Vivien Leigh's Real Name: Vivian Mary Hartley

Quick answer: Vivien Leigh's documented original name is Vivian Mary Hartley. Britannica lists that form as an also-known-as and dates her birth to November 5, 1913, in Darjeeling, India. The Guardian independently dates the birth to 5 November 1913, and a later Guardian profile independently places the birth in November 1913 in Darjeeling (Britannica; The Guardian; The Guardian).

Real name and early life

She is known professionally as Vivien Leigh. Britannica uses the original name Vivian Mary Hartley. The Guardian pieces consulted use Vivien Leigh and do not give that fuller form. Britannica dates the birth to November 5, 1913, in Darjeeling, India; the 2013 Guardian archive piece gives 5 November 1913 without a place, and the later profile gives November 1913 in Darjeeling, which together agree with Britannica's date and town. Britannica says she was the daughter of a Yorkshire stockbroker, was convent-educated in England and throughout Europe, and enrolled at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1932. That same year, it says, she married British barrister Herbert Leigh Holman and adopted his middle name as her professional name. The later Guardian profile independently describes a colonial childhood, boarding school in England, and an early marriage, without naming Holman.

Career highlights

Britannica and both Guardian pieces agree that she won Academy Awards for Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind and Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire. Britannica records an earlier British film debut in Things Are Looking Up (1934), a stage appearance in The Green Sash (1935), a contract with Alexander Korda, and work with Laurence Olivier in Fire Over England (1937). The later Guardian profile independently notes Fire Over England as an early pairing with Olivier. Olivier does not have a live RealNameOf biography and is not linked here.

Death

Britannica dates her death to July 8, 1967, in London, England. The 2013 Guardian archive piece says she died suddenly in 1967, aged only 53, and notes that the Observer published an obituary on 9 July 1967, which is compatible with Britannica's calendar day. Neither of those Guardian extracts names a cause or a city; the city is given by Britannica.

Name notes for searchers

Vivian Mary Hartley is the documented original name in Britannica. The professional name Vivien Leigh was taken, Britannica says, from her first husband's middle name. Searchers looking for Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind or Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire are usually aiming at the same person.