Vivien Mary Leigh

Civilian
Hollywood actors Lawrence Olivier and Vivien Leigh with Lieutenant Mary Churchill and Colonel Harry Lebar, commanding officer of the 381st Bomb Group on the control tower at Ridgwell, during a visit 21 April 1944. Passed for publication 21 Apr 1944. Printed caption on reverse: 'Mary Churchill Christens U.S. Bomber. Censor No. 316904. Mary Churchill, the youngest daughter of the Prime Minister, today christened a U.S. bomber "Stage Door Canteen". She was accompanied by Vivian Leigh, Lawrence Olivier and se media-413506.jpg FRE 4822 Hollywood actors Lawrence Olivier and Vivien Leigh with Lieutenant Mary Churchill and Colonel Harry Lebar, commanding officer of the 381st Bomb Group on the control tower at Ridgwell, during a visit 21 April 1944. Passed for publication 21 Apr 1944. Printed caption on reverse: 'Mary Churchill Christens U.S. Bomber. Censor No. 316904. Mary Churchill, the youngest daughter of the Prime Minister, today christened a U.S. bomber "Stage Door Canteen". She was accompanied by Vivian Leigh, Lawrence Olivier and several other well-known screen stars. Photo Shows:- L to R: Captai White, Alfred Lunt, General Frederick L. Anderson, Vivian Leigh, Lt. Mary Churchill, Colonel Harry Leber. They are on the watch tower of the aerodrome. ABS/Hel. Keystone 474367.' On reverse: Keystone Press Agency [Stamp]. Roger Freeman Collection

Roger Freeman Photo

Object Number - FRE 4822 - Hollywood actors Lawrence Olivier and Vivien Leigh with Lieutenant Mary Churchill and Colonel Harry Lebar, commanding officer of the 381st Bomb Group...

Lady Olivier, Vivien Leigh, English stage and film actress. She won two Academy Awards for Best Actress for her performances as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939) and Blanche DuBois in the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), a role she had also played on stage in London's West End in 1949. She also won a Tony Award for her work in the Broadway version of Tovarich (1963).

To the public at the time, Leigh was strongly identified with her second husband Laurence Olivier, to whom she was married from 1940 to 1960. Leigh and Olivier starred together in many stage productions, with Olivier often directing, and in three films. She earned a reputation for being difficult to work with, as for much of her adult life, she had a bipolar disorder, as well as recurrent bouts of chronic tuberculosis, first diagnosed in the mid-1940s, which ultimately claimed her life at the age of 53.

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People

Events

Event Location Date Description

Born

Darjeeling, West Bengal 734101, India 5 November 1913 Born only child of Ernest Richard and Gertrude Mary Frances Hartley.

Died

London, UK 8 July 1967 Succumbed to Tuberculosis.

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Vivien Mary Leigh: Gallery (6 items)