Vivien Leigh on stage and screen

British actress Vivien Leigh (1913–1967) was born in Darjeeling, India; her family returned to England when she was six years old. In addition to her British schooling, she was also educated in France, Italy and Germany, and became multilingual.^[1] Classically trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art,^[2] her film debut was in an uncredited role in the 1935 comedy Things Are Looking Up.^[3]

While studying Shakespearean drama at The Old Vic, she met Laurence Olivier, who would become her most frequent artistic collaborator.^[1] Even though her film roles brought her global name recognition and acclaim, the bulk of her work was in theatrical productions, frequently with Olivier as her director and/or co-star. Many of their productions on the British stage were based on the works of William Shakespeare. In 1943, as part of the Old Vic Spring Party, they toured North Africa for three months entertaining British troops.^[4] In 1961, they were part of The Old Vic Tour of Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and South America.^[5]

She appeared in 19 theatrically released films, twice winning the Academy Award for Best Actress, both times for her dramatic depictions of women from the American South.^[6] Her first Oscar was in 1939, for her performance in Gone with the Wind as Margaret Mitchell's protagonist Scarlett O'Hara.^[7]^[6] She won the role after a two-year search for the ideal actress had eliminated many of Hollywood's top talents.^[8] Her second Oscar was in 1951, for A Streetcar Named Desire.^[7]^[6] Playwright Tennessee Williams saw her on the London stage, and after conveying his impressions to co-producer Irene Mayer Selznick, Leigh was signed for the role of Blanche DuBois in the 1949 London production of the play.^[9] After playing the role of DuBois for 326 performances, Leigh was flown to Los Angeles to begin filming the movie version.^[10]

Her star was placed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 8, 1960.^[6]

Stage

Stage credits of Vivien Leigh
Title	Date	Theatre	Role	Director	Notes/Playwright(s)	Ref(s)
The Green Sash	1935	Q Theatre	Giusta	Matthew Forsyth	Debonnaire Sylvester T. P. Wood	^[5]
The Mask of Virtue	1935	Ambassadors Theatre	Henriette Duquesnoy	Maxwell Wray	Carl Sternheim and Ashley Dukes	^[5]
Richard II	1936	Oxford University Dramatic Society	Queen Anne	John Gielgud Glen Byam Shaw	William Shakespeare	^[5]
The Happy Hypocrite		His Majesty's Theatre	Jenny Mere	Maurice Colbourne	Clemence Dane	^[5]
Henry VIII		Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park	Anne Boleyn	Robert Atkins	William Shakespeare	^[5]
Because We Must	1937	Wyndham's Theatre	Pamela Golding-Ffrench	Norman Marshall	Ingaret Giffard	^[5]
Bats in the Belfry		Ambassadors Theatre	Jessica Morton	A. R. Whatmore	Diana Morgan and Robert MacDermot	^[5]
Hamlet		Kronborg Castle, Elsinore	Ophelia	Tyrone Guthrie	William Shakespeare	^[5]
A Midsummer Night's Dream		Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park	Titania	Tyrone Guthrie	William Shakespeare Jeanne de Casalis	^[5]
Serena Blandish	1938	Gate Theatre	Serena Blandish	Esme Percy	S. N. Behrman and Enid Bagnold	^[5]
Romeo and Juliet	1940	51st Street Theatre, New York City, also San Francisco, Chicago and Washington, D.C.	Juliet	Laurence Olivier	William Shakespeare	^[5]
The Doctor's Dilemma	1942	Haymarket Theatre	Jennifer Dubedat	Irene Hentschel	George Bernard Shaw	^[5]
"Old Vic Spring Party — A Revue"	1943	3-month tour of North Africa entertaining troops	Herself and as Scarlett O'Hara	John Gielgud	works by Lewis Carroll and Clemence Dane	^[4]
The Skin of Our Teeth	1945	Phoenix Theatre	Sabina	Laurence Olivier	Thornton Wilder	^[5]
The Skin of Our Teeth (revival)	1946	Piccadilly Theatre	Sabina			^[5]
Richard III	1948	Old Vic Company Tour of Australia and New Zealand	Lady Anne			^[5]
The School for Scandal			Lady Teazle		Richard Brinsley Sheridan	^[5]
The Skin of Our Teeth (revival)			Sabina		Thornton Wilder	^[5]
The School for Scandal	1949	New Theatre for the Old Vic Company	Lady Teazle		Richard Brinsley Sheridan	^[5]
Richard III			Lady Anne	Laurence Olivier	Thornton Wilder	^[5]
Antigone			Antigone		Sophocles	^[5]
A Streetcar Named Desire		Aldwych Theatre	Blanche DuBois		Tennessee Williams	^[5]
Caesar and Cleopatra	1951	St James's Theatre	Cleopatra	Michael Benthall	George Bernard Shaw alternated nightly with Antony and Cleopatra	^[5]
Antony and Cleopatra		St James's Theatre			William Shakespeare alternated nightly with Caesar and Cleopatra	^[11]
Caesar and Cleopatra		Ziegfeld Theatre, New York City			George Bernard Shaw alternated nightly with Antony and Cleopatra	^[5]
Antony and Cleopatra		Ziegfeld Theatre, New York City			William Shakespeare alternated nightly with Caesar and Cleopatra	^[11]
The Sleeping Prince	1953	Phoenix Theatre	Mary Morgan	Laurence Olivier	Terence Rattigan	^[11]
Twelfth Night	1955	Stratford-upon-Avon	Viola	John Gielgud	William Shakespeare	^[11]
Macbeth			Lady Macbeth	Glen Byam Shaw		^[11]
Titus Andronicus			Lavinia	Peter Brook		^[11]
South Sea Bubble	1956	Lyric Theatre	Lady Alexandra Shotter	William Chappell	Noël Coward	^[11]
Titus Andronicus	1957	European Tour, followed by Stoll Theatre, London	Lavinia	Peter Brook	William Shakespeare	^[11]
Duel of Angels	1958	Apollo Theatre	Paola	Jean-Louis Barrault	Jean Giraudoux Christopher Fry	^[11]
Look After Lulu!	1959	Royal Court Theatre, then New Theatre	Lulu d'Arville	Tony Richardson	Georges Feydeau translated by Noël Coward	^[11]
Duel of Angels	1960	Helen Hayes Theatre, New York City	Paola	Robert Helpmann	Jean Giraudoux Christopher Fry	^[11]
Twelfth Night	1961	Old Vic Company Tour of Australia, New Zealand and South America	Viola	Robert Helpmann	William Shakespeare	^[11]
Duel of Angels			Paola		Jean Giraudoux	^[11]
Lady of the Camellias			Marguerite Gautier		Alexandre Dumas	^[11]
Tovarich	1963	Broadway Theatre, New York City	Grand Duchess Tatiana I	Peter Glenville	Robert E. Sherwood	^[11]
La Contessa	1965	Newcastle, Liverpool and Manchester	Contessa Sanziani	Robert Helpmann	Paul Osborn and Maurice Druon	^[11]
Ivanov	1966	Shubert Theatre, New York City	Anna Petrova	John Gielgud	Anton Chekhov	^[11]

Films

Screen credits of Vivien Leigh
Title	Year	Role	Director	Notes	Ref(s)
Things Are Looking Up	1935	Schoolgirl uncredited	Albert de Courville Stafford Dickens	Gaumont British Picture Corporation	^[3]
The Village Squire		Rose Venables	Reginald Denham	British and Dominions Imperial Studios	^[3]
Gentlemen's Agreement		Phil Stanley	George Pearson	British and Dominions Imperial Studios	^[3]
Look Up and Laugh		Marjorie Belfer	Basil Dean	Associated Talking Pictures	^[3]
Fire Over England	1937	Cynthia	William K. Howard	London Film Productions	^[12]
Dark Journey		Madeleine	Victor Saville		^[13]
Storm in a Teacup		Victoria Gow	Ian Dalrymple Victor Saville		^[14]
A Yank at Oxford	1938	Elsa Craddock	Jack Conway	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)	^[15]
Sidewalks of London	1938	Libby	Tim Whelan	UK release title St. Martin's Lane Mayflower Productions	^[3]
Gone with the Wind	1939	Scarlett O'Hara	Victor Fleming	Academy Award for Best Actress David O. Selznick producer	^[16]
Waterloo Bridge	1940	Myra Lester	Mervyn LeRoy	MGM	^[3]
21 Days	1940	Wanda Wallen	Basil Dean	aka 21 Days Together, Three Weeks Together and The First and the Last, originally filmed in 1937; release delayed until after Gone with the Wind London Film Productions	^[17]
That Hamilton Woman	1941	Emma, Lady Hamilton	Alexander Korda	Alexander Korda Films	^[18]
Caesar and Cleopatra	1945	Cleopatra	Gabriel Pascal	Gabriel Pascal Productions	^[18]
Anna Karenina	1948	Anna Karenina	Julien Duvivier	Producers Alexander Korda Herbert Mason	^[18]
A Streetcar Named Desire	1951	Blanche DuBois	Elia Kazan	Academy Award for Best Actress Charles K. Feldman	^[19]
The Deep Blue Sea	1955	Hester Collyer	Anatole Litvak	London Films	^[18]
The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone	1961	Karen Stone	José Quintero	Seven Arts Productions	^[20]
Ship of Fools	1965	Mary Treadwell	Stanley Kramer	Stanley Kramer Productions	^[18]

Bibliography

Bean, Kendra (2013). Vivien Leigh: An Intimate Portrait. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania : Running Press Book Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7624-5099-2.

References

^ ^a ^b "Vivien Leigh". Biography. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
^ Bean 2013, p. 167.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Bean 2013, p. 247.
^ ^a ^b Bean 2013, pp. 89–91.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x Bean 2013, p. 249.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Vivien Leigh". Hollywood Walk of Fame. 25 October 2019. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
^ ^a ^b "Academy Awards Search | Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences". awardsdatabase.oscars.org. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
^ "The Search for Scarlett: Girls Tested for the Role of Scarlett". Gone with the Wind Online Exhibit. University of Texas at Austin: Harry Ransom Center. Archived from the original on 5 January 2014.
^ Bean 2013, pp. 124–126.
^ Bean 2013, p. 131.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q Bean 2013, p. 250.
^ "Fire Over England". UCLA Film and Television Archive. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
^ "Dark Journey". AFI Catalog of Featured Films. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
^ "Storm in a Teacup". AFI Catalog of Featured Films. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
^ "A Yank at Oxford". UCLA Film and Television Archive. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
^ "Gone with the Wind". UCLA Film and Television Archive. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
^ "21 Days Together". AFI Catalog of Featured Films. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Bean 2013, p. 248.
^ "A Streetcar Named Desire". UCLA Film and Television Archive. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
^ Bean 2013, p. 245.

This page was last edited on 3 November 2023, at 19:24

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