Vivien died of tuberculosis on July 7th, 1967. At that time, as it is today, TB was not something that was expected to kill people as it used to in past centuries. She and first been diagnosed in 1945, but might have caught it as early as 1943 when she was touring North Africa during the war. It started with her losing a good deal of weight and developing "a cough she couldn't shake" (according to Laurence Olivier). After a year of rest, her TB went into remission but fatally flared up again in 1967. Disobeying doctors' orders to stay in bed with no smoking, drinking, or over-exherting herself, Vivien lived each day to the fullest of her ability until the end. Her passing was a shock to most, a great relief to some who knew the extent of her suffering, and a sad time for devoted fans throughout the world.

After private services and a public memorial at St Martin-in-the-fields, London, Vivien's ashes were scattered on the lake at her last home, Tickerage Mill in Sussex. Attending the small gathering were Vivien's mother, daughter, step-son Tarquin, and best friend Bumble Dawson.

Here are how some of her friends reacted to the news of her death and how she was remembered thereafter.

• "Poor, dear little Vivien...I stood and prayed for forgiveness for all the evils that had sprang up between us."--Laurence Olivier

• "Somerset Maugham had hoped to see her play his favorite feminine character, the charming, promiscuous and kind-hearted Rosie Driffield in his own Cakes and Ale, and he had encouraged her to play Bathsheba Everdene, the innocently vain and unstable heroine of Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd, but in fact neither of those promising projects for films were carried out. It might almost be said that the roles she did not play and the opportunities that now lay behind her gathered about her lately to form a aura peculiarly her own; but if so, it was an aura surrounding a beautiful woman whose strong character, humour and wit, love of works of art and delight in their collection, had all been proved and were well known."--The Times of London

• "You know how I loved Vivien. Her passing is unbelievable and tragic, and she will leave an irreplaceable gap amongst the very small circle of my intimate friends besides the hundreds of devoted admirers who adored her both as an actress and a woman."--John Gielgud to Vivien's mother, Gertrude

• "There are s few whom one could love as much as Vivien, who had so much to give, who made life so fulfilling and happy."--Tarquin Olivier to Vivien's mother

• "I try hard to concentrate my thoughts in gratitude for the inestimable gift that we have all enjoyed for so long at her generous hands, of the light of her loving friendship and though that light has now gone out, it will always shine on all those who ever knew her, however slightly. She really illuminated life and though deeply sad you must be very proud of someone who has woven an imperishable bond between all those who loved her and whom she loved."--Roger Furse to Vivien's mother

• "We kept in touch with her wherever she went in the world, for more than twenty years...though the rest of the world may forget, we never shall, we loved her."--Ivy Pugh, one of Vivien's devoted fans

• "She was the definition of loveliness as a woman and as an artist."--Tennessee Williams

• "I am so terribly sorry for you...I know only too well that there is nothing to say."--David Niven--who had lost his first wife, Primmie in a freak accident at Tyrone Power's house in the 1940's--to Jack Marivale

• "Devotion is a rare quality and even I personally used to rest more easily about Viv because she had you. I knew that you would stick. I think she bothered all her friends, but you were the one who delivered the goods--and really enabled her to go on as long as she did."--Katherine Hepburn to Jack Marivale

• "I will miss her, her laughs and her screams, her humour and her toughness and her tenderness."--Simone Signoret to Jack Marivale

• "Condolence is sent for comfort, but there is no comfort to be sought when something so exquisite and young and brilliant and unique as Vivien is torn away from you. I think of all her demanding roles that the most difficult was her own life's part and but for you and your love and dedication and your goodness she would not, these last years, have been able to play it with such strength, courage and gaiety...Poor valiant little heroine."--Lady Diana Cooper to Jack Marivale

• "She was delicate but she was also dynamic...For Vivien to have left us while she was still young and beautiful I'm sure must have been the way she wanted it. I remember when she was ill how much she disliked 'old ladies' as she would call them jokingly...when I first learned of her death I went to the little house on Crescent Drive where we first lived together. I sat there quietly in my car from 9 until 10 p.m. in silent prayer and with tears of both joy and sorrow."--Sunny Lash, Vivien's American secretary

• "I remember her most now--walking like an eager boy through the temples in Ceylon--walking in the wind near Notley. I always see her hurrying through life. I miss the fact that she is not somewhere in London or Greece or New York, among her friends talking volumes--with those bright eyes always in laughter."--Former lover, Peter Finch

• "A great actress forever and ever. We vote you the young at heart and a true beauty."--Scrawled in pencil on the column outside Vivien's Eaton Square flat by a fan

• 31 Queen's Grove, NW8, 15 Aug '67

I went to Viv's memorial service today. You were very fond of her and I thought you would like me to go representing you. Also I wanted to go for myself. I don't quite know why, but I felt the urge. Viv had been part of my life for so long, over 30 years. I wanted to say, I don't quite know what, perhaps good-bye to a great part of my life and with complete sincerity God speed to her soul.

I went with Peggy Webster, going through the side entrance [of St. Martin in the Fields] to avoid vast crowds. We put ourselves on the outside of the very outside pews. The church was packed with those who came because they cared and those who came to rubber-neck.

Emlyn Williams' John Donne was a masterpiece, beautifully spoken and brilliantly picked. John Gielgud's address I thought over emotional and unmoving. The Anthem was beautifully sung and of course 'God be in my head' always makes me cry. [Vivien's daughter] Suzanne's little puckered face broke me up.

At the end when I turned to leave I found Larry standing right behind me. In that very large church full of hundreds of people, wasn't it extraordinary that we should find ourselves together. I put my hand on his as I left the pew and he put his other hand on top of mine and gave it three little squeezes. His face looked gray right through."--Jill Esmond in a letter to her son, Tarquin who was out of the country when Vivien died and could not attend her funeral

• I was spending the weekend at Chichester to be with David and answered a telephone in his office. It was a journalist politely inquiring for Larry's private number in Brighton. I asked him if I could help and he told me he had just been informed that Vivien had died during the night. personally shattered by the news I said I would ask Sir Laurence to call him. I rang Larry--who, of course, already knew--and commiserated with him. He was terribly upset and railed against the fates for their ill timing. She was starting rehearsals for a new play within a short while to which she was looking forward. He said he was going to London to offer any help to John Merivale, a great friend of Vivien's who shared the flat with her. Early the next morning the bell rang. It was answered by the housekeeper who was confronted by a man who claimed to be a personal friend of Miss Leigh. Believing this, in the circumstances, she let him in. He strolled into the flat, confronted Larry and Jack, admitted he was a journalist from the Daily Express and asked them for an exclusive. Wild with rage, the two men turned on him and asked him to leave. He parried this threat with a plea to Larry for a 'little chat--man to man.' By now completely incensed they took him by the back of his jacket and frog marched him out of the flat. Vivien's funeral took place that week. One of the chief mourners was their life-long friend Cecil Tennant. Driving back from it to his house in the country the steering column suddenly broke causing him to lose control. The car his a tree killing him instantaneously. The double tragedy, on top of Larry's own illness, was almost too much for my own moral courage, but I nerved myself to telephone yet again to offer my sympathies. As customary, when events become too great to take seriously, the reply was disarming. Having heard my condolences he said, "Do you know, my darling, I'm really no longer afraid of dying. I shan't be lonely; all my friends are up there." A facile throwaway to cover his intense emotion. --Laurence Olivier's former press secretary and friend, Virginia Fairweather

Below are links to longer stories and anecdotes from some of Vivien's closest friends. Because they are longer than just a paragraph or so, I gave each one his or her own page. These stories come from various sources, all of which are listed on the site Resources page.

Jean-Pierre Aumont • Don Bachardy • Dirk Bogarde • Bernard Braden • George Cukor •
Olivia DeHavilland • Douglas Fairbanks Jr. • Gene Kelly • David Niven • Jose Quintero• Terence Rattigan