PEOPLE SAID ABOUT VIVIEN LEIGH

"If you want a label for her type," said a caption in Vogue under one of Cecil Beaton's earliest gallery portraits of her wearing Stiebel's blue and green plaid velvet jacket over dark skirt, "call it "exotic."

Anthony Quayle: All she wanted to do was to talk about Larry, and so I went along with that, gazing on that beautiful face with unhopeful ardor. (During the film "Storm in a Teacup")

Colin Clark: She had a mind which left most people behind. Most of us simply don't keep our minds in diamonds-cutting gear all the time. We get lazy. We watch the snooker on television or whatever. We suffer by it and make foolish remarks - engage our mouths without making sure our minds are in gear. We say all sorts of trivialities and inanities which we really don't work out. And we get through life like that. It's one of the cushions that we just need. Vivien didn't do that. Vivien's mind was just like a diamond drill or something. And I suppose that must have been the reverse side of the mentally depressive coin.
Far be it from me to compare myself to the great Vivien Leigh - but this is a better description of how my mind works then anything I have ever come up with, and one of the many reasons why I love Vivien as much as I do.
She was cultured, that's one of the most awesome things about her. She spoke like 4 languages fluently, and just sounded really intelligent in interviews and whatnot.

Douglas Fairbanks: I first saw her in "Mask of Virtue" — her first West End success, and shared the general enthusiasm for her staggering beauty, engaging personality, unique quality of voice, remarkable talent and for her undeniable possession of what Noel Coward has called "Star quality." In person she was equally attractive, except, in those days, more shy and less sure of herself or poised.

Elaine Dundy (wife of British theatre critics, Kenneth Tynan): To me Vivien Leigh was a tragic heroine of classic proportions: chosen, blessed and abandoned by the gods. Obstinately she tried to control and defy her destiny and to know her story is to be inspired by pity and terror.

George Cukor: Vivien was a really wonderful screen actress. Quite apart from her looks she had something very strong and individual and interesting. I also saw her act very well on the stage. She was brilliant as Shaw's Cleopatra, and she made a damn good stab at Lady Macbeth.

Gertrude Hartley (mother): She was never a sleepy child.

John Gliddon: Vivien, you're going to be a great star - as great as Garbo. (1935)
John Gliddon: It became obvious to me that if ever I was fortunate enough to bring an offer to Vivien that would prove acceptable to her and meet Olivier's approval, then it would be a miracle. It was from that moment on that I knew my usefulness to Vivien was running out. She had found another adviser and he was one with whom I simply couldn't compete.
John Gliddon: Vivien was sunk, but didn't she make a full about the cost of a ruined pair of shoes! She demanded MGM reimburse her.

Noel Coward: She was bloody opinionated and so was I! We had some lovely rows!

Orson Welles: Vivien is much better in the movies - in fact, she's superb. Some actresses can't project on the stage but have a magical relationship with the movie camera.

Radie Harris: Vivien Leigh had been an integral part of my life for 33 uninterrupted years. She was my most cherished friend, my other sister, my wise counselor and my intimate confidante. We had shared each other's laughter and tears, and there were many of both.

Rex Harrison: I loved Vivien. Although we never as much as held hands. I cannot say my love was platonic; it was more exciting than that. After she married Larry we all became great friends, and many happy and hilarious weekends were spent with them at Notley Abbey and at their house in Chelsea.

Stewart Granger: She was appalling because when Vivien spoke, you could hear Larry. (about 1938)

Trader Faukner (actor and friend): If you upset her, she could be a scorpion, but it was part of her personality. She could be dangerous. She could be very, very dangerous, but also she could be very sweet, very charming, and very warming.

ABOUT SCARLETT O'HARA

David Selznick: I took one look and knew that she was right. (1938, before "Gone with the wind")

George Cukor: (about Scarlett O'Hara role) I saw her in "A Yank at Oxford" and she seems to be a little static, not quite sufficiently fiery for the role.
George Cukor: In the scene with Douglass Montgomery - that was before Leslie Howard was cast - you can see why she [Vivien Leigh] got the job. (March 1968)

Margaret Mitchell: She is my Scarlett. (1939)

Suzan Hayward: She should have been Scarlett!

ABOUT VIVIEN'S PARTIES

David Conville: Alan Webb said to me that if you found yourself naked with Vivien in the Sahara Desert with absolutely nothing, twenty-four hours later you would be coming out in a Rolls-Royce, covered in minks and drinking champagne.

Lady Redgrave: She never tired. It was incredible. Larry and the rest of us would quite obviously be dying on our feet, but not Vivien. She simply never looked or behaved as if she as tired.

Rachel Kempson: Vivien made every weekend so special and wonderful. She was such a loving and giving person.

Peter Finch: An attitude circulated that these weekend parties were in some way exclusive gatherings of a small and somewhat superior theatrical clique. It was never like that. Vivien adored her home and she was never happier than when she could share the peace and beauty of Notley... Larry, I remember, spent much of his time enjoying his hobby of tree pruning. I spent one glorious afternoon employed on nothing more glamorous than cleaning out a stretch of clogged-up river.

FINAL WORDS ABOUT VIVIEN

Roger Furse (friend): I don't suppose that up to the sad break-up with L. [Laurence Olivier] she had ever had a serious "No" said to her since she was born.

Noel Coward: She often reminded me of a bird of paradise. Now perhaps she can find her own.

Simone Signoret: I will miss her, her laughs and her screams, her humour and her toughness and her tenderness.

Rex Harrison in his personal letter (no year, but almost certainly 1982) wrote about Vivien Leigh: I loved her very dearly, as you know, and had found poor Larry's extracts in the Sunday Telegraph sad in the extreme. Why did he ever embark on that?