| 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 also 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.
|
 On September 21st, 1920, Vivien was placed
in the Convent of the Sacred Heart at Roehampton, and did not see her parents
again for almost a year and a half. She was educated at the Convent for the subsequent 8
years, and 'from early on she showed poised, self -containment, and the ability to sustain
a private existence.' Her first stage appearances at school were in Shakespeare's A
Midsummer Night's Dream (playing the fairy), and in The Tempest (as
Miranda). She studied ballet, played the cello in the school orchestra, and excelled at
piano - taking her music exam at the Royal Academy of Music when she was a teenager.
Vivien was also fascinated early on in different languages, Egyptian history, and learned
to speak French fluently. |
Vivien
was so tiny and delicately made, with wonderful large blue eyes and chestnut wavy hair
nearly to her waist, the tiny retrousse nose, the only complexion I have ever seen that
really was like a peach. |
 |
|
 Vivien stayed briefly at a sister convent of the Sacred
Heart in San Remo, the capital of the Italian Riviera, during 1928-29. At the age of 15,
she went to Paris to spend a term at a finishing school in Auteuil. She was the youngest
student in the school, however she was already moving from the awkward youth phase into a
charming, dark haired beauty that would later bring much fame. The purpose of the
finishing school in France was 'to teach French - language and literature - and to send
the girls out into the world with a good marriage set firmly in their sights.'1 At Christmas of that year, 1929,
Vivien was chosen to be the heroine of the school play. Encouraged by her schoolmistress,
she was inspired to work on her diction and acting abilities. This early help pushed her
further towards an interest in a career on stage. Her final two years of education were at
yet another finishing school, this time in the Bavarian Alps, which concluded her
schooling in June of 1931 - halfway towards her 17th birthday. During this
time, she developed an interest in the visual arts and continued to study languages -
notably French and German. |
 In January of 1932 Vivien met Leigh
Holman while staying at her aunt's in Teignmouth, England. He was a man 13 years
her senior, but possessed a charm and intelligence Vivien found captivating. Born in 1900,
Leigh was educated in Cambridge and practiced as a Barrister-at-Law. An attachment quickly
developed between the two and they spent several months courting and corresponding. In May
of 1932, Vivien began to study at RADA, The Royal Academy of Dramatic
Art in London. Life was looking up - she was about to marry a man she greatly
admired, and she was studying acting in a well know academy. Much to her dismay, Vivien
abandoned the academy, at Leigh's request, once they became serious about marriage.
|
| Growing Up | A New Career | Fame & Fortune | Maturing Skills | Grace |
Meeting originally in Calcutta, Vivien's parents traveled to London where they
were married in 1912. They then returned to India and settled in Darjeeling, a city within
site of Mount Everest. A year after their marriage, Vivien was born, 'a most enchanting
little girl with wonderful colouring'. Enjoying elements of fantasy and drama as a child,
she was encourage to read early on and became fond of authors such as Rudyard Kipling,
Hans Christian Anderson, and Lewis Carroll. She moved to England with her family at the
age of 6 in 1920, returning to India only briefly in the 1960's.
The wedding between Leigh and Vivien took
place on December 20th 1932, at St. James's Cathedral. Shortly after
they returned from their honeymoon in Austria, Vivien obtained Leigh's permission to
return to RADA and she continued to study acting. A year passed and
Vivien gave birth to a daughter on October 10th 1933, naming her Suzanne.
At this point, things seemed to have settled into domestic life for Vivien. Her destiny
would not remain domestic for long however, she had just heard of the chance for a small
part in a new film entitled Things are Looking Up… 