Today, July 8, 2022, is the 55th anniversary of the death of Vivien Leigh. The British actress had an incredible Hollywood career, starring in such wonderful pictures as Gone with the Wind, A Streetcar Named Desire and Tovarich to name but a few.
Between her illustrious acting career, however, her life was filled with scandal. And it all started in 1937 when she first met Sir Laurence Olivier.
Olivier and Leigh had an instant connection. The two budding actors met just before arriving on the set of the 1937 movie Fire Over England.
Leigh was taken by his “charm and magnetism”, according to her biography. Olivier felt “drawn” to her like “no other woman”.
There were two big problems, however: They were both married.
Leigh had married Herbert Leigh Holman five years earlier in 1932. Meanwhile, Olivier had been married to Jill Esmond for seven years at that point. However, he later confessed he “settled” for Esmond, out of fear he would not do any “better” than her. Their relationship was also reported to not have been “intimate” despite having a child together.
The two actors decided they couldn’t let something like marriage get in the way of their connection.
Olivier said: “I couldn’t help myself with Vivien. No man could.” He continued in Lord Larry: A Personal Portrait of Laurence Olivier: “I hated myself for cheating on Jill, but then I had cheated before, but this was something different.”
The Spartacus actor later revealed: “This [connection] wasn’t just out of lust. This was love that I really didn’t ask for but was drawn into.”
Before long, the pair started spending more and more time together off-screen. They eventually succumbed to their attraction to one another and began a secret affair. They could not always be together, however.
The secret couple exchanged some sexually-charged love letters between 1938 and 1939.
READ MORE: Laurence Olivier and Charles Laughton bitter feud exploded on set
Later that year, on August 31, 1940, Olivier and Leigh were married at the San Ysidro Ranch in Santa Barbara, California. They had some star-studded witnesses, including Katharine Hepburn and Garson Kanin.
Leigh had a particularly successful year after becoming the first British woman to win an Oscar for Best Actress.
But after a few years of happiness, things changed for her. In 1943 she was diagnosed with tuberculosis in her left lung.
Leigh spent several weeks in the hospital, during which time her husband, Olivier, sent her dozens of letters asking after her health while he was working in Paris.
“Please please my angel send me word of what the doctor said,” he penned. “[And] if it is possible ask him to send me a report. You’re the only person in the world who could make hideously selfish me love another more than I do myself.”
After she came out of the hospital, Leigh thought she had completely recovered from her illness.
Leigh and Olivier were together for another 15 years but eventually divorced in 1960 after years of arguing and a spiralling marriage.
In May, 1967, Leigh learned that her tuberculosis had returned, and it was worse than ever. She was forced to bed rest for several weeks.
On July 8, 1967, Leigh’s husband at the time, Jack Merivale, left their home to perform in a play, leaving her in bed. When he returned he found her dead on the floor.
When Olivier heard of Leigh’s death he rushed from the hospital he was in – while he was being treated for prostate cancer – to pay his respects.
He “stood and prayed for forgiveness for all the evils that had sprung up between us”.
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