Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier at Home: 15 Photos of the Midcentury Power Couple’s London Life
“Do I consult Sir Laurence on furnishing? Well, not exactly.”
With captivating good looks and the talent to match, Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier commanded fascination like few couples in 20th-century cinema. After all, she played Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind and he was Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights—it doesn’t get more iconic than that.
Known for her unique beauty and unyielding drive, the India-born, British-bred Leigh quickly became a silver screen superstar, earning the first best actress Oscar ever awarded to a British woman for her role in Gone With The Wind. Celebrated onstage and screen, Olivier’s talent also earned him Oscars, in addition to a knighthood that gave him the official title of “Sir” in his native UK. Together they became one of cinema’s most talked-about pairings.
But the marriage was not without its problems. In the latter years, infidelity on both their parts was common, and Leigh’s struggles with bipolar disorder worsened. Both strains eventually drove the couple apart. Olivier went on to remarry actor Joan Plowright and have children after the divorce. Leigh never remarried; tragically, she died at age 53 after a bout of tuberculosis, seven years after the split.
The dashing pair’s romantic and creative (though often tumultuous) partnership unfolded over 20 years across film sets, London stages, and the three homes they owned together, shaped with equal parts style and intensity. Leigh, an avid antiquer who cultivated a deep passion for art and interiors, led the aesthetics for all of their marital homes in a style that leaned toward the dramatic. She collected paintings throughout her travels, often bringing favorites along to brighten hotel rooms. From the country grandeur of Notley Abbey to the elegance of Durham Cottage and Eaton Square, Leigh unleashed her flamboyant style throughout her living spaces. The following images offer a glimpse into the taste she cultivated and the private moments behind one of the most celebrated couples of their time.
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Developing her design aesthetic
Leigh and her first husband, Herbert Leigh Holman, lived at 6 Little Stanhope Street, a small Queen Anne house in London’s tony Mayfair neighborhood. There, the budding actor enlivened the living room with china and a low-slung sofa accented with warm-toned pillows. Her bed, seen in this 1935 image, was stacked with green and gold cushions and a toy rabbit—a subtle reminder that the then 22-year-old Leigh had left childhood behind not so long ago. Though she was tasked with beautifying the family home, the future Hollywood legend received ample guidance from her husband. “Everything of quality I learned from Leigh [Holman],” she once said of her decorating skills.
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Bold style
Leigh biographer Michelangelo Capua described the actor’s eye for antiques as “instinctive,” noting her knack for uncovering valuable pieces in London flea markets. Much like her personality, the thespian’s taste skewed bold and theatrical, a sensibility reflected in statement objects like this oversized lamp at 6 Little Stanhope. Sotheby’s UK chairman Harry Dalmeny remarked during the 2017 estate sale of her possessions that the Oscar winner had decorated her homes “as if she were designing a set.”
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Candlelight and roses
Leigh decorated her bedroom at 6 Little Stanhope with wrought-iron candlesticks like those seen in this 1935 photo; she also selected nightstands with mirrored glass made of the same material. The actor loved flowers, particularly white roses, and would typically fill her home and dressing rooms with a lush assortment of blooms.
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A tender moment
In 1933, just shy of her 20th birthday, Leigh welcomed her only child, Suzanne. This 1935 photograph captures a tender moment between the pair. There may not have been very many—focused on building her career, Leigh immersed herself in her studies at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, leaving Suzanne largely in the care of hired staff. Following Leigh’s divorce from Holman, Suzanne remained in the custody of her father. She was raised primarily by her maternal grandmother.
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After the honyemoon
Both Leigh and Olivier were married to other people when their romance began in 1937. Three years later, they tied the knot in Santa Barbara, California, with Katharine Hepburn as a witness. Perhaps due to bourgeoisie etiquette of the time period, or to Leigh’s mental health challenges, the couple maintained separate bedrooms throughout their almost 20-year marriage. Olivier’s authorized biographer Terry Coleman wrote that Leigh’s London bedroom featured a blue-and-cream palette, though she despised it and wished she’d gone for a wallpaper dotted with pink and red roses instead.
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Cat fancy
Obsessed with her cats, Leigh was famously devoted to the Siamese breed. “Once you have kept a Siamese cat you would never have any other kind. They make wonderful pets and are so intelligent,” she told the Illustrated London News in 1948. As biographer Kendra Bean noted, she and Olivier once kept as many as 16 of the furry companions. Earlier in their marriage, the couple adopted a stray tuxedo cat found at their London home and affectionately named it Tissy. That may be the feline seen here in this 1941 image of the pair outside their home Durham Cottage, the former carriage house they owned in Chelsea.
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At home in Durham Cottage
At just a smidge over 2,000 square feet, Durham Cottage was home to Leigh and Olivier from November of 1937 until 1956. According to Leigh biographer Hugh Vickers, it took several years, but she eventually transformed the cozy London quarters into a place she loved. The two-level residence was decorated in a blue-and-cream palette and filled with flowers always. Above the fireplace seen here, Leigh hung a Walter Sickert painting. She favored Regency furnishings for the living and dining rooms—the latter of which was tacked on in an addition: “Several years ago, we built on the dining room,” Leigh told The Sydney Morning Herald. “Before that we used to eat in the entrance hall—you can imagine the drawbacks to that.”
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Designed by Leigh
In this photo, Olivier and Leigh sit with New Boy, one of Leigh’s favorite cats, in the living room of Durham Cottage. The pair are surrounded by antiques, including a circa 1790 to 1800 satinwood cabinet with mirrored doors and a glass top, later acquired by a lucky buyer at a posthumous 2017 estate sale of Leigh’s possessions. “Do I consult Sir Laurence on furnishing?” Leigh once mused in an interview for The Sydney Herald. “Well, not exactly. I always tell him what I intend on doing so that he has the opportunity of disagreeing—he never does.”
- Photo: George Konig/Keystone Features/Getty Images9/15
“An almost claustrophobic prettiness”
This 1946 image offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the power couple’s Life Magazine shoot at Durham Cottage. According to Olivier’s biographer Coleman, a green marble fireplace was sourced to match the living room’s carpet. Antique figurines can be seen almost everywhere. As one friend told Leigh’s biographer Vickers, her taste was “conventional and informed,” defined by what the source described as “an almost claustrophobic prettiness.”
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The fairytale façade
The 1850-built Durham Cottage seemed right out of a fairytale, with vines and blooming flowers climbing across its façade. It was immortalized in a painting Leigh owned by Australian artist Felix Kelly. A yellow gate greeted visitors at the entrance and arched windows were a main feature of the first floor. At one point during the couple’s 19-year run at the former coachman’s cottage, the grounds featured a lily pond, fountain, and a stone bench. This 1950 image by the home’s door shows the couple sharing a moment just outside the door.
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Contrasting tastes
Although Donald Spoto mentions in his book Laurence Olivier: A Biography that the playwright “admired” his wife’s aesthetic, Olivier’s style was more pared back in comparison: “His tastes were simpler…. His small study, for example, was never as tidy nor as fancily designed as Vivien wished and several years would pass before he felt comfortable in such elegance.” This 1947 image of the pair in the study shows Olivier with blond hair—a transformation made for his Oscar-winning role in Hamlet.
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City house, country house
Here, the actors pose along with their cat in the living room of Durham Cottage. In addition to this cozy spot, the Oliviers owned Notley Abbey, a sprawling Buckinghamshire residence endowed by Henry V. In disrepair when they purchased it in 1944, the medieval stone relic became Olivier’s most cherished abode. “Of all the houses I’ve lived in over the years, Notley is my favorite…. It enchanted me. At Notley I had an affair with the past. Perhaps I loved it too much, if that is possible,” he is quoted as saying in Laurence Olivier: A Biography.
Leigh was not a fan when the couple purchased Notley in 1944 and enlisted prominent interior designers Lady Colefax and John Fowler to lead its renovation. She ultimately grew to love it. As Sotheby’s later noted, her homes carried “an extension of the theatrical space,” with Notley Abbey looking “positively Shakespearean.” Today, the 12th-century Abbey is a wedding venue.
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The consummate hostess
Leigh “had a reputation for being a great hostess,” according to biographer Bean. This 1953 snap shows the star with fellow actors John Tullis, Peter Finch, and Rachel Kempson at Durham Cottage right before attending a square dance at Chelsea Town Hall. The top image hanging in the background is a painting of Notley Abbey by noted wartime artist John Piper. Notley was also the site of numerous parties; esteemed guests like Orson Welles, Rex Harrison, Marlene Dietrich, and Katharine Hepburn sometimes spent the weekend. When they lived there, the Oliviers, both avid gardeners, could usually be found tending to the numerous plants and trees on the 70-acre property during the day.
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An irresistible attraction
Despite the affection on display in this 1958 photograph, taken during an interview at their home, Olivier and Leigh were navigating a turbulent period in their marriage that would culminate in their 1960 divorce. Both were involved in relationships outside the marriage, yet their bond remained palpable. Reflecting on the beginning of their affair, Olivier later told biographer Michael Munn: “I couldn’t help myself with Vivien. No man could. I hated myself for cheating on [my first wife] Jill, but then I had cheated before, but this was something different. This wasn’t just out of lust. This was love that I really didn’t ask for but was drawn into. You, Michael, would not have resisted, I promise you.”
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54 Eaton Square
This 1960 newspaper photo shows Leigh on the steps at 54 Eaton Square on December 6, 1960, the day she obtained her divorce from Olivier. The couple purchased Apartment D at the swanky address in 1957, but after a year of renovations, Leigh was the only one to move into the flat. By then, the pair had been fighting constantly and Olivier was already involved with Joan Plowright, the young theater actor he would later marry, and who would become the mother of his children. Biographer Spoto notes that Olivier did, at least initially, have a bedroom in the Eaton Square flat, decorated in a deep purple scheme. Leigh chose a pale palette for the other rooms to give the illusion of expansiveness, laid Aubusson carpets in the salons, placed Thai silk curtains in the dining room, and chose rose chintz for her bedroom. Leigh lived in the residence until her death seven years later at the age of 53.
