Tag: vivien leigh

What Success has Taught Me

By Kendra + March 14, 2020

by Vivien Leigh
Everywoman, April 1951
*NOTE* The images below were published with the actual article, but these original prints by Tom Blau were scanned from Vivien Leigh’s personal albums, part of the Kendra Bean Collection.

The snag in success is that the nearer you get to it the farther away you feel yourself to be. The world may call you successful, but in your heart you know that you never fulfil your own hopes. Which is perhaps all to the good, for complacency is a fatal state, though a very pleasant one, if you can remain in it. I never can.

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Collections Cataloguing: Box 4

By Kendra + February 3, 2019

During the past month I’ve steadily continued with repackaging, cataloguing, and digitising the Richard Mangan Laurence Olivier Collection. As a result, I’ve happily managed to get ahead with a few of the boxes, which means I can share updates more regularly. As of this writing I’ve catalogued 605 individual pieces of ephemera (!!). That’s taken me up to…1945 in Laurence Olivier’s stage career. But hey, it’s not a race!

Here are some highlights from Box 4 (1935-1937), when Vivien Leigh finally enters the picture. As ever, special thanks to the Viv and Larry Patrons for helping me to afford archival supplies! You guys are the greatest.

I hope you enjoy!

books reviews vivien leigh

Book Corner – Vivien Leigh: Dark Star

By Kendra + November 22, 2018

Since her centenary in 2013 Vivien Leigh has been enjoying an extended moment in the spotlight and I am sure I’m not alone when I say it’s pretty great. She has been recognised through exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery, V&A, and Topsham Museum. Several one-woman plays have been staged. Actress Natalie Dormer is adapting my own book into a TV series. Vivien’s family made millions from a Sotheby’s sale of belongings from her estate. And Manchester University Press published a compilation of essays examining various facets of her life and career. It’s wonderful that, despite having died half a century ago, interest in Vivien is still going strong.

vivien leigh

For Vivien on her birthday

By Kendra + November 5, 2018

105 years ago, in the hill station of Darjeeling, West Bengal, Vivien Leigh came into the world. She’s been gone for over half a century but she continues to inspire people of all ages, from all walks of life. Many are drawn to her work, to her gripping life story, to her valiant battle with mental illness. Through cinematic revivals of classics like Gone With the Wind, and in large part thanks to the Internet, her memory lives on.