Vivien Leigh ( Darjeeling , 5 of November of 1913 – London , 7 of July of 1967 ) was a winning British actress of the Oscar Award twice. Her most memorable performance was in Gone with the Wind in her role as Scarlett O’Hara.
Summary
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- 1 Biographical synthesis
- 1 Childhood and youth
- 2 Artistic career
- 2 Filmography
- 3 Sources
Biographical synthesis
Childhood and youth
She was the daughter of a British stockbroker and an Irish housewife who would return to Britain just after the end of the First World War (1914-1918) .
From her early school days, the young Vivien was already making her first steps in the theatrical productions that were staged in the various schools in different countries that she attended.
When he finished his primary studies, he enrolled in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art to perfect his acting skills.
Artistic career
He began professionally at London’s Old Vic Theater. In 1932 she left the theater when she married Herbert Leigh Holman for the first time (from whom she took the surname) but boredom made her return to the stage and at twenty-one she was already admired by the entire artistic field. This is how Alexander Korda, a Hungarian film director and producer, met her, with whom she will sign a five-year contract.
In 1936 she will have her first starring role in Five over England , where she had Lawrence Olivier as a co-star, who soon after would become her second husband. Her sentimental union with the actor lasted until 1960. On a professional level the couple only triumphed in the works carried out with Korda.
However, the role of his life would come to him with Gone with the wind (1939), by Víctor Fleming, where he played Scarlett O’Hara. Her performance earned her the Oscar for Best Actress and the New York Critics Award. After a time retired from the Hollywood industry to return to the theater in England , Vivien Leigh decides to return to the United States where she would obtain excellent results.
She filmed A Streetcar Named Desire with Marlon Brando and in 1954 she started working on The Elephant Trail but due to illness she had to be replaced by Elizabeth Taylor .
When she intervened in her last film El barco de los locos (1965) she was already physically and mentally devastated. Two years later, she was found dead in her apartment, a victim of alcohol and tuberculosis that she had hidden from everyone.
It is undoubtedly a myth of the cinema despite having only participated in 19 films and his continuous problems in the private sphere that were also reflected in his work.
In 1951 he won his second Oscar for his role in A Streetcar Named Desire , although Vivien never gave more importance than due to these awards (one used them as door holders and the other as paperweights for bathroom towels). She was known by the nickname “The Immortal Scarlett”.
Filmography
- Ship of Fools(1965)
- Colorado Jim(1953)
- A Streetcar Named Desire(1951)
- Anna Karenina(1948)
- Ana Karenina(1947)
- Lady Hamilton(1941)
- The Waterloo Bridge(1940)
- Gone with the Wind(1939)
