The Lasting Effect ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ Had on Vivien Leigh

The Big Picture

• Vivien Leigh’s iconic role as Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire took a toll on her mental health, which affected her marriage with Laurence Olivier.
• Leigh’s dedication to portraying Blanche led her to immerse herself in the character’s mindset, causing her to experience erratic behavior and intense highs and lows.
• The effects of playing Blanche continued to plague Leigh throughout her life, leading to further struggles with bipolar disorder.

Though her filmography may seem small when compared with other Hollywood icons of the time, there are few actresses as beloved and revered as Vivien Leigh. Determined, beautiful, and talented, Leigh defied the odds when she left the comfort of the London stage to travel to Hollywood for a chance at her dream role. Though she’d appeared in a handful of films at the time, she was considered far from accomplished, and the role she was after was one that Hollywood royalty had been competing over for years. Still, Leigh knew the part would be hers. She met producer David O. Selznick on his studio lot in the middle of a vigorous night shoot that involved flames and stunts. It seemed the perfect introduction for the fiery young actress. Just a short time later, she was officially in her dream role. The role was Scarlett O’Hara and the film was Gone with the Wind. While the film has been deemed controversial in recent years, it remains the highest-grossing movie of all time and is largely responsible for audiences’ memory of Vivien Leigh. However, Scarlett O’Hara wasn’t the only complex southern belle that would bring Leigh acclaim, not to mention an Oscar.

Released in September 1951, A Streetcar Named Desire both thrilled and shocked audiences. Often considered one of the most influential noirs of all time, the effects the film had on Hollywood are still felt to this day from its complex script to Marlon Brando’s popularization of method acting. However, the movie affected far more than filmmaking. It affected its star, Vivien Leigh. After playing the role on stage to great success in London, Leigh was cast as Blanche DuBois for the film adaptation. Few knew of the struggles that Leigh was facing in her personal life, struggles that grew more powerful when she agreed to take on the part. From an on-set accident in 1945 that hurt her mental health to becoming deeply involved with the role of Blanche, Vivien Leigh fought valiantly against the effects Streetcar brought.

Vivien Leigh Begins Living With Bipolar Disorder

Following the success of Gone with the Wind in 1939, and after winning an Oscar for her role as Scarlett, Vivien Leigh worked sporadically in movies. She starred in the 1940 film Waterloo Bridge at MGM and had a film shot three years earlier, 21 Days, released that same year. Leigh was not focused on a career in Hollywood, though. She was far more determined to work with her husband, Laurence Olivier. The two would frequently collaborate on stage in London. Following Waterloo Bridge, Leigh made That Hamilton Woman in 1941, but would not return to film for several years with 1945’s Caesar and Cleopatra, a film still considered among Leigh’s best. It was during the filming of Caesar and Cleopatra that Leigh discovered she was pregnant. While filming a scene in which she had a small stunt, Leigh tripped and suffered a miscarriage. The unfortunate incident triggered a bad bout of depression in Leigh. From an early age, Leigh had shown signs of living with bipolar disorder, though her symptoms at the time were very mild. The miscarriage triggered stronger indications of the condition.

During this time, Leigh became very aware of her symptoms and was usually able to feel them coming on. While filming, she would often excuse herself to address them. The symptoms were often too much for Leigh to handle and completing Caesar and Cleopatra proved challenging. When filming finally wrapped, Leigh decided to take time off from working through 1947 and spent time with Olivier while he was on tour in England. Leigh eventually returned to stage work, acting alongside her husband. Throughout this time, Leigh struggled with insomnia, but to avoid worsening her bipolar depression, she would allow her understudy to fill in when she did not feel well enough to perform. Toward the end of the tour, however, Leigh’s symptoms once again became overbearing and put a strain on her marriage to Olivier. Then, came the fateful play, one that Olivier would go on to despise because of its effects on Vivien: A Streetcar Named Desire.

Vivien Leigh Dazzled Audiences in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ but It Put a Strain on Her

Leigh returned to the London stage in the West End production of A Streetcar Named Desire (a production directed by Olivier). Her performance received rave reviews from critics and audiences. When Warner Brothers purchased the film rights, the studio insisted on a star with box office appeal. Actresses such as megastar Bette Davis were offered the role but declined. Though she’d not starred in a film for a few years, the praise Leigh received for her onstage portrayal of Blanche, and the fondness audiences still had for the actress thanks to Gone with the Wind, made her an early candidate. Leigh won the role and production began shortly after. Leigh’s run in the stage production had been difficult for the actress. Arguments with Olivier were not uncommon and the symptoms of her bipolar depression became more prevalent. Conditions during the film, however, proved even worse for Leigh.

Blanche DuBois is a complex character. She arrives in Streetcar a broken woman. She has lost her fortune, her husband has committed suicide, and she is living with mental illness. She arrives in New Orleans in search of a new home with her sister Stella (Kim Hunter), and her brother-in-law, Stanley (Brando). Blanche clashes with Stanley, who makes shame of her mental health and causes her humiliation. Throughout the film, Blanche descends further into despair, her mental health constantly on the edge of tragic collapse. While Brando’s method acting in the film is well documented, Leigh too became deeply involved with her character.

Leigh transformed from her normal beauty to that of the sad, lost Blanche through make-up and costuming as well as mentally. Leigh often put herself into her character’s headspaces, and Blanche was no different. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Vivian rubbed everyone the wrong way and claimed she didn’t understand Method. Per THR, Leigh remarked, “I’ve read Stanislavski, naturally, and it seems to me that the Method is: If you say something, you’ve got to mean it, and you’ve got to say it as interestingly as possible. But that applies to life — and acting is life, to me, and should be.” It was a prediction of things to come for the actress as she dove deeper into Blanche.

Leigh spent most of her time between filming isolated. She felt strained and exhausted, seeking rest whenever the cameras weren’t rolling. When she was around the cast and crew, Leigh was deemed “difficult” by director Elia Kazan. He urged the actress to become Blanche in every way, from her accent to her understanding of reality. Unaware of Leigh’s tendency to disconnect from the world around her when symptoms arose, he advised her to better understand Blanche’s tendency to drift in and out of reality. He eventually grew fond of the actress, calling her “a small talent, but the greatest determination to excel,” per THR. “She’d have crawled over broken glass if she thought it would help her performance.” The director did not know how little that performance helped her.

Leigh began to display more erratic behavior as her symptoms were agitated. She did experience great highs on the set, plowing through the vigorous schedule with laughter and determination. She required rest once in a while, which Kazan accommodated for the most part. When shooting wrapped, the cast and crew had grown fond of Vivien Leigh, but returning to reality after playing such a complex character would have lasting effects on not only Leigh but Oliver’s marriage.

Filming ‘Streetcar’ Was Only the Beginning of Issues Leigh Faced for the Rest of Her Life

Having had a hard time working together during the tour and on the stage production of Streetcar, Leigh and Olivier sought to spend time together once filming was finished. When Leigh returned home, though, she had been changed by the production and her dedication to playing Blanche. The couple traveled the Atlantic on a cargo ship, hoping the voyage would bring them closer together. Leigh and Oliver had never felt more apart.

Their marriage continued to suffer once they returned to land as Vivien’s symptoms became even more overpowering. She was unable to sleep more than a few hours at a time, yet would wake up with immense amounts of energy. She experienced uncontrollable highs and devastating lows. The Mirror reports that, according to Brando, Leigh had begun to “dissolve mentally and fray at the end physically.” In 1953, while filming Elephant Walk, Leigh suffered a breakdown and was rushed back to England, where she began Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT); the only treatment available for bipolar depression at the time.

As the effects of having lived as Blanche began to worsen, both Leigh and Olivier began to see other people. Leigh fell in love with actor Peter Finch, who was familiar with her condition. Knowing their marriage was over, Olivier asked Finch to take care of her. Leigh and Olivier filed for divorce and one of the most iconic romances in movie history came to an end. Though their marriage concluded in 1960, the couple costarred in a few projects together, some of which are considered part of Olivier’s best work.

Leigh’s mental health would continue to deteriorate for the remainder of her life. As she reflected on her time in Streetcar, RogerEbert.com recalls the actress claimed that the role “tipped me over into madness.” Her relationship with Finch soured as her symptoms became increasingly unpredictable and the two parted ways. It was a very dark time for Leigh, who found herself facing yet another devastating low. The cycle would continue for the rest of her life until she died of tuberculosis in 1967.

Despite the disorder which Leigh fought for most of her life, her friends remembered her as a kind and loving person. Olivier’s opinions on A Streetcar Named Desire became unpleasant, blaming the piece for Vivien’s demise. Before taking her role as Blanche from the stage to the screen, Leigh stated: “I had nine months in the theatre of Blanche DuBois. Now she’s in command of me in Hollywood,” per VanityFair. This was a statement that would ring true for the rest of Leigh’s life. Still, A Streetcar Named Desire remains a look into Leigh’s life: Her struggle, her beauty, and above all, her strength.

A Streetcar Named Desire is available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime Video.

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