Vivien Leigh
Acting

Vivien Leigh

Born 5 November 1913 · Darjeeling, Bengal Presidency, British India [now West Bengal, India] · Died 7 July 1967

Vivien Leigh (born November 5, 1913, Darjeeling, India—died July 8, 1967, London, England) was an English actress renowned for her roles in Hollywood and British theater. She won two Academy Awards for Best Actress, portraying Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939) and Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), both performances that solidified her place among the greatest actresses of classic cinema. Leigh was the only child of Ernest Hartley, a British broker, and Gertrude Yackjee, who had Anglo-Indian and Armenian ancestry. She spent her childhood between England and Europe, attending convent schools before enrolling at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London in 1932, setting the stage for her acting career. Her film debut came in Things Are Looking Up (1934), followed by roles in British films such as Fire Over England (1937), where she starred alongside Laurence Olivier. Their professional collaboration soon became a high-profile romance, capturing public fascination.

Known for

Gone with the Wind
A Streetcar Named Desire
Waterloo Bridge
Ship of Fools
That Hamilton Woman
Anna Karenina
Caesar and Cleopatra
Fire Over England
The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone
Dark Journey
Storm in a Teacup
21 Days
Ivanov
Ship of Fools
Tovarich
Antony and Cleopatra
The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone
The Skin of Our Teeth
The Deep Blue Sea
A Streetcar Named Desire
Rebecca
Anna Karenina
Caesar and Cleopatra
That Hamilton Woman
Waterloo Bridge
21 Days
Private Lives
Gone with the Wind
St. Martin's Lane
A Yank at Oxford
Fire Over England
Dark Journey
Storm in a Teacup
The Village Squire
Things Are Looking Up
Look Up and Laugh
Gentlemen's Agreement
Vivien Leigh · Midrow