Profiles

Vivien Leigh was a star on the stage and on the big screen for more than 20 years. Now her life has found fame in Devon.

Vivien Leigh has a local connection and her work is celebrated in three of the county's museums.

The night gown worn in Gone with the Wind

When Vivien Hartley met Leigh Holman at the Two Bridges Inn on Dartmoor in 1931, she was training to be an actress. By 1938, following her appearance in Gone With Wind, Vivien Leigh was a film star.

Topsham Museum now houses the silk night dress she wore in her Academy Award winning role of Scarlett O' Hara in Gone With The Wind. It is one of many items given to the museum by Leigh's daughter, Suzanna.

When the actress married Leigh Holman, a solicitor 13 years her senior, in 1932, her connection with Devon began.

Holman's sister, Dorothy lived at 25, The Strand, Topsham and it is here that Vivien Leigh's local legacy continues in the museum Dorothy established in 1967.

Rachel Nichols curates the collection given to the museum by Leigh's daughter Suzanna.

Dorothy Holman

"She has been very generous to us and given us many items that belonged to her mother. As well as the night gown from Gone With The Wind, there is a gown worn to the first night of Olivier's Richard III, hats, muffs and other items."

"There are photographs - of her engagement to Leigh Holman, their wedding and the last photo dates from 1958 as they remained friends even after their divorce."

Costumes worn by the star are also held in the collections of the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter.

Leigh continued her connection to the county, visiting the house in Topsham during the 1940s and 1950s.

Miss Holman followed Vivien's life with interest after the divorce in 1940 and Leigh's subsequent marriage to Laurence Olivier the same year.

Laurence Olivier

"Dorothy Holman kept a scrapbook of cuttings about Vivien Leigh and this along with her diary is now held by the Devon Record Office.

"It's very poignant to read how Miss Holman reacted to the news of her sister-in-law's death in 1967."

"Although they were two very different women, they had a deep respect for each other."

Vivien Leigh won two Academy Awards - for Gone With The Wind and for A Streetcar Named Desire.

The Bill Douglas Centre for the History of Cinema at the University of Exeter holds over 200 items relating to her work on screen.

Vivien Leigh took her stage name from the man she met at the Two Bridges Hotel on Dartmoor and her legacy lives on in museum collections throughout Devon.