Vivien Leigh, whose birth name was Vivian Mary Hartley, was born on this day in history on November 5, 1913, in Darjeeling, India.
His father was an English stockbroker and his mother was Irish, according to Biography.com.
The British actress achieved film immortality by playing two of America’s most famous Southern belles, the same source notes.
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY, NOVEMBER 4, 1980, RONALD REAGAN WAS ELECTED PRESIDENT: ‘AMERICA’S TOMORROW’
Leigh made her stage debut at the age of three, singing “Little Bo Peep” for her mother’s theater troupe, according to the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The family moved to England when he was young.
“Gone With the Wind” poster featuring Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable, 1939. The steamy ruins of Atlanta served as the climactic backdrop for the American epic. (LMPC via Getty Images)
An only child, she was sent to the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Roehampton, England.
One of her friends at that school was future actress Maureen O’Sullivan, to whom she expressed her desire to become a “great actress,” according to several sources.
In 1932, Leigh enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art – and became engaged to Herbert Leigh Holman.
Leigh gained international fame for her role as Scarlett O’Hara in “Gone With the Wind” in 1939, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress.
The couple married later that year and took her middle name as her stage name.
ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY, APRIL 5, 1908, ACTRESS BETTE DAVIS WAS BORN IN MASSACHUSETTS: ‘A GIVEN WOMAN’
She also changed the spelling of her name from Vivian to Vivien to Vivien Leigh, as noted by Encyclopedia.com.
The couple had one child, Suzanne Farrington.
In “Gone with the Wind,” the hero and heroine drive through the bustling city of Atlanta in this dramatic scene from the MGM film. (MGM Studios/Archives/Getty Images)
They divorced in 1940.
That same year, Leigh married actor Laurence Olivier, and the couple eventually divorced in 1960, the same source revealed.
Leigh’s mental health began to decline in the early 1950s, and Olivier often found her “inconsolable… according to Country Living Magazine.
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY, MARCH 31, 1943, ‘OKLAHOMA!’ DEBUTS ON BROADWAY: ‘FAR HEARING’
Leigh gained international fame for her role as Scarlett O’Hara in “Gone With the Wind” in 1939, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh in the film distribution, “Gone with the Wind,” 1939. The drama, directed by Victor Fleming (1889-1949), starred Gable as Rhett Butler and Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara. Leigh won an Oscar for best actress for the role. (Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)
She then won a second Oscar in 1951 for her portrayal of Blanche DuBois in the film adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire,” according to multiple sources.
Later in her career, Leigh suffered from mental illness — and was eventually diagnosed with depression, according to Biography.com.
In addition to her film success, Leigh was a talented stage actress, often collaborating with her then-husband, Laurence Olivier, who directed her in many of her roles, according to the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In addition to her film success, Leigh was a stage actress, often collaborating with her then-husband, Laurence Olivier, who directed her in many of her roles. (Photos by AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC)
During her 30-year stage career, she played roles ranging from the heroines of Noël Coward and George Bernard Shaw to classic Shakespearean characters such as Ophelia, Cleopatra, Juliet and Lady Macbeth, the same source recounts.
While preparing for the London production of “A Delicate Balance” in 1967, Leigh became ill, and soon after contracted tuberculosis on July 8, 1967, at the age of 53, in London, according to Biography.com.
His career was turbulent and triumphant.
After her death, marking a tragic and premature end to a tumultuous and triumphant career, London’s theater district turned off its lights for a full hour in Leigh’s honor, the same source said.
In 2013, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London purchased his personal archive.
It includes his personal diary and previously unseen photos, noted Biography.com.
Leigh’s legacy lives on.
When “Gone With the Wind” was digitally restored in 2014, a new generation discovered the beauty and courage of Vivien Leigh – Marie Claire magazine called her one of the most famous actresses in the world.
