VIVIEN LEIGH
In the shadow of fame
Vivian Mary Hartley was born in 1913 in India, where her father had emigrated in search of adventure, and her mother of Irish descent lived. When she was six, her family moved to England, and she started studying ballet, piano and theatre.
Vivien met Herbert Leigh Holman when she was only nineteen. Although he was thirteen years her senior, she did not think twice about marrying him. Determined to go into show business, she enrolled at the London Academy of Dramatic Arts after their honeymoon, and not even the birth of her first daughter would dissuade her from becoming an actress.
In 1935, she was spotted by an important film producer, who offered her a five-year contract to make films in England. She never accepted because three years later, she went to Hollywood to begin her career alongside her soon-to-be second husband, the actor Laurence Olivier. Katharine Hepburn was a bridesmaid at their wedding.
From the moment Vivien Leigh heard about the casting for the leading role in Gone with the Wind, she knew it would be hers. Her portrayal of Scarlett O’Hara, starring alongside Clark Gable, is one of the most memorable in film history.
Later came Waterloo Bridge, and with this film she signed her new contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. However, after the outbreak of the Second World War, she decided not to return to Hollywood and to stay in England.
After starring in Caesar and Cleopatra in 1945, she had to be hospitalised for recurring bouts of tuberculosis, but these health problems did not stop her continuing success with films such as Anna Karenina and A Streetcar Named Desire, for which she won the Oscar for Best Actress.
Her psychiatric problems and bipolar disorder eventually forced the actress to focus on smaller plays. Abandoned by her husband, Leigh lived her last great love with actor John Merivale. When she died in 1967, the lights of every theatre in central London were turned off for half an hour as a mark of respect for her magnificent career.
