Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier were, for a generation, the most celebrated couple in British theater and film, a romance so intense it began as an affair while both were still married to other people.
For twenty years, their marriage captivated the public. It also slowly, painfully wore down under pressures few outside their circle ever fully understood.
A Scandalous Beginning
Leigh and Olivier met in the mid-1930s while both were married to other spouses. Their attraction was immediate and, by most accounts, impossible to ignore, leading to an affair that eventually prompted both to leave their respective marriages.
They married in 1940, shortly after Leigh’s Oscar-winning triumph in Gone with the Wind, quickly becoming one of the most glamorous and admired couples in the English-speaking world.
Two Careers, One Complicated Partnership
Both were among the most respected performers of their generation, frequently working together on stage and screen. Their theatrical partnership produced acclaimed productions across the world, though the demanding schedules of two major careers put constant strain on their time together.
Leigh’s struggles with what we now understand as bipolar disorder added further strain, with Olivier later describing periods of the marriage as emotionally exhausting for them both.
A Slow, Painful Unraveling
By the late 1950s, the marriage had begun to visibly deteriorate, worn down by professional pressures, Leigh’s declining health, and the natural strains of two demanding public careers under constant scrutiny.
Olivier eventually began a relationship with actress Joan Plowright, whom he would later marry, while Leigh’s health continued to decline in the years that followed.
A Divorce Followed by Enduring Respect
Leigh and Olivier officially divorced in 1960, ending one of the most celebrated theatrical marriages of the twentieth century. Despite the painful separation, both continued to speak of each other with a lasting respect and affection in later years.
Decades later, their romance remains one of the defining love stories of Old Hollywood and the British stage, a partnership that burned brilliantly before slowly, inevitably, coming apart.
Photos via Wikimedia Commons (public domain / Creative Commons).