was 30 years old, she was first diagnosed with foci of tuberculosis. Having undermined her already poor health over the years, he caused the actress’s death in May 1967. The actress died alone, in her own house on the outskirts of London. Her body was cremated in Golders Green, and her ashes were scattered over the pond at the actress's estate, which was located in the town of Blackboys.
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Filmography

  • "Things Are Looking Up" - (1935)
  • "Flame Over England" - (1936)
  • "Dark Journey" - (1937)
  • "A Yankee in Oxford" - (1938)
  • "Gone with the Wind" - (1939)
  • "Waterloo Bridge" - (1940)
  • "Lady Hamilton" - (1941)
  • "Caesar and Cleopatra" - (1945)
  • "Anna Karenina" - (1948)
  • "A Streetcar Named Desire" - (1951)
  • "Deep Blue Sea" - (1955)
  • "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone" - (1961)
  • "Ship of Fools" - (1965)

Vivien Leigh, Lady Olivier (born Vivian Mary Hartley) is an English actress. One of the greatest and famous people in the history of cinema.

The actress received two Oscars for her roles as American beauties - in the films Gone with the Wind, where she played Scarlett O'Hara, and in A Streetcar Named Desire for her portrayal of Blanche DuBois.

Vivien Leigh not only had incredible acting talent. She was unusual beautiful woman. Many still consider her the standard of beauty. At one time she conquered thousands of men's hearts.

Vivien Leigh became a popular actress of that era and constantly delighted her fans with new films.

The biography of the actress is bright and full of interesting facts.

Height, weight, age. Years of Vivien Leigh's life

Vivien Leigh was extraordinarily beautiful. I wanted to look at her. Her appearance attracted the attention of many men, and women often envied her. Admirers of her work have always been interested in the physical parameters of the actress, such as height, weight, age. The years of Vivien Leigh's life are from November 5, 1913 to July 8, 1967. Vivien Leigh died at 53. Photos from his youth still interest TV viewers.

In her youth, the actress looked simply gorgeous. Everyone admired her parameters. Vivien Leigh's height was 161 centimeters. She weighed about 47 kilograms.

Vivien Leigh was recognized as one of the most beautiful actresses XX century. But in old age, the image of a capricious, wayward star did not stick.

Biography of Vivien Leigh

Vivien Lee's biography began in India. She was born on November 3, 1913. Father - Ernest Hartley, was a soldier. Mother - Gertrude Robinson Yaki, was a housewife, but later devoted herself to the theater.

Vivien Leigh dreamed of becoming an actress since childhood. At the age of 3 she performed on stage for the first time.

The actress studied in England at a school at the Convent of the Sacred Heart. Later she entered the London Drama School high school. While studying, she starred in small roles in films.

Filmography: films starring Vivien Leigh

Vivien Leigh's filmography is quite extensive: Gone with the Wind, Lady Hamilton, A Streetcar Named Desire, and others created an incredible sensation. The actress received popular recognition and positive reviews film critics.

Vivien Leigh's grandchildren were born in the last years of the actress's life. There were three of them in total - Neville, Jonathan and Rupert Farrington.

Personal life of Vivien Leigh

Vivien Leigh's personal life was not particularly varied. The actress was damn attractive and charming. That's why male attention the actress was not deprived. But despite this, the actress was married only twice.

The actress's first husband was lawyer Gerber Lee Holman. The relationship did not last long. The reason for the breakup was that Vivien Leigh's husband was against her acting.

A little later, the talented actress met true love. Laurence Olivier became Vivien Leigh's second husband. They lived together for more than 20 years.

Vivien Leigh family

Vivien Leigh's family is her stage, her creative work. Here the actress was simply irresistible. She gave herself completely to her work. That's why she didn't have a family, as such.

The relationship with her first husband, Gerber Lee Holman, did not work out. She gave her daughter from her first marriage to her father to raise.

In the last years of the actress’s life, her second husband, Laurence Olivier, also left. He didn't have enough strength to tolerate his wife's antics. The actress died alone.

It is difficult to say whether Vivien Leigh was happy during her lifetime. But we can say with confidence that all her years she served beauty and believed in the kindness of this world.

Vivien Leigh's children

Vivien Leigh's children were not the actress's main goal. She devoted herself entirely to theater and cinema.

From her first marriage she had only daughter Suzanne, whom she gave to be raised by her husband and the girl's father, Gerber Lee Holman.

It is also known that during her second marriage, the actress tried to get pregnant, but in the end she had two miscarriages. This was influenced by Vivien Leigh's illness. Nervous system the actress was very shaken and to recent years In her life, capriciousness and hysteria began to appear in her. Cases of split personality have also been observed. All this had a negative impact on Vivien Leigh’s physical condition.

Vivien Leigh's daughter - Suzanne Farrington

Vivien Leigh's daughter - Suzanne Farrington, only child actresses. The girl was born on October 12, 1933. Then the actress was first married to lawyer Gerber Lee Holman.

From childhood, Suzanne was looked after by a nanny. And soon, the mother left home, leaving her daughter with her husband.

As a teenager, Vivien Leigh still took Suzanne and they lived together. At first, their relationship was strained, but soon maternal love melted the girl’s heart. After this period, there were even photographs of the actress and Vivien Leigh’s daughter Suzanne. Photos are easy to find on the Internet.

Suzanne married a boxer and had three children.

Vivien Leigh's ex-husband - Gerber Lee Holman

Vivien Leigh's ex-husband is Gerber Lee Holman, the actress's first husband. The couple got married when the actress was 19 years old, and Gerber Lee Holman was over 30. Soon a daughter, Suzanne, was born into the family.

The husband of the beautiful Vivien Leigh has prepared for his wife the role of a housewife, where she does housework and raises her daughter. He forbade her acting. At first, Vivien Leigh followed her husband's instructions. But later the actress could not stand it and left the family, leaving her daughter to be raised by her husband.

Vivien Leigh's first marriage turned out to be a mistake of her youth.

Vivien Leigh's husband - Olivier Laurence

Vivien Leigh's husband, Olivier Laurence, an actor, became the actress's second choice. The young people met during filming, where they played lovers. By chance, a spark broke out between them, which later turned into love.

For some time, Vivien Leigh and Olivier Laurence hid their relationship, since both were still married. The marriage was only possible in 1940 in Santa Barbara, USA.

Vivien Leigh and Olivier Laurence lived together for a long time. The love story ended in 1960. The actress's husband could no longer tolerate his wife's hysterical antics and left the family. A little later he got married.

Wikipedia Vivien Leigh

Wikipedia Vivien Leigh provides extensive information about the life and work of an actress of extraordinary beauty. Here you can see her filmography, her awards and honors. The information is reliable and publicly available.

Note that Vivien Leigh was an incredibly talented actress. She gave herself completely to the stage. Perhaps this was the cause of her death. She forgot about her emotional state and often fell into depression. In May 1967, Vivien Leigh began having new attacks of tuberculosis. On July 7 of the same year she passed away.

More than a thousand actresses auditioned for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in the 1939 Oscar-winning film Gone with the Wind. What was left from the auditions were black-and-white films in which many beauties - dark-haired and blonde, determined and cutesy - confessed their love to Ashley, asked to tighten their corsets, and argued with Mammy. But the role went to only one, and now the world imagines this heroine exclusively with the face of Vivien Leigh - dark hair, porcelain skin, piercing eyes and unforgettable beauty that distinguished the great actresses of the last century.

Fate before the stage

Vivian Mary Hartley was born on November 5, 1913 in India, in the family of a British businessman. Shortly before her seventh birthday, Vivien was sent to school at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in England, and also studied in Italy, Paris and Germany. In 1932, she entered the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, but studied there for less than a year. At the age of 19, she married lawyer Lee Holman, a man 12 years older than herself, and at his request she gave up her studies - but not her dream of becoming a great actress. A year later, Suzanne Holman, Vivien Leigh's only child, was born.

Romance on the set

Being a mother and housewife for this active, impetuous woman turned out to be unbearably boring, and two years after the birth of her daughter, she played the background role of a schoolgirl in the comedy “Things Are Going Well.” Just one line, a symbolic fee, but it was after that that she hired an agent and chose a stage name. “Today I changed my name again,” Vivienne told her husband, and this step had even greater consequences for her life than her first marriage. Lee Holman said he would no longer stand in Vivienne's way to the stage, and this decision cost him his family happiness. Subsequently, they remained friends - this is known from the words of Vivien Leigh, who, both shortly before the divorce and much after, wrote surprisingly warm letters full of sympathy to her first husband.

In 1935, the actress played in four films and two performances: the conditions for her participation varied from frankly unprofitable to interesting, and her roles - from episodic to major. According to agent John Gliddon, the requirement was to “work quickly and not ask for too much.”

Vivien had to study and work hard on herself. She prepared for each of her roles, collecting information about the character and additionally practicing dancing, playing the piano, speech exercises. The actress took ballet lessons for the role of a dancer who was forced to become a prostitute and commit suicide, which she played in the film Waterloo Bridge.

To play Cleopatra, she had to learn to use her voice differently: the upper tones for the young queen, the lower tones for the more mature one. She came to the theater before everyone else, learned the text of the play by heart long before the start of rehearsals and repeated it every evening.

The theater dominated Vivien’s life: she spent incomparably more time on stage than in front of the camera. But she owed both to her acquaintance with Laurence Olivier, whose performance as Hamlet she admired long before they met. A year later, their stage careers brought them together in the historical drama Fire Over England. Playing ardent lovers, Lawrence and Vivienne went beyond the script.

Lawrence was not the kind of man who goes down in history because of his great wives. The son of a priest, he acted on stage from the age of 17; experienced both poverty and critical disapproval before becoming the "theatrical prince of England." Later he managed to work as a director, learned to write music and pilot an airplane, received many awards for his brilliant performance in a wide range of complex roles, and in 1947 he was knighted - and Vivien became Lady Olivier.

Their love swept aside everything: her husband, his wife, who had recently given birth to her first child. Both Lee Holman, Vivien's husband, and Jill Esmond, Lawrence's wife, did not agree to divorce for a long time. Only in 1940 were the marriages dissolved in court. The actors' spouses received custody of the children, and six months after the process, Vivien and Lawrence got married in a modest ceremony in the United States.

Victories and defeats

Shortly before her divorce from her first husband, Vivien Leigh, together with Olivier, came to America for the first time, where at that time they were unsuccessfully looking for an actress to play the role of Scarlett O'Hara. After reading the book Gone with the Wind, Vivien decided that she would play Scarlett. I decided, like when I first saw Laurence Olivier, I declared that I would become his wife, like at the convent school I told my friend that I was going to become a great actress - and I kept my promise.

At that moment, everything was ready for the filming of Gone with the Wind: costumes, expensive sets, wooden models of steam locomotives. All the actors and understudies were selected, except... the leading lady! And it became all the more amazing that a purebred Englishwoman was ideally suited for this role, who then had to spend hours practicing her southern American accent.

“So good that she doesn’t need talent, and so talented that she doesn’t need beauty,” American publications later wrote about Vivien. The film became a masterpiece, winning eight Oscars, including Vivien Leigh for Best Actress.

In 1943, Notley Abbey, a former abbey in England, was purchased by the Vivien Leigh-Lawrence Olivier couple. Together they played in many films and performances.

It would seem that a marriage crowning passionate love is absolute creative success, what else could be needed for happiness? But achievements began to alternate with troubles. The couple created the play “Romeo and Juliet”; no one expected it to be a failure, and yet the reviews were devastating. Then for a couple of years they had to act in films just for the sake of good fees: Vivien Leigh spoke about her role in the film “Lady Hamilton” without much affection, explaining that she did it for the sake of money in a difficult time for them. But it was this film that brought her and her husband acquaintance and friendship with Winston Churchill. Finally, in 1942, the pregnant Vivien Leigh lost her child; in 1944, on the set of the film “Caesar and Cleopatra,” the actress fell unsuccessfully and again had a miscarriage. On next year, after a tour of Africa, the artist fell ill with tuberculosis.

It is also known that Lawrence is jealous of Vivienne’s successes and her awards - to the point of throwing her Oscar out the window. Then I had to be jealous of her, cut off from work by debilitating illnesses - in 1944 Olivier accepted the post of director of the Old Vic Theater in London, in 1945 he was awarded an Oscar, and in 1947 he was awarded a knighthood. It was then that Vivien Leigh began to show signs of manic-depressive psychosis, effective ways There was no cure for it at the time. Her mental health undermined the side effects of drugs for tuberculosis: the actress fell into hysterics, attacked her husband, made scenes on film sets. But, having barely recovered, she began working on a new role.

What else can you tell about Vivien Leigh? Her body required only five hours of sleep, she adored cats and loved receiving guests. I thought that acting in a comedy was much more difficult than playing a tragedy, since it is easier to make people cry than to laugh. She knew several languages, smoked a lot, adopted the habit of swearing from her second husband, and starred in 19 films.

Death at the Lake House

In 1948, the couple went on a tour of Australia and New Zealand, which cost them a lot of effort and good relations. In 1951, the film “A Streetcar Named Desire,” shot in 36 days, was released, in which Vivien Leigh played with Marlon Brando. This film confirmed her star status and brought her a second Oscar.

Working on the film Elephant Trails in Ceylon in 1953 led to her placement in a mental hospital, where painful treatments with little and short-term effect developed her fear of hospitals. In 1956, the 43-year-old actress again suffered a miscarriage.

In his autobiography, Confessions of an Actor, published in 1982, Lawrence described in detail how years of living next to his mentally unstable wife had tormented him. In 1960, he asked for a divorce to marry the young actress Joan Plowright and received it. Notley Abbey's estate was sold, and the actress settled in a modest brick cottage by a lake outside London. Seven years later, her ashes were scattered over this lake: Vivienne ignored the doctor’s message that tuberculosis had taken over both lungs and that she should immediately go to the hospital, and after receiving guests she was found dead in her home. Until recently, Jack Merrivile, an actor and friend, was by her side, about whose possible wedding with Vivienne the press wrote.

A complicated story her life includes victories and defeats, passionate love and a painful breakup, world fame and several terrible diseases at once, one of which became fatal. A film could be made about her, but there is hardly an actress who can adequately play the main role in it.

On July 7, 1967, one of the most beautiful and talented actresses of the 20th century, Vivien Leigh, passed away. Only such a unique fusion of amazing beauty and talent could bring to the screen the image of a real southerner, one might say, a national treasure of America - Scarlett O'Hara. Despite the fact that Vivien herself was British. True, India is still listed as her place of birth. Perhaps this fact played a role, or the fact that from the age of 7 Vivienne was raised in an English monastery. These and a few more interesting facts I propose to remember to honor the memory of the great actress.

1. Her real name is Vivian Mary Hartley.

2. Vivian understood as a child what she wanted to be:

I will become a great actress!

3. Parents supported their daughter’s desire - her father helped her enter the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London.

4. While still studying at the Academy, Vivian married lawyer Lee Holman, who was 14 years older than her, and a year later gave birth to his daughter Suzanne.

5. Her first agent suggested the name April Morne as her stage name, but Vivian came up with her own - Vivien Leigh.

6. Before meeting Laurence Olivier, she went to all his performances many times and was firmly convinced of her intention to be with him.

7. Vivien and Larry were able to officially get married only six years after the start of their romance. Their ex-spouses They didn't give me a divorce for a long time.

8. About one and a half thousand actresses, along with the most famous Hollywood stars, applied for the role of Scarlett.

She's Scarlett a dark horse and looks damn attractive

- this is what the director of “Gone with the Wind” said after Vivien’s audition.

9. It was Laurence Olivier who suggested that Vivienne audition for the role of Scarlett.

10. Vivienne developed a wonderful friendly relationship with Clark Gable, she even became friends with his wife.

11. After the resounding success of the joint film “Lady Hamilton,” Vivien and Lawrence became the favorites of Churchill, who until the end of his life invited the star couple to all dinner parties.

12. The actress’s pregnancy was interrupted twice. Vivien was never able to give birth to her husband’s child, which is why she was deeply depressed.

13. Lawrence and Vivien lived together for 20 years. After painful divorce the actress left photographs of Lawrence on her dressing table, and on the license plate of her Rolls-Royce she left the letters VLO (Vivienne Lady Olivier).

14. Vivien Leigh was a heavy smoker all her life and was able to smoke three to four packs of cigarettes a day.

15. The world-recognized beautiful actress herself could not stand it when she was called beautiful.