Vivien Leigh was born Vivian Mary Hartley in British India on the campus of St.Paul's School, Darjeeling on November 5th,1913.She was the only child of Ernest Richard Hartley, an English stockbroker, and his wife Gertrude Mary Frances. On her mother’s side she has Irish ancestory. When she was three years old, Vivian had her first stage appearance for her mother’s amateur theatre group reciting "Little Bo Peep". Gertrude was very much involved in her daughter’s early education and introduced her to the work of famous English writers such as Hans Christian Andersen, Lewis Carroll and Rudyard Kipling, as well as Indian folklore and stories of Greek mythology. At the age of six, she was sent to the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Roehampton, southwest London, where she met and befriended future actress Maureen O’Sullivan. When she was six years old Vivian started travelling with her parents for four years and attended prestigious schools in Europe becoming fluent in French, Italian and German (Figure 1). They returned to Britain in 1931. and shortly after she enrolled at the Royal Academy of Art.
Upon returning to England Vivian met Herbert Leigh Holman, an English barrister, who was 13 years her senior. Although her parents did not approve of their relationship, the couple got married on December 20th 1931.Two years later , on October 12th 1933. Vivian gave birth to a daughter, Suzanne (Figure 2). The interesting fact is that Vivian wasn’t apparently that much thrilled about having become a mother. On the day of Suzanne’s birth Vivian simply wrote in her dairy: “Had a baby – a girl”. The birth was a difficult one, and soon after arriving home with her child, Vivian became pretty much bored, neglecting the household and leaving her daughter in care of the nurse nannies. Because of a new baby and a husband, Vivian had to drop out from the Royal Academy of Art, but her dream of becoming a famous actresses was still very much alive.