Page "Vivien Leigh" Paragraph 12

Despite her relative inexperience, Leigh was chosen to play Ophelia to Olivier's Hamlet in an Old Vic Theatre production staged at Elsinore, Denmark.

Olivier later recalled an incident when her mood rapidly changed as she was preparing to go onstage.

Without apparent provocation, she began screaming at him, before suddenly becoming silent and staring into space.

She was able to perform without mishap ; and, by the following day, she had returned to normal with no recollection of the event.

It was the first time Olivier witnessed such behaviour from her.

They began living together, as their respective spouses had each refused to grant either of them a divorce.

Under the moral standards then enforced by the motion picture industry, their relationship had to be kept from public view.

Leigh appeared with Robert Taylor, Lionel Barrymore and Maureen O ' Sullivan in A Yank at Oxford ( 1938 ), the first of her films to receive attention in the United States.

During production, she developed a reputation for being difficult and unreasonable ; and Korda instructed her agent to warn her that her option would not be renewed if her behaviour did not improve.

Her next role was in St. Martin's Lane ( 1938 ) with Charles Laughton.