This head shot, taken to promote the 1937 movie "Storm in a Teacup," captured a "very sleek" and "natural-looking" Vivien Leigh, according to Kendra Bean, author of "Vivien Leigh: An Intimate Portrait" -- the new book out by Running Press to commemorate the 100th anniversary of her birth. The British actress, known for her Academy Award-winning roles in "Gone With the Wind" and "A Streetcar Named Desire," would have been 100 years old on Tuesday, November 5.
Image courtesy of "Vivien Leigh: An Intimate Portrait" (Running Press)
Leigh was known as Vivian Hartley when she was photographed in this gypsy costume in 1918. As a young child, she began performing in her mother's plays. "At 5, you can see she's going to be famous," Bean said.
Image courtesy of "Vivien Leigh: An Intimate Portrait" (Running Press)
This rare color photograph from the 12th annual Academy Awards shows Leigh, second from right, on the night she won Best Actress for her role as Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone With the Wind." Seated with Leigh at far right is her future husband Laurence Olivier.
Image courtesy of "Vivien Leigh: An Intimate Portrait" (Running Press)
Leigh poses with John Merivale during the 1961 tour of "Lady of the Camellias." The play toured Central and South America, but this photograph was likely taken when the play was in Australia, Bean said. Leigh's character in the play, Marguerite Gautier, dies of tuberculosis -- the disease that killed Leigh herself six years later.
Image courtesy of "Vivien Leigh: An Intimate Portrait" (Running Press)
Three years after gaining stardom in Hollywood, Leigh returned to London in 1942. This photo was taken that year by famed celebrity photographer Angus McBean to promote her stage role in the George Bernard Shaw play "The Doctor's Dilemma." "There was a sense that she was too popular to appear in British films or on the stage, so she had a hard time finding work," Bean said. The play sold out at London's Theatre Royal Haymarket for a year because people wanted to see Scarlett O'Hara on stage.
Image courtesy of "Vivien Leigh: An Intimate Portrait" (Running Press)
This McBean portrait of Leigh and husband Laurence Olivier was taken to promote the couple's 1948 stage tour of Australia and New Zealand. The tour "was a big success and helped make them a legend in their own time," Bean said.
Image courtesy of "Vivien Leigh: An Intimate Portrait" (Running Press)
In 1949, Leigh bleached her hair blond for her stage role as Blanche DuBois in "A Streetcar Named Desire." The play was too physical for her to wear a wig, so she chose hair coloring, Bean said. "It shows her willingness to transform herself. Critics had a hard time looking past her looks, so she tried to physically turn into a character." Leigh would later win a second Best Actress Oscar for her 1951 film portrayal of DuBois.
Image courtesy of "Vivien Leigh: An Intimate Portrait" (Running Press)
This McBean photo of Leigh and Olivier promoted their 1951 performances in Shakespeare's "Anthony and Cleopatra" at London's St. James Theatre. "It was really important for her to act on the stage with him," Bean said. "That was her ambition. She felt he was the greatest of his generation, and she really pushed herself to be on what she thought was his level."
Image courtesy of "Vivien Leigh: An Intimate Portrait" (Running Press)
This McBean shot was taken in 1956, when Leigh was starring in Noel Coward's "South Sea Bubble" at the Lyric Theatre in London's West End. Leigh's pregnancy at the time got a lot of media attention, but she left the production after suffering a miscarriage, Bean said.
Image courtesy of "Vivien Leigh: An Intimate Portrait" (Running Press)
Leigh suffered through a "manic phase" while performing in Shakespeare's "Titus Andronicus" with Olivier in 1955, Bean said. "It was really difficult for Olivier to keep a hand on the situation and for her to bring her full abilities to the play because she was having trouble concentrating." Leigh's character, the daughter of Olivier's Titus, had her tongue cut out and hands chopped off. The play was the last of three the couple did that summer at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon.
Image courtesy of "Vivien Leigh: An Intimate Portrait" (Running Press)
Olivier called Leigh's Lady MacBeth portrayal the best he'd ever seen, Bean said. The couple performed Shakespeare's MacBeth in 1955 as the second of three productions at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon. "A lot of people felt that she and Olivier, by being married, were able to bring an innate understanding to these roles," Bean said.
Image courtesy of "Vivien Leigh: An Intimate Portrait" (Running Press)
McBean captured the 47-year-old Leigh in costume as Viola, the lead character in Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night," when she toured Australia in 1961. With Olivier out of her life at the time, Leigh was getting the full attention of the media as she toured, Bean said.
Image courtesy of "Vivien Leigh: An Intimate Portrait" (Running Press)
McBean's last portrait of Leigh was taken in 1965, two years before her death at 53. McBean's handwritten inscription is found on the back of the print.
Image courtesy of "Vivien Leigh: An Intimate Portrait" (Running Press)
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