Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh’s Romance Was Torn Apart by Infidelity and Tragedy

Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier costarred in the film Fire Over England, and their burning offscreen passion couldn’t be denied.

Vivien and Laurence couldn’t resist each other, and both left their respective spouses and married in 1940. “Vivien was the great passion of his life and he was the love of hers,” Kendra Bean, author of Vivien Leigh: An Intimate Portrait, told Closer, “but their time together was tempestuous.” Plagued by infidelity and Vivien’s health issues, they divorced in 1960. Still, said Bean, “They’ll forever be considered one of the great romances of the Golden Hollywood Age.”

Initially, the couple seemed perfectly suited. They both rose to screen stardom in 1939, she as Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind and he as Wuthering Heights‘ Heathcliff. “Vivien found him a dashing romantic and she appealed to his fantasy side,” Darwin Porter, author of the biography Damn You, Scarlett O’Hara, told Closer. “Plus, he really shaped her as an actress.”

Beyond physical attraction, their connection through work held them together. “Both of them put their careers first,” said Bean. “Vivien had a point of view that if a marriage is to endure, it’s built on something more solid [than sex],” said Porter. “In their case it’s built on the films.”

Cooling Fire

Eventually, both began to stray. And Vivien’s health took a toll on the marriage. She had a miscarriage on the set of 1945’s Caesar and Cleopatra, throwing her into a depression. Vivien had struggled for several years with what is now known as bipolar disorder, but it got worse.

In 1960, Laurence filed for divorce. He married actress Joan Plowright and Vivien had a relationship with actor Jack Merivale, who cared for her until the end. But, Porter revealed, “Merivale told me that Larry came by frequently to check up on her,” adding, “They never spoke ill of each other [after the split].”

Their love endured. Vivien died from a recurrence of tuberculosis in 1967 at 53. “Larry was her great affair,” Porter, who met the actress, insisted to Closer. “She once said, ‘Our love affair will endure for all eternity.’ ” And though Laurence went on to have three children with Joan and lived to 82, before his death in 1989, he reportedly said to a friend of Vivien, “This was love. This was the real thing.”