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Vivien Leigh
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Vivien Leigh was born Vivian Mary Hartley on the evening of Wednesday November 5th, 1913 in her parents home in Darjeeling, India. Her father, Ernest Hartley, was born in Yorkshire England in 1883, and had moved to India at the age of 22 in search of a career and adventure. He became involved with a brokerage firm, spent time racing horses, and acted in The Calcutta Dramatic Society. Vivien's mother, Gertrude Yackjee, although from Irish descendants, was ... born in Darjeeling India, in 1888. Friends of the Hartleys said that Gertrude, with her dark hair, blue eyes, and peach-like skin (traits Vivien would inherit), was very beautiful in her youth, more so than Vivien. The Yackjee side of the family also had Armenian descendants which may have influenced Vivien's dark Eastern looks.
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Vivien Leigh was born Vivian Mary Hartley in Darjeeling, India on November 5, 1913. Her father was an officer in the Indian Cavalry but not long after her birth she and her parents moved to England, where young Vivien grew up. She attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Roehampton, England. One of her (older) school friends was Maureen O'Sullivan whose success in Hollywood helped inspire Leigh. Her parents were highly supportive of her decision to act and her father helped her enroll at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London.
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A British drama double bill opens with "St. Martin's Lane," starring Charles Laughton as a London street performer who takes homeless waif Vivien Leigh under his wing and helps her become a famous entertainer. Rex Harrison, Larry Adler co-star. AKA: "Sidewalks of London." Then, "Wings of the Morning," the first British film shot in Technicolor... offers Henry Fonda in one of his first starring roles, as a Canadian horse trainer who journeys to England to take part in the Epsom Downs Derby. There, Fonda falls for Gypsy beauty Annabella, who plans to compete incognito in the race. With Leslie Banks, Irene Vanbrugh, and famed singer John McCormack.
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Vivien Leigh started her theatre career in London's west end in a variety of minor plays at the age of 21. One of her earliest roles was a one-line part "Oh! What a lovely dress!" in Murder in Mayfair written by Ivor Novello, which premiered on September 3rd, 1934. This was followed by The Green Sash, as Guista - a soldier's wife in Florence who is widowed during a plague. It opened February 1935, at the Q Theatre. The first talk about The Green Sash, and her first critical review, appeared in The Times:
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Actress Vivien Leigh is born in Darjeeling, India. Leigh is best remembered for playing Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939), for which she received her first Best Actress Oscar. In 1940, Leigh married actor Laurence Olivier. She won a second Best Actress Oscar in 1951, for her role as Blanche du Bois in A Streetcar Named Desire.
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Vivien Leigh was born in Darjeeling, India. From the ages of six to 15 she was educated in English convent schools, where she showed aptitude for the performing arts. Inspired by the example of her schoolmate Maureen O'Sullivan, she embarked upon an acting career, enrolling at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1932.
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Vivien Leigh