Trivia

Was offered the supporting role of Isabella in Wuthering Heights (1939), but decided to gamble and hold out for the lead role of Cathy. Director William Wyler thought she was crazy to pass up the opportunity, telling her, "You will never get a better part than Isabella for an American debut." Shortly after, she landed the plum role of Scarlett O'Hara.

Despite her legendary stature, Leigh made fewer than twenty films in her career.

Kept Laurence Olivier's photograph beside her bed and on her dressing table even after they divorced. Until her death, she was addressed as "Lady Olivier".

Was obsessed with hiding her large hands. Gloves were a favorite cover-up, she owned more than 150 pairs. Interestingly enough, one of the frequent descriptions of Vivien's most famous character Scarlett O'Hara in the novel Gone with the Wind (1939) is that she has extremely small hands.

Was the first British actress to receive an Academy Award. She won the Best Actress Oscar for Gone with the Wind (1939) in February 1940.

According to legend, Myron Selznick introduced Vivien to his brother - Gone with the Wind (1939) producer David O. Selznick - with the words, "Hey, genius! Meet your Scarlett.".

She died after collapsing at home from complications from an attack of tuberculosis on July 7, 1967. That evening lights of West End theater marquees were kept dark for an hour in her honor.

Eventually, Vivien needed shock therapy to control her manic depression. Sometimes, she would go on stage just hours after her treatments, without missing a beat in her performance.

Suffered from bipolar disorder (referred to as "manic depression" at the time of her diagnosis).

Became pregnant twice (in 1944 and 1955) during her marriage to Laurence Olivier; she suffered miscarriages on both occasions.

Married Laurence Olivier at San Ysidro Ranch in Santa Barbara on August 31, 1940, with Katharine Hepburn as matron of honor; they honeymooned on actor Ronald Colman's yacht.

A heavy smoker, Leigh was smoking almost four packs a day during filming of Gone with the Wind (1939).

Although she is British, she won both her Oscars for portraying American southern belles.

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 role 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 could not 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 role on the London stage.

Her only child, daughter Suzanne Farrington, died on March 1, 2015 at age 81.

Was named #16 Actress on The American Film Institute's 50 Greatest Screen Legends.

For her performance as Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), she won the first British Academy Award for Best Actress at the newly inaugurated BAFTA Awards ceremony in 1953.

After cremation at Golders Green, London, her ashes were scattered on the mill pond at her home, Tickerage Mill, at Blackboys in Sussex.

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.

Laurence Olivier's first wife, Jill Esmond, named Vivien as co-respondent in her February 1940 divorce from Olivier on grounds of adultery. Vivien would name Joan Plowright - Olivier's next and last wife - as co-respondent in her 1960 divorce from Olivier, also on grounds of adultery.

Her performance as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939) is ranked #3 on Premiere magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.

Reportedly used one of her two Oscars to doorstop her bathroom.

Is only one of seven actors who have a 2-0 winning record when nominated for an acting Oscar, her two wins for Gone with the Wind (1939) and A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). The others are Luise Rainer for The Great Ziegfeld (1936) and The Good Earth (1937); Helen Hayes for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931) and Airport (1970); Kevin Spacey for The Usual Suspects (1995) and American Beauty (1999); Hilary Swank for Boys Don't Cry (1999) and Million Dollar Baby (2004); Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds (2009) and Django Unchained (2012); and Mahershala Ali for Moonlight (2016) and Green Book (2018).

When making Gone with the Wind (1939), super macho director Victor Fleming wanted Scarlett, for at least once in the film, to look like his hunting buddy Clark Gable's type of woman. So, when wearing the stunning low-cut burgundy velvet dress with rhinestones that Scarlett wears to Ashley Wilkes' birthday party in the second half of the film, to achieve the desired cleavage for Fleming, Walter Plunkett had to tape Vivien Leigh's breasts together.

Pictured on one of four 25¢ US commemorative postage stamps issued March 23, 1990 honoring classic films released in 1939. The stamp features Clark Gable and Leigh as Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the Wind (1939). The other films honored were Beau Geste (1939), Stagecoach (1939) and The Wizard of Oz (1939).

She desperately wanted to play the second Mrs. De Winter in Rebecca (1940) opposite her husband Laurence Olivier, but producer David O. Selznick thought the role would dilute her value as a Scarlett O'Hara type and cast Joan Fontaine instead. His decision severely strained her professional relationship with Selznick; neither she nor Olivier ever appeared in one of his films again. Fontaine won her first Academy Award nomination in the role.

Gave birth to her only child at age 19, a daughter named Suzanne Mary Holman (aka Suzanne Farrington) on October 10, 1933 in a London nursing home. Child's father is her first ex-husband, Herbert Holman.

She took her then husband's first name (Leigh) as her last name when she began acting professionally.

She was supposed to star in the Paramount film Elephant Walk (1954) with Peter Finch and Dana Andrews, but after appearing in a few scenes she was replaced by Elizabeth Taylor. The reasons for Leigh's dismissal were rumored to be her difficult nature, having just been diagnosed as a manic-depressive. Further complications may have erupted because of an affair she had with co-star Finch while she was still married to Laurence Olivier, and Leigh and Olivier were still married in 1954.

Claimed that when she tested for Gone with the Wind (1939), the costume was still warm from the actress who preceded her.

Was close friends with Rachel Kempson, the mother of Oscar-winning actress Vanessa Redgrave.

The producer of the 1935 play "The Mask of Virtue" suggested to her that she change the 'a' in her first name to an 'e' from "Vivian" to "Vivien".

The nickname Vivling was given to her by her father. It's a combination of her name and the word darling.

A lover of cats, especially Siamese.

She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6773 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 8, 1960.

Had an affair with actor Peter Finch that nearly ended her marriage to Laurence Olivier. The movie The V.I.P.s (1963) is based on an incident from Leigh's and Olivier's marriage, when she was about to leave him for Finch but Olivier wooed her back.

Is one of 12 actresses who won the Best Actress Oscar for a movie that also won the Best Picture Oscar (she won for Gone with the Wind (1939)). The others are Claudette Colbert for It Happened One Night (1934), Luise Rainer for The Great Ziegfeld (1936), Greer Garson for Mrs. Miniver (1942), Louise Fletcher for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), Diane Keaton for Annie Hall (1977), Shirley MacLaine for Terms of Endearment (1983), Jessica Tandy for Driving Miss Daisy (1989), Jodie Foster for The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Gwyneth Paltrow for Shakespeare in Love (1998), Hilary Swank for Million Dollar Baby (2004), Frances McDormand for Nomadland (2020) and Michelle Yeoh for Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022).

Her favorite role was that of Myra Lester, which she played in Waterloo Bridge (1940).

Is one of 14 Best Actress Oscar winners to have not accepted their Academy Award in person, Leigh's being for A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). The others are Katharine Hepburn, Claudette Colbert, Joan Crawford, Judy Holliday, Anna Magnani, Ingrid Bergman, Sophia Loren, Anne Bancroft, Patricia Neal, Elizabeth Taylor, Maggie Smith, Glenda Jackson and Ellen Burstyn.

After Joan Crawford quit filming Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), Leigh was offered her role which she turned down. Olivia de Havilland, Leigh's co-star in Gone with the Wind (1939) was then offered and accepted the role.

She has appeared in two films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Gone with the Wind (1939) and A Streetcar Named Desire (1951).

Her father was a full-blooded Englishmen, while her mother was of French and Irish ancestry.

Lived with John Merivale from 1959 until her death in 1967.

Won Broadway's 1963 Tony Award as Best Actress (Musical) for "Tovarich".

She lived at 54 Eaton Square, from 1958 until her death in 1967. A blue plaque on the building commemorates the fact. Sir Laurence Olivier also lived there but left following their divorce. The actress Luise Rainer later lived in the same apartment until her death in 2014.

Godmother of actress Juliet Mills and Suzanna Leigh.

Scarlett O'Hara might have been played by an actress called 'April Morn', a stage name she briefly considered before settling on Vivien Leigh.

Was offered the role of Alice Aisgill in Room at the Top (1958), which she turned down. Simone Signoret was cast instead and she went on to receive a Best Actress Oscar for her performance.

Although she was a British subject for her whole life, her ancestry was French and Irish.

Returned to work sixteen months after giving birth to her daughter Suzanne Farrington in order to begin performing in the stage production entitled "The Green Sash".