Vivien Leigh

ActorUnited Kingdom1913–1967

ActorUnited Kingdom

1913–1967

Bipolar disorderHistorically documented[1]

Vivien Leigh was a British stage and film actor best known for playing Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind and Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for both performances and also had an extensive theatre career in Britain, including major work with Laurence Olivier. [2]

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Career and work

Leigh became internationally famous for playing Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind, a performance that earned her the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1940. She later won a second Best Actress Oscar for playing Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire. [3][4]

Alongside her film career, Leigh worked extensively on stage, often with Laurence Olivier. Later in her career she won the 1963 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for Tovarich. [5][2]

What has been publicly discussed

In 1953, while filming Elephant Walk in Ceylon, Leigh experienced a major mental-health crisis and was brought back to England, where she was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Biographical accounts drawing on correspondence and contemporary records state that she was diagnosed at that time with manic depression, the term then used for what is now called bipolar disorder. [1][6]
Leigh’s diagnosis was not a public self-disclosure in the modern sense. Details of her illness became more widely documented through accounts by people close to her and later biographies. Her husband, actor Laurence Olivier, subsequently wrote that doctors had explained to him that Leigh’s illness was called manic depression and involved recurring periods of severe depression and mania. [7]

Leigh experienced recurring periods of mania and depression that became increasingly disruptive to her life and work. In 1953, she had a major breakdown while making Elephant Walk in Ceylon, was removed from the production and was subsequently admitted to a psychiatric hospital in London, where she was diagnosed with manic depression. [1][6]
Leigh continued to experience recurrent episodes after 1953, with periods of illness interrupting her work and requiring further treatment. Between these periods, she repeatedly returned to acting on stage and screen. [9][1]

Following her 1953 breakdown, Leigh was admitted to a psychiatric hospital in England and received electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Biographical accounts indicate that she received ECT again during later periods of illness. [8][9][1]

Leigh continued to experience recurrent periods of illness after 1953, but repeatedly returned to acting. In the final years of her life she appeared in The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone and Ship of Fools and won a Tony Award for Tovarich in 1963. [5][2]

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Sources used for this profile

The following sources contain information that supports the claims made on this page.

Lyndsy SpenceWhere Madness Lies: The Double Life of Vivien Leigh
Breakdown, diagnosis, treatment and recurrent illness.
British Film Institute“Remembering Vivien Leigh”
Career and illness context.
Academy Awards1940
Gone with the Wind Oscar.

View all 9 sources

Academy Awards1952
A Streetcar Named Desire Oscar.
Tony Awards1963
Tovarich.
Publishers Weeklyreview of Where Madness Lies
1953 breakdown, hospitalization and diagnosis.
Laurence OlivierConfessions of an Actor
Olivier’s account of Leigh’s diagnosis.
Los Angeles TimesVivien Leigh biography coverage
ECT and bipolar disorder.
Kirkus ReviewsWhere Madness Lies
Recurrent episodes and later ECT.

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Recommended books and other resources about Vivien Leigh and their experiences.

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