- 1940's -
  After the
success of filming Gone With The Wind, Vivien returned to the stage in 1940
in a production of Romeo and Juliet directed and co-starring Laurence
Olivier. It opened in San Francisco at the Geary Theatre, and after a brief run in
Chicago, it premiered in New York at the 51st Theatre on May 9th to
disappointing reviews (closing after 35 performances). The following year after a
commercial success with the film That Hamilton Woman, she toured in Shaw's The
Doctor's Dilemma, which opened in London on March 4th, 1942. It
continued its successful run in Manchester, Leeds, and Glasgow and she continued to act in
this play for over a year with 474 performances. Its continued success had much to do with
large audiences that would go and see 'Scarlett' in person on stage after seeing Gone
With The Wind in a nearby movie theatre. Her co-star in The Doctor's Dilemma
was actor Cyril Cusack, and later John Gielgud.
Interested in making a film version of George Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra, Vivien began work on her new film in June, 1944. This production took many months due to the perfectionism of both Shaw and the film's director, so the 'filmed play' finally opened in movie theatres over a year later, in December 1945. It received mixed reviews - mainly due to its rather difficult combination of theatrical dialogue and Hollywood direction.
January 1949 began a new year of theatre for the Oliviers starting with a London production of The School for Scandal. It opened with a great deal of publicity, using Cecil Beaton costumes and Thomas Beecham music, and played to sold out audiences. There were blocks of fans waiting outside each night for standing room only tickets during the entire run. Princess Elizabeth went to the play on her 23rd birthday accompanied by Prince Philip and Princess Margaret. Vivien briefly performed as Lady Anne in Olivier's production of Richard III and then went on to work in a London production of Antigone. This again, was successful and became an acclaimed performance. Vivien spent a great deal of time improving her voice for her role:
1949 was coming to a close, but there was one more play in the works. It
was a play that would become Vivien's most powerful performance on stage and later become
one of her finest films: A Streetcar Named Desire. |
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To help the war effort,
Vivien joined a group of actors in a review called Spring Party,
which was set to travel across North Africa. During this tour in 1943, she recited Lewis
Carroll's 'You are old, Father William', and Clemence Dane's 'Plymouth Hoe'.
Returning home in the fall, she performed in several troop concerts opposite Olivier. They
would act out the famous courting scene from Henry V and she would also sing a
humourous song entitled, 'I'm Scarlett O'Hara, the terror of Tara'.
Returning to the
stage for the 1945-46 season, Vivien portrayed Sabina in The Skin of Our Teeth,
written by Thornton Wilder. A difficult play in which characters soliloquise and wander
around the stage as if randomly, it had been a successful production in New York with
Tallulah Bankhead as Sabina. The new production opened at the Phoenix Theatre on May 16,
1945, with Cecil Parker as her co-star. This became what was considered her greatest
performance on stage, an accomplished comic role that she mastered while trying to
overcome tuberculosis and refusing to retreat to a sanatorium. After 78 performances,
Vivien had to stop due to exhaustion and spent 9 months resting to help improve her mental
and physical state. Olivier during this time toured London and New York, playing in Uncle
Vanya, Henry IV, Oedipus Rex, and The Critic, and was
voted best actor on Broadway. Vivien went along while he toured the US - but only as a
support to him - even though there was demand for her to take new stage and film roles.
On
returning to England, Vivien reprised her role of Sabina in The Skin of Our
Teeth for another successful run of 109 performances (concluding once again
with fatigue). After several months of rest and studio work on her 15th film, Anna
Karenina, Vivien returned to the Old Vic company with Olivier for the 1948 season.
She performed in The School for Scandal, Richard III,
and a brief reprise of The Skin of Our Teeth. It toured very
successfully (financially and critically) in Australia and New Zealand, performing to sold
out audiences. This season was one of the couple's highlights and they were treated like
royalty wherever they went. Olivier was now considered the greatest actor of his time, and
Vivien still in the hearts of many worldwide for her role as Scarlett.
The biggest surprise of the performance is the
acting of Miss Vivien Leigh, who brings to Antigone a taut strength, and a
restraint which may surprise even the most loyal fans of this beautiful actress. Her
voice, which it is permissible to suggest has not always been her strongest point, is
deeper, more intense and controlled, less genteel than we remember. She gives Antigone
the loneliness and desperate courage of a lost and determined child, while at the end,
when the condemned girl is dictating a letter to her lover, she is properly tragic. This
is a splendid performance.