Vivien Leigh Trivia

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(hartleyfamily.org.uk)

Hobbies: Gardening, the Times crossword, playing hostess at parties, collecting modern art and Dickens first editions, walking (vivandlarry.com)

Was fluent in French, German and Italian (vivandlarry.com)

Peter Finch was discovered by Laurence Olivier in 1948 when Olivier and his theatrical company, which included wife Leigh, were conducting a tour of Australia, Olivier signed the young Aussie to a personal contract and Finch became part of Olivier's theatrical company. He then proceeded to cuckold his mentor and employer by bedding Leigh. Olivier was personally humiliated but ever the trouper, he kept the talented Finch under contract after having brought him back to England, where Finch flourished as an actor. Finch and Leigh carried on a long affair, and since Leigh was bipolar and her manic-depression frequently manifested itself in nymphomania, some speculate that Olivier subconsciously might have been grateful for Finch as he occupied Leigh's hours and kept her out of worse trouble and Olivier from even worse embarrassment. Their on-again, off-again affair reportedly reached a crisis point on the movie Elephant Walk (1954), when they had renewed their affair. However, the instability of their relationship allegedly triggered a nervous breakdown in Leigh, and Olivier had to step in to take care of her. (imdb.com)

Laurence Olivier wrote in his autobiography, "Confessions of an Actor," that sometime after World War II, Leigh announced calmly that she was no longer in love with him, but loved him like a brother. Olivier was emotionally devastated. What he did not know at the time was that Leigh's declaration -- and her subsequent affairs with multiple partners -- was a signal of the bipolar disorder that eventually disrupted her life and career. Leigh had every intention of remaining married to Olivier, but was no longer interested in him romantically. Olivier himself began having affairs (including one with Claire Bloom in the 1950s, according to Bloom's own autobiography) as Leigh's eye and amorous intentions wandered and roamed outside of the marital bedchamber. Olivier had to accompany Leigh to Hollywood in 1950 in order to keep an eye on her and keep her out of trouble, to ensure that her manic-depression did not get out of hand and disrupt the production of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). In order to do so, he accepted a part in William Wyler's Carrie (1952) that was shot at the same time as "Streetcar". The Oliviers were popular with Hollywood's elite, and Elia Kazan and Marlon Brando both liked "Larry" very much (that was the reason that Brando gave in his own autobiography for not sleeping with Leigh, whom he thought had a superior posterior--he couldn't raid Olivier's "chicken coop" as "Larry was such a nice guy".) None of them knew the depths of the anguish he was enduring as the caretaker of his mentally ill wife. Brando said that Leigh was superior to Jessica Tandy -- the original stage Blanche DuBois -- as she WAS Blanche. Ironically, Olivier himself had directed Leigh in the part on the London stage. (imdb.com)

Gertrude Hartley, while awaiting the birth of her child in Darjeeling, spent 15 minutes every morning gazing at the Himalayas in the belief that their astonishing beauty would be passed to her unborn child. (imdb.com)

Daughter, with Holman, Suzanne (b. 10/12/1933). (imdb.com)

Vivian was just 19 years old when she had her daughter Suzanne. Her diary entry on this October 12, 1933 simply read, "Had a baby- a girl."

beat out 1400 other actors for the role in gone with the wind.

He even has his own theater there, the St. James. Now Sir Laurence, with a seat in the British House of Lords, is accompanied by Vivien the day the Lords are debating about whether the St James should be torn down.

She sails to America for a brief vacation. In New York she gets on a plane for the first time to rush to California to see Laurence.

Vivien gets a much smaller role as a lady-in-waiting of the queen who is in love with Laurence`s character. In real life, both fall in love while making this film, Fire Over England (1937).

An English film is going to be made about Elizabeth I. Laurence gets the role of a young favorite of the queen who is sent to Spain.

The play has a very brief run, but now she is a real actress.

At a party Vivien finds out about a stage role, "The Green Sash", where the only requirement is that the leading lady be beautiful.

The London stage is more exciting than the movies being filmed in England, and the most thrilling actor on that stage is Laurence Olivier.

She has only one line but the camera keeps returning to her face.

Vivien has an opportunity to play a small role in an English film, Things Are Looking Up (1935).

The year is 1932. Vivien`s best friend from that convent school has gone to California, where she`s making movies.

Vivien`s favorite actor is Leslie Howard, and at 19 she marries an English barrister who looks very much like him.

The male roles are so much more adventurous.

Pupils at the English convent school are eager to perform in school plays. It`s an all-girls school, so some of the girls have to play the male roles.

In India the British community entertained themselves at amateur theatricals and Vivien`s father was a leading man.

In the next six months Vivien will insist on seeing the same play 16 times.

After Vivien has been at the school for 18 months, her mother comes again from India and takes her to a play in London.

In the bleakness of a convent school, the two girls can recreate in their imaginations the places they have left and places where they would some day like to travel.

Her first and best friend at the school is an eight-year-old girl, Maureen O`Sullivan who has been transplanted from Ireland.

The only comfort for the lonely child is a cat that was in the courtyard of the school that the nuns let her take up to her dormitory.

Her mother thinks she should have a proper English upbringing and insists on leaving her in a convent school - even though Vivien is two years younger than any of the other girls at the school.

Because of the outbreak of World War I, she is six years old the first time her parents take her to England.

In the mountains above Calcutta, a little princess is born.

If a film were made of the life of Vivien Leigh, it would open in India just before World War I, where a successful British businessman could live like a prince.

been grateful for Finch as he occupied Leigh`s hours

some speculate that Olivier subconsciously might have

manifested itself in nymphomania,

and since Leigh was bipolar and her manic-depression frequently

Finch and Leigh carried on a long affair,

where Finch flourished as an actor.

he kept the talented Finch under contract after having brought him back to England,

Olivier was personally humiliated but ever the trouper,

He then proceeded to cuckold his mentor and employer by bedding Leigh.

and Finch became part of Olivier`s theatrical company.

Some big names had tried out for the part, such as Norma Shearer, Katharine Hepburn and Paulette Goddard.

The role of Scarlett O`Hara had yet to be cast and she was invited to take part in a screen test for the role. There had already been much talk in Hollywood about who was to be cast as Scarlett.

Vivien had the good luck to happen upon the Selznick brothers, who were filming the burning of Atlanta for the film, Gone with the Wind (1939), based on Margaret Mitchell`s novel.

In 1938, Vivien went to the US to see her lover, Laurence Olivier, who was filming Wuthering Heights (1939) (she had left Herbert Leigh in 1937). While visiting Olivier,

That same year Vivien appeared in Things Are Looking Up (1935), Look Up and Laugh (1935) and Gentlemen`s Agreement (1935).

Her first role in British motion pictures was as Rose Venables in 1935`s The Village Squire (1935).

Though she enjoyed motherhood, it did not squelch her ambition to be an actress.

At the end of her education, she met and married Herbert Leigh in 1932 and together had a child named Suzanne in 1933.