Most famous and most successful role actresses Vivien Leigh, from the birthday of which on November 5 marks 104 years, is the role of Scarlett in the movie "Gone with the Wind" … Both she and her friends admitted that this role would not have turned out so convincing if the actress had not been so similar to her heroine. "Yes, she played herself!" - exclaimed many, and in this statement there was more condemnation than admiration, because Scarlett's character was, to put it mildly, not a gift.
The author of the novel "Gone with the Wind" Margaret Mitchell did not feel sympathy for her heroine and was surprised at her incredible popularity among readers: something like a national heroine, I think it is very bad for the moral and mental state of the nation - if the nation is able to applaud and be carried away by a woman who behaved in this way. " But this was the Scarlett phenomenon - despite her defiant behavior, she invariably charmed and fell in love with everyone around. Just like the actress who brilliantly embodied her image on the screen - Vivien Leigh.
Actor and director Orson Welles said of Vivien Leigh: “Once in a generation there is a woman from whom the entire continent cannot take its eyes off.” Vivian Mary Hartley was 9 years old when she first spoke: "I will be a great actress!" She went to her goal with a fair amount of perseverance and always achieved her goal. This applied not only to the professional sphere, but also to personal life. Just like Scarlett, she got what she wanted at any cost.
In 1932, Vivian entered the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, and in the same year met 32-year-old lawyer Herbert Lee Holman. At the first meeting, she said: "I will marry him!" Holman's bride, Vivian, was not at all embarrassed. And she achieved her goal: their wedding took place on December 20 of the same year. The attitude towards pregnancy and childbirth was also in the spirit of Scarlett. “Everything was so stupid. I don’t think that in the near future I will decide on this again,”- said Vivian to a friend who visited her at the maternity clinic.
In 1934, Vivian began to develop her acting career. Then she had a pseudonym, which was chosen as the name of her husband. This is how Vivien Leigh appeared. Their relationship developed in the same way as that of Scarlett and Frank Kennedy: she took him away from another woman, he dreamed of a domestic complaisant wife, and got an enterprising businessman. Samples, rehearsals, performances, filming, photo sessions soon left no place in the life of the actress for her husband and daughter.
A school friend said of Vivien Leigh: “What she couldn't have, she wanted. What the others had, she also tried to get it. " The same phrase can be said about Scarlett. The same obsession as Ashley Wilkes for the heroine of the novel, was the actor Laurence Olivier for Vivien Leigh. Again the goal was set: "I will marry him." Again, she saw no obstacle in the presence of families for both actors. But Laurence Olivier was a tough nut to crack - he was not going to get divorced, and Vivienne did not back down and bend her line.
In 1938, D. Selznik began the film adaptation of the novel Gone with the Wind. 1400 candidates applied for the role of Scarlett, including the best actresses of our time."I'll play Scarlett O'Hara," said Vivien Leigh and got hers again. She worked on the role as selflessly as her heroine - on the restoration of the ruined Tara. The executive director of the film called her "a lady with greetings" and said that on the set she behaved ugly - she contradicted the director, made tantrums and scandals.
Of course, the actress achieved everything she wanted: the role of Scarlett became her creative pinnacle, awarded an Oscar, and in 1940 she and Laurence Olivier divorced their spouses and began to live together. Vivienne recognized her resemblance to the on-screen heroine: “Scarlett was not one of the people with whom it is easy to get along - the same applies to me. Calmness is not typical for me. I am a very impatient person and very stubborn. Scarlett, wanting to get something out of life, made plans. I rush forward headlong, without hesitation. This is my problem."
The actress had to pay dearly for her victories: she, like Scarlett, lost her child, after which she could not recover for a long time. And soon she was diagnosed with tuberculosis, began to have mental health problems. This story did not have a happy ending, just like in "Gone with the Wind." The union with Olivier collapsed, the actress started new novels. In 1967, Vivien Leigh passed away, and remained forever in the hearts of her fans of the unforgettable Scarlett O'Hara.
And the fate of the author of the famous novel was no less dramatic: the tragedy of Margaret Mitchell
