More than a decade after Margaret Mitchell gave the world Scarlett O’Hara, American playwright Tennessee Williams wrote of another Southern Belle with a similar plight. A Streetcar Named Desire’s Blanche DuBois finds herself struggling to find a place in a fast changing world as the final remnants of her own crumble around her. Unlike Scarlett, Blanche is unable to adapt and, clinging to a memory of what once was, falls into a severe depression coupled with a mental breakdown.
Streetcar opened on Broadway in 1947 will Jessica Tandy in the leading role of Blanche. Rising star Marlon Brando filled the role of Stanley Kowalski, the gorgeous brute eventually responsible for tipping Blanche over the edge. The show was an overnight sensation and back in England, Vivien Leigh decided to pursue the part of the doomed heroine for herself.
From Broadway to The West End
Having succeeded in landing the role she then convinced husband Laurence Olivier to direct the London production. Vivien took the playing of Blanche DuBois very seriously, reading all around the part and taking in as much as she could. As always, she would then turn to Olivier and follow every piece of advice he gave.
On October 11th, 1949, A Streetcar Named Desire opened in the West End with a success equal to that in the United States. Vivien ran with the show for a non-stop succession of 326 flawless performances, an emotionally draining feat for an actress whose own psychiatric problems were all too similar to those of Blanche. Unknown to the public, Vivien was in the early stages of the Manic Depression and Bipolar Disorder which would later have disastrous effects on her life.
Advancing Illness
Friends and family, who were aware of her advancing condition, criticized Laurence Olivier for allowing her to go on stage and come apart night after night. It transpired that Olivier had permitted, and even encouraged her to play the part in order to help her confront her own problems which she heretofore refused to do. Olivier was often on the receiving end of Vivien’s episodes and it is therefore understanding that he would want her to come to terms with her illness and seek the help she needed. She did so, but at the time such mental illness were not well understood and there was no civilized cure. Vivien’s stepson, Tarquin Olivier claimed in a television interview, that Vivien would often appear to rehearsals with light burns on her temples, left by numerous electroshock treatments.
Filming A Streetcar Named Desire
In August, 1950, 36 year old Vivien flew to Hollywood to star in the film version of Streetcar to be directed by Elia Kazan. The movie cast consisted of that of the Broadway production, save Jessica Tandy. The film was anticipated to be an artistic success, but it also needed to be a financial one and, at the time, Vivien’s name was greater than Jessica’s in the States. Elia Kazan found working with his new star challenging.
In a television interview given by Kim Hunter, Streetcar’s Stella Kowalski and Blanche’s sister, she gives an account of a particular scene, one between Stella and Blanche, in which the takes were seemingly endless. Hunter asked Kazan whether something was wrong with the way they were playing the scene. Kazan replied that everything was just fine but that he was terribly curious to see if Vivien could drop a tear-drop on exactly the same syllable, every time.
In another interview, Elia Kazan spoke of Vivien saying that he didn’t “think she had a great talent” but that she “had a great determination... She would do anything to be good... She was tough.”
The 1952 Academy Awards
Becoming more unhappy in her personal life, Vivien threw herself into the making of the film, having had plenty of opportunity to study the part after its nine-month run in London. Her success in the movie won her a second Oscar for Best Actress as well as a BAFTA in England. A Streetcar Named Desire received a total of four Oscars, including that for Best Supporting Actress by Kim Hunter. Vivien’s award was accepted on her behalf by Greer Garson as the actress was, with her husband, on Broadway, alternating performances of Anthony and Cleopatra with Caesar and Cleopatra.
The constant work tied with an all too exacting performance in Streetcar was now starting to play havoc with her personal and, disastrously, her professional life. Vivien began to lose control on set and rumours of a secret illness worried the public. Worst of all, she and Olivier found the strain of the condition to be driving a wedge between them. Before long, they would lose their last chance of happiness and Vivien would feel her hard-won world disappearing about her.
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Sources
Capua,M. - Vivien Leigh: A Biography - McFarland & Co. Inc. - 2003
Walker,A. - Vivien: Life of Vivien Leigh (Legends) - Orion Books Ltd. - 1994
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