The Hollywood Secrets of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh

Unable to resist each other, Leigh and Olivier both left their respective spouses and married in 1940. “Vivien was the great passion of his life and he was the love of hers,” Kendra Bean, author of Vivien Leigh: an intimate portraittells Closer“but their time together was turbulent.”

Plagued by infidelity and Vivien’s health problems, they divorced in 1960. Still, Bean said, “they will forever be regarded as one of the great romances of the Golden Hollywood era.”

At first, the couple seemed perfectly suited. They both became famous in 1939, she as Scarlett O’Hara Gone with the wind and he like Wuthering Heights’ Heathcliff. “Vivien thought he was a dashing romantic and she appealed to his fantasy side,” says Darwin Porter, author of the biography. Damn it, Scarlett O’Haratells Closer. “Plus, he really shaped her as an actress.”

Besides physical attraction, their connection through work kept them together. “They both put their careers first,” Bean said. ‘Vivien believed that if a marriage is to last, it must be built on something more solid [than sex]Porter said. “In their case it’s based on the movies.”