Vivien Leigh's Extraordinary Life in Photos

Turbulent relationships between co-stars are almost a Hollywood cliche (Burton and Taylor, Brad and Angelina). Olivier and Leigh were married to other people when they met in 1935, but their attraction was undeniable. “That's the man I'm going to marry," Leigh once told a friend (seemingly forgetting she already was married) after her initial meeting with Olivier, according to Michelangelo Capua's Vivien Leigh: A Biography. For his part, Olivier said: "I couldn't help myself with Vivien. No man could." They began an affair in 1937 and acted together in Hamlet that year.

Leigh in "Serena Blandish" at the Gate Theatre in London. During the filming of the 1938 film A Yank in Oxford, Leigh had frequent mood swings and was seen as unreasonable and difficult on set, but it was later understood that she suffered from bipolar disorder for much of her adult life. Meanwhile, a great search was underway for the leading lady in an epic American film, set in the South during the Civil War...

Leigh in costume for Gone With the Wind. The film had a grueling schedule: Leigh worked for 125 days on the movie while Gable worked for 71 days. Leigh—who spent two and a half hours on screen during the four hour movie— was paid approximately $25,000, while Gable earned more than $120,000. Her performance was the longest to win an Academy Award.

Leigh accepting her "Best Actress" Academy Award for Gone With the Wind, beating Greta Garbo, Greer Garson, Irene Dunne and Bette Davis. Leigh joked that her speech was brief, unlike the film: "Ladies and gentlemen, please forgive me if my words are inadequate in thanking you for your very great kindness. If I were to mention all those who have shown me such wonderful generosity through Gone with the Wind I should have to entertain you with an oration as long as Gone with the Wind itself. So if I may, I should like to devote my thanks on this occasion to that composite figure of energy, courage, and very great kindness, in whom all points of Gone with the Wind meet, [producer] Mr. David Selznick."

After three years of a clandestine affair, Olivier and Leigh were finally able to be together openly: in February 1940, Jill Esmond agreed to divorce Laurence Olivier, and Leigh Holman agreed to divorce Leigh. Esmond was granted custody of her son with Olivier, and Holman was granted custody of Suzanne, his daughter with Leigh. Olivier and Leigh were married on August 31, 1940 in Santa Barbara, California. (Katharine Hepburn was one of only two witnesses.) Here, Leigh prepares to kiss Laurence Olivier in a scene from that year's stage production of Romeo and Juliet.

In 1944, Leigh was diagnosed with tuberculosis, which she then suffered from on and off throughout her life. During the filming of Caesar and Cleopatra in 1945, Leigh was pregnant with Olivier’s child, but tragically suffered a miscarriage while filming a scene in which she fell. The incident sent her into a depression. She is seen here with British actor Claude Rains, who played Caesar.

Leigh trying on the dresses created by Cecil Beaton for Anna Karenina in Paris, France. The film was not commercially successful.

Leigh at home in Chelsea, England with her cat. Leigh starred as Blanche DuBois in the West End production of Streetcar Named Desire beginning in October 1949. After two years and 326 performances, she reprised her role in the film version.

Marlon Brando and Leigh in a publicity still for the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire. The performance won Leigh a second Oscar, but she later said playing Blanche drove her further into madness.

Leigh and Olivier in a London stage version of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. The couple performed it on alternate nights with George Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra, alternating the play each night.

Olivier and Leigh on holiday in Lake Garda, Italy.

Leigh vacationing at the home of Duke Luigi Visconti di Modrone and Duchess Laura Adani in northern Italy.

Despite the breakdown of her marriage, Leigh continued to act. She is shown in at left in a scene from a Broadway production of Jean Giraudoux's play Duel of Angels with Mary Ure.