Vivien Leigh, who was born November 5, 1913, may not have lived to see her 54th birthday, but she is one of the rare performers whose fame has long outlasted her death. This is at least partly due, of course, to her Oscar-winning film performances as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (itself turning 75 this year), and as Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire. Leigh's distinctive blend of delicacy and power as an actress, coupled with her great beauty, have helped to enshrine her.

Yet given her iconic cinematic status, it is surprising that Leigh appeared in a grand total of only 19 movies, 10 of which predated Gone with the Wind, released in December 1939. A number of circumstances intervened to curtail Leigh's film output, including  the outbreak of World War II and her subsequent return to England with husband Laurence Olivier, as well as a series of illnesses, both physical and mental. But the actress also spent a lot of time working in the theatre, a part of her career well documented in the Billy Rose Theatre Division's archives of photos, clippings, programs, reviews, and other ephemera.

Vivien Leigh was born Vivian Mary Hartley to British parents in Darjeeling, India. She was educated in England, and enrolled in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts at age 18.  Married in 1932 to barrister Leigh Holman, Vivien changed the spelling of her first name and took her stage name from her husband. In short order, she gave birth to a daughter, made her 1934 film debut in Things Are Looking Up, and had a 1935 West End success in the play The Mask of Virtue. Leigh met and fell in love with Olivier when they were appearing together in the 1937 movie Fire Over England, and the next year followed him to Hollywood, where he was filming Wuthering Heights. The saga of David O. Selznick's epic search for Scarlett O'Hara has been oft-told, and the (probably somewhat apocryphal) story of the GWTW producer first encountering Leigh with the backlot burning of Atlanta as a backdrop is a prime piece of Hollywood lore.

Spouses discarded and filming completed on Waterloo Bridge (for Leigh) and Rebecca (for Olivier), the dazzling couple starred together in Romeo and Juliet on Broadway, and then married in August 1940. Shortly thereafter, they embarked for England, where Olivier enlisted in the Royal Navy. He also played Admiral Nelson to Leigh's Lady Hamilton in the 1941 British production of That Hamilton Woman. In 1945, Leigh appeared on the London stage in Caesar and Cleopatra (which she filmed the following year), and with Olivier in The Skin of Our Teeth. She also portrayed Blanche for the first time in the West End under her husband's direction. 

During the 1951-52 Broadway season, the Oliviers played Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra and Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra in repertory at Billy Rose's Ziegfeld Theatre. But Leigh, who had contracted tuberculosis during the war, was in precarious health, and suffered a breakdown while shooting Elephant Walk in 1953. (Elizabeth Taylor replaced her in the film.) She and Olivier divorced in 1960, and Leigh spent much of the remainder of her life acting on stage, including Broadway appearances in Duel of Angels and Ivanov. In 1963, she starred in the musical Tovarich and won a Tony. Traces of this largely forgotten show can be found in several research collections at the Library for the Performing Arts, including a typescript, costume design sketches, cast recording, photos, and programs.

In her final years, VIvien Leigh also acted in two major films, The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone and Ship of Fools. When she succumbed to tuberculosis on July 7, 1967, she was rehearsing for the London production of A Delicate Balance.

Notable biographies of Vivien Leigh were written by Anne Edwards in 1977; Alexander Walker in 1987; and Hugo Vickers, in 1988. Other books of interest include Jesse L. Lasky's Love Scene: The Story of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh and Sam Staggs' When Blanche Met Brando: The Scandalous Story of "A Streetcar Named Desire." Some archival material, including production materials and correspondence with the actress in several collections, can be found by searching NYPL's archival portal, which other items are listed under her name and various production titles in the Theatre Division card catalog. Other Vivien Leigh films on DVD in New York Public Library circulating collections include St. Martin's Lane and Anna Karenina (the 1948 version, in which she delivers a heart-rending portrait), and, of course, A Streetcar Named Desire and Gone with the Wind.

Speaking of GWTW, among the Theatre Division's archival holdings on the film are an early draft (from 1937) of the screenplay and a souvenir program from its initial run (call number MFL+ n.c. 461, from Theatre Division card catalog):

Notice the billing—Leigh is listed fourth in the cast, although she's granted special treatment ("and presenting Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara").  She was getting the build-up as a fresh new presence. Seventy-five years later, the bloom is still on the rose.