The Truth About Vivien Leigh And Laurence Olivier's Relationship

The Truth About Vivien Leigh And Laurence Olivier's Relationship

 

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By Karen Corday/May 14, 2021 4:03 pm EDT

Despite the fact that they were both married to other people when they met, actors Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh both felt a spark, per Harper's Bazaar. They met in London, England in 1936 when Olivier stopped by to congratulate Leigh after her performance in the play "The Mask of Virtue." According to author Michelangelo Capua's "Vivien Leigh: A Biography," Leigh immediately told a friend, "That's the man I'm going to marry." She was right, despite already being married to lawyer Herbert Leigh Holman while Olivier was married to actress Jill Esmond.

 

A year later, they were cast as lovers in the film "Fire Over England" and began an affair. Olivier later told biographer Michael Munn, "This wasn't just out of lust. This was love that I really didn't ask for but was drawn into." According to Marie Claire UK, Leigh's own commentary about the affair was equally passionate: "I don't think I have ever lived quite as intensely since. I don't remember sleeping, ever; only every precious moment that we spent together."

 

A year later, Olivier left Leigh behind in England to film an adaptation of "Wuthering Heights." As reported by The Guardian, the two exchanged steamy love letters during their time apart, 200 of which were made public in 2015. Among the less explicit excerpts is one from Leigh reading, "If we loved each other only with our bodies I suppose it would be alright. I love you with much more than that. I love you with, oh everything somehow, with a special kind of soul."

Olivier and Leigh left their spouses and married each other

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As reported by Harper's Bazaar, Vivien Leigh started showing signs of mental illness around the time Olivier left England. As there was no diagnosis or treatment available for bipolar disorder, Leigh didn't receive the help she needed. Despite getting a reputation for being difficult to work with, Leigh was cast as Scarlett O'Hara in 1939's "Gone With The Wind" after Olivier recommended her to a theater agent.

 

During filming, Leigh often wrote to Olivier about her fears that the film would be a disaster; she was often manic during the production. Olivier wrote back supportive letters, including one that read "... I am afraid you may become just boring. Never to me ... But to yourself and because of that to others." The film was a hit, Leigh was a star, and Olivier and Leigh married in 1940. They went on to make two movies together, "21 Days Together" and "That Hamilton Woman," and starred and invested thousands of dollars in a Broadway production of "Romeo and Juliet," which received terrible reviews, several of which referenced their relationship starting as an adulterous affair.

 

While filming "Caeser and Cleopatra" in 1945, Leigh slipped and suffered a miscarriage, which led to a severe depressive episode. She took a break from acting just as Olivier's career began soaring. In 1948, they toured New Zealand and Australia doing theater performances, but Leigh was often too ill to perform and she and Olivier fought constantly. Olivier would later say he "lost Vivien" during that trip.

Leigh said her most lauded role "tipped her over into madness"

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In 1949, Vivien Leigh played Blanche DuBois in a London production of the play "A Streetcar Named Desire" and went on to reprise the role in the 1951 film adaptation as well. She received enormous amounts of praise for her turn as the vulnerable and mentally ill Blanche, including winning an Oscar, but would later say, per Legacy, that it "tipped me over into madness." In 1953 while filming "Elephant Walk" in Sri Lanka, she began to hallucinate and her usual insomnia worsened. She was flown back to Los Angeles, but tried to jump out of the plane during the flight and when she got back, she barricaded herself in her dressing room. She was eventually sedated and flown to London where she underwent electric shock therapy, as reported by Marie Claire UK.

 

Leigh had a second miscarriage in 1956, per Harper's Bazaar, and accompanied Olivier on his tour for the play "Titus Andronicus," often directing angry outbursts at her husband and the rest of the cast. The couple separated in 1958; Leigh began dating actor Jack Merivale, who was her partner until her death from tuberculosis in 1967, and Oliver began dating his future wife, actress Joan Plowright. Even after their 1960 divorce, Oliver and Leigh continued writing to each other. As quoted by The Guardian, he sent her a note weeks before she died signed, "Sincerest love darling, your Larry."

The Tragic Death Of Vivien Leigh

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By Sandra Mardenfeld/May 13, 2021 4:29 pm EDT

Best known for her roles as calculating Southern belles, actress Vivien Leigh won two Academy Awards for playing the feisty Scarlett O'Hara from the 1939 film, "Gone with the Wind," and Blanch DuBois in "A Streetcar Named Desire." Leigh, an unknown British starlet, beat actresses such as Katharine Hepburn and Bette Davis for the coveted role in the Civil War drama. "She is so perfectly designed for the part by art and nature," wrote Frank E. Nugent in a The New York Times review, "that any other actress in the role would be inconceivable."

 

Leigh studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art but before launching her career, she married London lawyer Herbert Leigh Holman at 19. The union produced a daughter and her stage identity — changing the spelling of her first name from "Vivian" to "Vivien" and adding Leigh, according to Biography.

She began acting in 1935 — first in the play, "The Bash," and the movie, "Things Are Looking Up," according to The Royal Philatelic Society London. She met Laurence Olivier working on the 1936 play, "The Mask of Virtue" in London, according to Harper's Bazaar. He was also married but the two became infatuated with each other and started an affair after being cast in the movie "Fire Over England" together in 1937. They'd marry in 1940 after divorcing their spouses, creating a show business power couple for 20 years until they separated.

 

Despite her success, many don't know that Leigh suffered from bipolar disorder that often hampered her career.

Vivien Leigh had a long struggle with illness

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During the GWTW shoot, her secretary, Sunny Lash, watched her behavior become uneven and noted in a letter to Olivier, "Several times I thought she really was going mad," according to The Hollywood Reporter. "She had warned me once that someday she would and I was beginning to believe that time had come."

 

The movie broke box office records, according to Guinness World Records, and won eight Academy Awards, according to IMDb. When rehearsing "Caesar and Cleopatra," in 1944, for instance, Leigh fell and had a miscarriage, according to Viv and Larry. Leigh finished the film but never attended the premiere — she would not view the movie for years. According to Mental Floss, Leigh became depressed and an insomniac after the trauma.

Due to the terrible loss and her disorder, along with a respiratory issue that turned out to be tuberculosis, Leigh turned to electroshock therapy for help, according to Marie Claire magazine. Playing Blanche DuBois in "A Streetcar Named Desire," did not help her illness. "Blanche is a woman with everything stripped away," Movie Diva quotes her as saying. "She is a tragic figure and I understand her. But playing her tipped me into madness."

 

Leigh died in 1967, at the age of 53, after a bout with tuberculosis, a disease she had since 1945, according to an obituary in The New York Times. She has been in rehearsals for a West End performance in "A Delicate Balance" at the time.

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.

The Truth About Vivien Leigh And Laurence Olivier's Relationship

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