ACTRESSES

Vivien Leigh

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British actress with two Academy Awards for Best Actress, recognized for "Gone with the Wind" and "A Streetcar Named Desire".

Background

Born Vivian Mary Hartley in Darjeeling, India, to British parents, Leigh trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. She broke through on stage at 22 before being cast as Scarlett O’Hara at 25.

Career

David O. Selznick’s “Gone with the Wind” (1939) became one of the highest-grossing films of all time. She and second husband Laurence Olivier dominated London’s stage scene in the 1940s and 50s as the “First Couple of British Theatre”.

Style

Leigh struggled with bipolar disorder and tuberculosis for decades, conditions less understood at the time. She remains the only actress to win Best Actress for two characters from American Southern literature — Scarlett O’Hara and Blanche DuBois.

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