Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh met in the mid-1930s when they first appeared on stage together. They quickly started a love affair and began appearing in movies together, such as Fire Over England, 21 Days Together, and That Hamilton Woman.
1939 was a big year for both. Vivien appeared as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind (which won her her first Oscar), and Laurence appeared as Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights. In 1940 after both their divorces were final, Olivier and Leigh married.
Over the next several years, they appeared in movies separately. In the mid 1940s, a pregnant Vivien was filming Caesar and Cleopatra. Sadly, she suffered a miscarriage on the set.
Laurence won an Oscar in 1948 for his performance in Hamlet. It was around that time when Vivien was suffering from tuberculosis and mental illness. However, she went on to win a second Oscar as Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire. Unfortuately, the marriage started to deteriorate with each having their own affairs. In 1960, Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh divorced, and Laurence Olivier married Joan Plowright.
Vivien Leigh died in 1967, and Laurence Olivier passed away in 1989.
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