Birthday:
11-05-1913
Deathday:
07-07-1967 (53 years)
Birthplace:
Darjeeling, Bengal Presidency, British India [now West Bengal, India]
Biography
Vivien Leigh (born Vivian Mary Hartley, and also known as Lady Olivier after 1947; 5 November 1913 – 8 July 1967) was an English stage and film actress. She won two Academy Awards for Best Actress, for her iconic performances as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939) and Blanche DuBois in the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), a role she had also played on stage in London's West End in 1949. She also won a Tony Award for her work in the Broadway musical version of Tovarich (1963).
After completing her drama school education, Leigh appeared in small roles in four films in 1935 and progressed to the role of heroine in Fire Over England (1937). Lauded for her beauty, Leigh felt that her physical attributes sometimes prevented her from being taken seriously as an actress. Despite her fame as a screen actress, Leigh was primarily a stage performer. During her 30-year career, she played roles ranging from the heroines of Noël Coward and George Bernard Shaw comedies to classic Shakespearean characters such as Ophelia, Cleopatra, Juliet, and Lady Macbeth. Later in life, she performed as a character actress in a few films.
At the time, the public strongly identified Leigh with her second husband Laurence Olivier, who was her spouse from 1940 to 1960. Leigh and Olivier starred together in many stage productions, with Olivier often directing, and in three films. She earned a reputation for being difficult to work with, and for much of her adult life she suffered from bipolar disorder as well as recurrent bouts of chronic tuberculosis, which was first diagnosed in the mid-1940s and ultimately claimed her life at the age of 53. Although her career had periods of inactivity, in 1999 the American Film Institute ranked Leigh as the 16th greatest female movie star of classic Hollywood cinema.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Vivien Leigh, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
After completing her drama school education, Leigh appeared in small roles in four films in 1935 and progressed to the role of heroine in Fire Over England (1937). Lauded for her beauty, Leigh felt that her physical attributes sometimes prevented her from being taken seriously as an actress. Despite her fame as a screen actress, Leigh was primarily a stage performer. During her 30-year career, she played roles ranging from the heroines of Noël Coward and George Bernard Shaw comedies to classic Shakespearean characters such as Ophelia, Cleopatra, Juliet, and Lady Macbeth. Later in life, she performed as a character actress in a few films.
At the time, the public strongly identified Leigh with her second husband Laurence Olivier, who was her spouse from 1940 to 1960. Leigh and Olivier starred together in many stage productions, with Olivier often directing, and in three films. She earned a reputation for being difficult to work with, and for much of her adult life she suffered from bipolar disorder as well as recurrent bouts of chronic tuberculosis, which was first diagnosed in the mid-1940s and ultimately claimed her life at the age of 53. Although her career had periods of inactivity, in 1999 the American Film Institute ranked Leigh as the 16th greatest female movie star of classic Hollywood cinema.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Vivien Leigh, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Their works
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A Streetcar Named Desire
Act like Blanche DuBois
event1951 star_border 7.6
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A disturbed, aging Southern belle moves in with her sister for solace — but being face-to-face with her brutish brother-in-law accelerates her downward spiral.
Gone with the Wind
Act like Scarlett O'Hara
event1939 star_border 7.9
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The spoiled daughter of a Georgia plantation owner conducts a tumultuous romance with a cynical profiteer during the American Civil War and Reconstruction Era.
Sir John Mills' Moving Memories
Act like Self (archive footage)
event2000
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A film biography with a difference, Sir John Mills' Moving Memories charts the life of one of Britain's most distinguished actors. Compiled from interviews with the man himself and with his family and friends, it traces his career from humble beginnings to all-time great of British cinema. The many film clips reveal an electric screen presence and a willingness to undertake a range of difficult, challenging roles.
Ship of Fools
Act like Mary Treadwell
event1965 star_border 6.5
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Passengers on a ship traveling from Mexico to Europe in the 1930s represent society at large in that era. The crew is German, including the ship's Dr. Schumann, who falls in love with one of the passengers, La Condesa. A young American woman, Jenny, is traveling with the man she loves, David. Jenny is fascinated and puzzled by just who some of the other passengers are.
Fire Over England
Act like Cynthia
event1937 star_border 6
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The film is a historical drama set during the reign of Elizabeth I (Flora Robson), focusing on the English defeat of the Spanish Armada, whence the title. In 1588, relations between Spain and England are at the breaking point. With the support of Queen Elizabeth I, British sea raiders such as Sir Francis Drake regularly capture Spanish merchantmen bringing gold from the New World.
Caesar and Cleopatra
Act like Cleopatra
event1945 star_border 6.1
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The aging Caesar finds himself intrigued by the young Egyptian queen. Adapted by George Bernard Shaw from his own play.
Anna Karenina
Act like Anna Karenina
event1948 star_border 6
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Stefan and Dolly Oblonsky have had a spat and Stefan has asked his sister, Anna Karenina, to come down to Moscow to help mend the rift. Anna's companion on the train from St. Petersburg is Countess Vronsky who is met at the Moscow station by her son. Col. Vronsky looks very dashing in his uniform and it's love at first sight when he looks at Anna and their eyes meet.
The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone
Act like Karen Stone
event1961 star_border 6.7
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Critics and the public say Karen Stone is too old -- as she approaches 50 -- for her role in a play she is about to take to Broadway. Her businessman husband, 20 years her senior, has been the angel for the play and gives her a way out: They are off to a holiday in Rome for his health. He suffers a fatal heart attack on the plane. Mrs. Stone stays in Rome. She leases a magnificent apartment with a view of the seven hills from the terrace. Then the contessa comes calling to introduce a young man named Paolo to her. The contessa knows many presentable young men and lonely American widows.
That Hamilton Woman
Act like Emma, Lady Hamilton
event1941 star_border 7.1
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The story of courtesan and dance-hall girl Emma Hamilton, including her relationships with Sir William Hamilton and Admiral Horatio Nelson and her rise and fall, set during the Napoleonic Wars.
Waterloo Bridge
Act like Myra
event1940 star_border 7.5
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On the eve of World War II, a British officer revisits Waterloo Bridge and recalls the young man he was at the beginning of World War I and the young ballerina he met just before he left for the front.
21 Days Together
Act like Wanda
event1940 star_border 6.1
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After Larry Darrent accidentally kills his lover's blackmailing husband, someone else is arrested for the crime. When he is found guilty, Larry and Wanda have just three weeks together before he must give himself up or let an innocent man go to the gallows.
Dark Journey
Act like Madeleine Goddard
event1937 star_border 6.4
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Madeline Goddard, is a British double agent who meets and falls in love with a German spy Baron Karl Von Marwitz during World War I. This tale of espionage blends high adventure and romance making perfect order from wartime chaos and growing in faith from despair.
Storm in a Teacup
Act like Victoria Gow
event1937 star_border 7.5
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A local politician in Scotland tries to break the reporter who wrote a negative story about him, and who is also in love with his daughter.
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
Act like Self (archive footage)
event1972 star_border 6
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A documentary about the glorious history of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and its decline leading to the sale of its back lot and props. By extension this provides a general history of Hollywood's Golden Age and the legendary studio system.
St. Martin's Lane
Act like Liberty
event1938 star_border 7.1
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On the sidewalks of the London theater district the buskers (street performers) earn enough coins for a cheap room. Charles, who recites dramatic monologues, sees that a young pickpocket, Libby, also has a talent for dancing and adds her to his act. Harley, the theater patron who never knew Libby took his gold cigarette case, is impressed by Libby's dancing and invites her to bring Charles and the other buskers in his group to an after-the-play party. Libby comes alone. A theatrical career is launched.
A Yank at Oxford
Act like Elsa Craddock
event1938 star_border 6.7
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A brash young American aristocrat attending Oxford University gets a chance to prove himself and win the heart of his antagonist's sister.
Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood
Act like Self (archive footage)
event2018 star_border 6
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A deliciously scandalous portrait of unsung Hollywood legend Scotty Bowers, whose bestselling memoir chronicled his decades spent as sexual procurer to the stars.
The Village Squire
Act like Rose Venables
event1935 star_border 6
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Comedy about how a travelling film actor who arrives in a small village transforms a squire's production of "Macbeth" and subsequently weds his daughter.
Things Are Looking Up
Act like Schoolgirl
event1935 star_border 6
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Scatterbrain circus lady has to cover for her sour schoolmistress sister.
Look Up and Laugh
Act like Marjorie Belfer
event1935 star_border 4.5
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Gutsy lass Gracie rallies fellow stall-holders at Birkenhead Market to prevent its takeover and demolition by a department store chain. She invokes the Market's foundation by Royal Charter just before an inadvertent gas leak provides an explosive climax.
The Deep Blue Sea
Act like Hester Collyer
event1955 star_border 5
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A woman is unhappy in her marriage to a boring, stiff judge, so she takes up with a wild-living RAF pilot, who ends up being more than she can handle. (TCM.com)
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Act like Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
event1983 star_border 6.5
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Out-takes (mostly from Warner Bros.), promotional shorts, movie premieres, public service pleas, wardrobe tests, documentary material, and archival footage make up this star-studded voyeuristic look at the Golden age of Hollywood during the 30s, 40, and 50.
Larry & Vivien: The Oliviers in Love
Act like Self (archive footage)
event2001
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A portrait of the 30 year relationship between Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier. With comments by their friends and family.
Hollywood: The Selznick Years
Act like Scarlett O'Hara (archive footage) (uncredited)
event1961 star_border 3.3
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Henry Fonda hosts this retrospective on the career and films of iconic filmmaker David O. Selznick, who epitomized the era of the auteur producer in the 30s and 40s.
The Screen Director
Act like Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
event1951 star_border 6
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A documentary short film depicting the work of the motion picture director. An anonymous director is shown preparing the various aspects of a film for production, meeting with the writer and producer, approving wardrobe and set design, rehearsing scenes with the actors and camera crew, shooting the scenes, watching dailies, working with the editor and composer, and attending the first preview. Then a number of real directors are shown in archive footage (as well as a predominance of staged 'archive' footage) working with actors and crew.
That's Entertainment! III
Act like (archive footage)
event1994 star_border 6.9
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Some of MGM'S musical stars review the studios history of musicals. From The Hollywood Revue of 1929 to Brigadoon, from the first musical talkies to Gene Kelly in Singin' in the Rain.
Melanie Remembers: Reflections by Olivia de Havilland
Act like Herself (archive footage)
event2004 star_border 7.2
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This documentary is featured in the 4-disc Collector's Edition DVD set, released in 2004, for Gone with the Wind (1939).
Gentlemen's Agreement
Act like Phil Stanley
event1935 star_border 7.3
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A young doctor realises that his father is a quack and changes places with a down-and-out.
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
Act like Self
event1940 star_border 6.5
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This 1940 presentation features highlights of earlier (1928 onward) Oscar ceremonies including Shirley Temple and Walt Disney, plus acceptance speeches for films released in 1939 with recipients and presenters including Vivien Leigh, Judy Garland, Hattie McDaniel, Fay Bainter, Mickey Rooney, Thomas Mitchell, Sinclair Lewis, and more, with host Bob Hope.
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Act like Self (archive footage)
event1975 star_border 5.7
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Period music, film clips and newsreel footage combined into a visual exploration of the American entertainment industry during the Great Depression.
Hollywood: Style Center of the World
Act like Self
event1940 star_border 5.5
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This short promotes the premise that movies often create a demand for the fashions seen in them. It starts with a vignette in rural America. A mother and daughter go to town to buy a new dress. In the dress shop window is a designer dress worn by Joan Crawford in a recent movie. We then go to Hollywood and visit Adrian, MGM's chief of costume design, and see how multiple copies of a single clothing pattern are produced. The film ends with short segments of several MGM features.
That's Entertainment, Part II
Act like (archive footage)
event1976 star_border 6.8
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Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire present more golden moments from the MGM film library, this time including comedy and drama as well as classic musical numbers.
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind
Act like Self (archive footage)
event1988 star_border 8
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This documentary revisits the making of Gone with the Wind via archival footage, screen tests, insightful interviews and rare film footage.
Glorious Technicolor
Act like Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
event1998 star_border 6.7
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The history of color photography in motion pictures, in particular the Technicolor company's work.
Jornal Português (1938-1951)
Act like Self (archive footage)
event2005
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The newsreel series Jornal Português (1938-1951) was produced for the Secretariat of National Propaganda (SPN/SNI) by the "Portuguese Newsreel Society" (SPAC), under the technical supervision of António Lopes Ribeiro. It was conceived and employed as part of the propaganda machinery of Salazar's regime. Screened in cinema theatres prior to the main feature film, each issue of Jornal had approximately ten minutes in length and covered a variety of official government acts, national political news, major sports events and other assorted social and cultural affairs. Jornal Português is not only an indispensable document for the history of Estado Novo's propaganda, but also an unparalleled audiovisual archive of 1940s Portugal.
The Good, The Bad, and the Beautiful
Act like Self (archive footage)
event1996 star_border 10
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A documentary reflecting on women in film and the entertainment industry through the ages led and hosted by some of its most beloved female icons.
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
Act like Self (archive footage)
event2009 star_border 7.5
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This documentary focuses on 1939, considered to be Hollywood's greatest year, with film clips and insight into what made the year so special.
The Skin of Our Teeth
Act like Sabina
event1959
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Production of Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer-winning play about mankind's triumph over chaos, which wildly altered dramatic conventions in freely shifting between modern-day New Jersey and the ice age. Meet George and Maggie Antrobus (married only 5,000 years); their two children, Gladys and Henry (perfect in every way!); and their maid, Sabina (the ageless vamp) as they overcome ice, flood, and war — by the skin of their teeth.
Vivien Leigh: Scarlett and Beyond
Act like Self (archive footage)
event1990 star_border 10
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The life and career of two-time Oscar winner Vivien Leigh, who battled tuberculosis and manic-depression but always remained a star.
Vivien Leigh, autant en emporte le vent
Act like Self (archive footage)
event2020 star_border 7.5
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In "Gone with the Wind" she was an unforgettable Scarlett O'Hara. Beauty, two-time Oscar winner, celebrated Hollywood star and great Shakespearean interpreter - Vivien Leigh was all that. Behind the celebrity, however, was a fragile person. Her bipolar disorder clouded her success and her private happiness.
Lee Marvin: A Personal Portrait by John Boorman
Act like Self (archive footage)
event1998
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John Boorman met Lee Marvin in London when the latter was making The Dirty Dozen and immediately they struck up a friendship. Shortly afterwards they made two films together, the first of which was Point Blank, during which Boorman found that he learnt a lot about screen acting and how to direct from the contributions and support from Marvin. Later they worked together on Hell in the Pacific. With his friendship providing an insightful collection of memories of Marvin, Boorman leads this intimate documentary on the life of Lee Marvin.
The Extraordinary Seaman
Act like Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
event1969 star_border 2.6
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Marooned sailors discover a World War II ship haunted by its late captain.
The Ed Sullivan Show
Act like Self (1 ep.)
event1948 star_border 6.6
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The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the CBS Sunday Night Movie, which ran only one season and was eventually replaced by other shows.
In 2002, The Ed Sullivan Show was ranked #15 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.
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