Lot 116
Leigh Vivien 1913 - 1967 With Oscar in hand for "Streetcar Named Desire" Vivian Leigh writes officially to all her congratulatory fans
Single page TLS on pale blue stationary, 5.5" x 7" with Vivien Leigh's personal letterhead. Dated on New Years Eve, the 31st December 1952, and signed by Vivien Leigh as "Vivien Leigh", with the accompanying mailing envelope , 5.75" x 4", with a missing city address corrected by her husband Sir Lawrence Olivier who penned "London", in his own hand. Envelope neatly opened along top edge. Near fine.
A wonderful thank you letter written by Vivien Leigh to her fan club just months after receiving her second Academy Award for Best Actress playing Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire. Although this was Leigh's second award, her driving passion was for the art of acting and not one of being a film star. She had been quoted as saying, "I'm not a film star - I'm an actress. Being a film star - just a film star - is such a false life, lived for fake values and for publicity. Actresses go on for a long time and there are always marvelous parts to play. "
Her letter also makes an anticipatory note of her upcoming acting role in Ceylon for "Elephant Walk" and then off California, culminating in coming back to London for her Coronation play "The Admirable Crichton". Ceylon would take her back to the Asian world of her birth and childhood, something that her husband at the time felt would assist with Leigh's ever increasing bouts of depression and mania. However her illness which had increasing episodes of paranoia, hallucinations, mania and depression, culminated in catastrophic circumstances. Vivien was swiftly sent to England for treatment for if she was diagnosed with mental illness she risked being confined to an institution. Thus Paramount was forced to terminate Vivien's contract and find a substitute actress for the remainder of the filming. That person turned out to be Elizabeth Taylor. The long shots filmed in Ceylon with Vivien were used in the film, while all the dialogue and the close-ups had to be shot once again with Taylor. So the intended version was never completed, and Cinema has been left with an unsatisfactory hybrid; Vivien's fans with just a few long shots to appreciate.
A wonderful early signed letter to her British fan club, with a small added bonus to include a penned address correction by her husband, Sir Lawrence Olivier.
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