Vivien Leigh

Vivien Leigh

Vivien Leigh (born Vivian Mary Hartley on November 5, 1913, in Darjeeling, British India) was an English actress renowned for her roles in Hollywood and British theater. She won two Academy Awards for Best Actress, portraying Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939) and Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), both performances that solidified her place among the greatest actresses of classic cinema. Leigh was the only child of Ernest Hartley, a British broker, and Gertrude Yackjee, who had Anglo-Indian and Armenian ancestry. She spent her childhood between England and Europe, attending convent schools before enrolling at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London in 1932, setting the stage for her acting career. Her film debut came in Things Are Looking Up (1934), followed by roles in British films such as Fire Over England (1937), where she starred alongside Laurence Olivier. Their professional collaboration soon became a high-profile romance, capturing public fascination. Leigh’s breakthrough role was Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939), a part for which she beat hundreds of actresses in a legendary casting search. The film became one of the most celebrated in cinematic history, and her performance earned international acclaim, securing her first Academy Award. Leigh continued to star in films such as Waterloo Bridge (1940) and That Hamilton Woman (1941), frequently working with Olivier, whom she married in 1940. Their union lasted 20 years, during which they became one of the most revered couples in theater and film, starring together in Shakespearean productions and three films. In 1951, she won her second Academy Award for A Streetcar Named Desire, where her portrayal of Blanche DuBois was deeply personal, reflecting her own struggles with mental health. Leigh suffered from bipolar disorder, which profoundly affected her career and personal relationships. She also battled chronic tuberculosis, first diagnosed in the mid-1940s, which ultimately led to her death on July 8, 1967, at the age of 53. After divorcing Olivier in 1960, she found companionship with actor John Merivale, who remained by her side until her passing. Despite periods of career instability, Leigh remains one of the most celebrated actresses of her time. In 1999, the American Film Institute (AFI) ranked her as the 16th greatest female movie star of classic Hollywood cinema. She also won a Tony Award for Tovarich (1963), proving her talent extended beyond film. Her beauty, talent, and dedication made her an enduring icon, and her performances continue to be studied and celebrated worldwide.

  • Title: Vivien Leigh
  • Popularity: 1.2089
  • Known For: Acting
  • Birthday: 1913-11-05
  • Place of Birth: Darjeeling, Bengal Presidency, British India [now West Bengal, India]
  • Homepage:
  • Also Known As: Вів'єн Мері Гартлі, Vivian Mary Hartley, Vivian Leigh, ویوین لی, Вивиан Мэри Хартли, леди Оливье
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Vivien Leigh Movies

  • 1951
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    A Streetcar Named Desire

    A Streetcar Named Desire

    7.618 1951 HD

    A disturbed, aging Southern belle moves in with her sister for solace — but being face-to-face with her brutish brother-in-law accelerates her downward spiral.

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  • 1939
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    Gone with the Wind

    Gone with the Wind

    7.924 1939 HD

    The spoiled daughter of a Georgia plantation owner conducts a tumultuous romance with a cynical profiteer during the American Civil War and Reconstruction Era.

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  • 2000
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    Sir John Mills' Moving Memories

    Sir John Mills' Moving Memories

    1 2000 HD

    A film biography with a difference, Sir John Mills' Moving Memories charts the life of one of Britain's most distinguished actors. Compiled from interviews with the man himself and with his family and friends, it traces his career from humble beginnings to all-time great of British cinema. The many film clips reveal an electric screen presence and a willingness to undertake a range of difficult, challenging roles.

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  • 1965
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    Ship of Fools

    Ship of Fools

    6.5 1965 HD

    Passengers on a ship traveling from Mexico to Europe in the 1930s represent society at large in that era. The crew is German, including the ship's Dr. Schumann, who falls in love with one of the passengers, La Condesa. A young American woman, Jenny, is traveling with the man she loves, David. Jenny is fascinated and puzzled by just who some of the other passengers are.

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  • 1937
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    Fire Over England

    Fire Over England

    6.2 1937 HD

    The film is a historical drama set during the reign of Elizabeth I (Flora Robson), focusing on the English defeat of the Spanish Armada, whence the title. In 1588, relations between Spain and England are at the breaking point. With the support of Queen Elizabeth I, British sea raiders such as Sir Francis Drake regularly capture Spanish merchantmen bringing gold from the New World.

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  • 1945
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    Caesar and Cleopatra

    Caesar and Cleopatra

    6.2 1945 HD

    The aging Julius Caesar finds himself intrigued by the young Egyptian queen Cleopatra.

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  • 1948
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    Anna Karenina

    Anna Karenina

    5.924 1948 HD

    Stefan and Dolly Oblonsky have had a spat and Stefan has asked his sister, Anna Karenina, to come down to Moscow to help mend the rift. Anna's companion on the train from St. Petersburg is Countess Vronsky who is met at the Moscow station by her son. Col. Vronsky looks very dashing in his uniform and it's love at first sight when he looks at Anna and their eyes meet.

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  • 1961
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    The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone

    The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone

    6.814 1961 HD

    Critics and the public say Karen Stone is too old -- as she approaches 50 -- for her role in a play she is about to take to Broadway. Her businessman husband, 20 years her senior, has been the angel for the play and gives her a way out: They are off to a holiday in Rome for his health. He suffers a fatal heart attack on the plane. Mrs. Stone stays in Rome. She leases a magnificent apartment with a view of the seven hills from the terrace. Then the contessa comes calling to introduce a young man named Paolo to her. The contessa knows many presentable young men and lonely American widows.

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  • 1941
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    That Hamilton Woman

    That Hamilton Woman

    7.118 1941 HD

    The story of courtesan and dance-hall girl Emma Hamilton, including her relationships with Sir William Hamilton and Admiral Horatio Nelson and her rise and fall, set during the Napoleonic Wars.

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  • 1940
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    Waterloo Bridge

    Waterloo Bridge

    7.482 1940 HD

    On the eve of World War II, a British officer revisits Waterloo Bridge and recalls the young man he was at the beginning of World War I and the young ballerina he met just before he left for the front.

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  • 1940
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    21 Days Together

    21 Days Together

    6.1 1940 HD

    After Larry Darrent accidentally kills his lover's blackmailing husband, someone else is arrested for the crime. When he is found guilty, Larry and Wanda have just three weeks together before he must give himself up or let an innocent man go to the gallows.

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  • 1937
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    Dark Journey

    Dark Journey

    6.4 1937 HD

    Madeline Goddard, is a British double agent who meets and falls in love with a German spy Baron Karl Von Marwitz during World War I. This tale of espionage blends high adventure and romance making perfect order from wartime chaos and growing in faith from despair.

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  • 1937
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    Storm in a Teacup

    Storm in a Teacup

    7.5 1937 HD

    A local politician in Scotland tries to break the reporter who wrote a negative story about him, and who is also in love with his daughter.

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  • 1972
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    Hollywood: The Dream Factory

    Hollywood: The Dream Factory

    6 1972 HD

    A documentary about the glorious history of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and its decline leading to the sale of its back lot and props. By extension this provides a general history of Hollywood's Golden Age and the legendary studio system.

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  • 1938
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    St. Martin's Lane

    St. Martin's Lane

    7.24 1938 HD

    On the sidewalks of the London theater district the buskers (street performers) earn enough coins for a cheap room. Charles, who recites dramatic monologues, sees that a young pickpocket, Libby, also has a talent for dancing and adds her to his act. Harley, the theater patron who never knew Libby took his gold cigarette case, is impressed by Libby's dancing and invites her to bring Charles and the other buskers in his group to an after-the-play party. Libby comes alone. A theatrical career is launched.

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  • 1938
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    A Yank at Oxford

    A Yank at Oxford

    6.7 1938 HD

    A brash young American aristocrat attending Oxford University gets a chance to prove himself and win the heart of his antagonist's sister.

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  • 2018
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    Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood

    Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood

    5.9 2018 HD

    A deliciously scandalous portrait of unsung Hollywood legend Scotty Bowers, whose bestselling memoir chronicled his decades spent as sexual procurer to the stars.

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  • 1935
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    The Village Squire

    The Village Squire

    6 1935 HD

    Comedy about how a travelling film actor who arrives in a small village transforms a squire's production of "Macbeth" and subsequently weds his daughter.

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  • 1935
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    Things Are Looking Up

    Things Are Looking Up

    6 1935 HD

    Scatterbrain circus lady has to cover for her sour schoolmistress sister.

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  • 1955
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    The Deep Blue Sea

    The Deep Blue Sea

    4.692 1955 HD

    A woman is unhappy in her marriage to a boring, stiff judge, so she takes up with a wild-living RAF pilot, who ends up being more than she can handle.

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  • 1935
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    Look Up and Laugh

    Look Up and Laugh

    4.5 1935 HD

    Gutsy lass Gracie rallies fellow stall-holders at Birkenhead Market to prevent its takeover and demolition by a department store chain. She invokes the Market's foundation by Royal Charter just before an inadvertent gas leak provides an explosive climax.

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  • 1983
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    Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage

    Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage

    6.5 1983 HD

    Out-takes (mostly from Warner Bros.), promotional shorts, movie premieres, public service pleas, wardrobe tests, documentary material, and archival footage make up this star-studded voyeuristic look at the Golden age of Hollywood during the 30s, 40, and 50.

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  • 2001
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    Larry & Vivien: The Oliviers in Love

    Larry & Vivien: The Oliviers in Love

    1 2001 HD

    A portrait of the 30 year relationship between Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier. With comments by their friends and family.

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  • 1951
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    The Screen Director

    The Screen Director

    6 1951 HD

    A documentary short film depicting the work of the motion picture director. An anonymous director is shown preparing the various aspects of a film for production, meeting with the writer and producer, approving wardrobe and set design, rehearsing scenes with the actors and camera crew, shooting the scenes, watching dailies, working with the editor and composer, and attending the first preview. Then a number of real directors are shown in archive footage (as well as a predominance of staged 'archive' footage) working with actors and crew.

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  • 1994
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    That's Entertainment! III

    That's Entertainment! III

    7 1994 HD

    Some of MGM'S musical stars review the studios history of musicals. From The Hollywood Revue of 1929 to Brigadoon, from the first musical talkies to Gene Kelly in Singin' in the Rain.

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  • 2004
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    Melanie Remembers: Reflections by Olivia de Havilland

    Melanie Remembers: Reflections by Olivia de Havilland

    7.2 2004 HD

    This documentary is featured in the 4-disc Collector's Edition DVD set, released in 2004, for Gone with the Wind (1939).

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  • 1935
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    Gentlemen's Agreement

    Gentlemen's Agreement

    7.3 1935 HD

    A young doctor realises that his father is a quack and changes places with a down-and-out.

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  • 1940
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    Cavalcade of the Academy Awards

    Cavalcade of the Academy Awards

    6.5 1940 HD

    This 1940 presentation features highlights of earlier (1928 onward) Oscar ceremonies including Shirley Temple and Walt Disney, plus acceptance speeches for films released in 1939 with recipients and presenters including Vivien Leigh, Judy Garland, Hattie McDaniel, Fay Bainter, Mickey Rooney, Thomas Mitchell, Sinclair Lewis, and more, with host Bob Hope.

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  • 1975
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    Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

    Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

    6.1 1975 HD

    Period music, film clips and newsreel footage combined into a visual exploration of the American entertainment industry during the Great Depression.

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  • 1940
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    Hollywood: Style Center of the World

    Hollywood: Style Center of the World

    5.5 1940 HD

    This short promotes the premise that movies often create a demand for the fashions seen in them. It starts with a vignette in rural America. A mother and daughter go to town to buy a new dress. In the dress shop window is a designer dress worn by Joan Crawford in a recent movie. We then go to Hollywood and visit Adrian, MGM's chief of costume design, and see how multiple copies of a single clothing pattern are produced. The film ends with short segments of several MGM features.

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  • 1976
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    That's Entertainment, Part II

    That's Entertainment, Part II

    6.91 1976 HD

    Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire present more golden moments from the MGM film library, this time including comedy and drama as well as classic musical numbers.

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  • 1998
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    Glorious Technicolor

    Glorious Technicolor

    6.9 1998 HD

    The history of color photography in motion pictures, in particular the Technicolor company's work.

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  • 1988
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    The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind

    The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind

    8 1988 HD

    This documentary revisits the making of Gone with the Wind via archival footage, screen tests, insightful interviews and rare film footage.

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  • 2005
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    Jornal Português (1938-1951)

    Jornal Português (1938-1951)

    1 2005 HD

    The newsreel series Jornal Português (1938-1951) was produced for the Secretariat of National Propaganda (SPN/SNI) by the "Portuguese Newsreel Society" (SPAC), under the technical supervision of António Lopes Ribeiro. It was conceived and employed as part of the propaganda machinery of Salazar's regime. Screened in cinema theatres prior to the main feature film, each issue of Jornal had approximately ten minutes in length and covered a variety of official government acts, national political news, major sports events and other assorted social and cultural affairs. Jornal Português is not only an indispensable document for the history of Estado Novo's propaganda, but also an unparalleled audiovisual archive of 1940s Portugal.

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  • 2009
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    1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year

    1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year

    7.5 2009 HD

    This documentary focuses on 1939, considered to be Hollywood's greatest year, with film clips and insight into what made the year so special.

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  • 1959
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    The Skin of Our Teeth

    The Skin of Our Teeth

    1 1959 HD

    Production of Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer-winning play about mankind's triumph over chaos, which wildly altered dramatic conventions in freely shifting between modern-day New Jersey and the ice age. Meet George and Maggie Antrobus (married only 5,000 years); their two children, Gladys and Henry (perfect in every way!); and their maid, Sabina (the ageless vamp) as they overcome ice, flood, and war — by the skin of their teeth.

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  • 1990
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    Vivien Leigh: Scarlett and Beyond

    Vivien Leigh: Scarlett and Beyond

    10 1990 HD

    The life and career of two-time Oscar winner Vivien Leigh, who battled tuberculosis and manic-depression but always remained a star.

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  • 2021
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    Vivien Leigh, autant en emporte le vent

    Vivien Leigh, autant en emporte le vent

    7.4 2021 HD

    In "Gone with the Wind" she was an unforgettable Scarlett O'Hara. Beauty, two-time Oscar winner, celebrated Hollywood star and great Shakespearean interpreter - Vivien Leigh was all that. Behind the celebrity, however, was a fragile person. Her bipolar disorder clouded her success and her private happiness.

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  • 1969
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    The Extraordinary Seaman

    The Extraordinary Seaman

    2.6 1969 HD

    Marooned sailors discover a World War II ship haunted by its late captain.

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  • 1982
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    Laurence Olivier: a life

    Laurence Olivier: a life

    10 1982 HD

    A multi-award winning biography covering the life and career of legendary screen and stage actor/director Laurence Olivier.

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  • 1958
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    Small world: Vivien Leigh

    Small world: Vivien Leigh

    1 1958 HD

    Acclaimed film and theatre Actress Vivien Leigh, producer Samuel Goldwyn and critic Kenneth Tynan join Edward R. Murrow in a filmed conversation.

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  • 1940
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    Private lives

    Private lives

    1 1940 HD

    Private Lives, a play by Noël Coward, starring Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier

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  • 1950
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    Rebecca

    Rebecca

    1 1950 HD

    A play version of Daphne du Maurier’s book starring Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier

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  • 1966
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    Ivanov

    Ivanov

    1 1966 HD

    A play by Chekhov, starring Vivien Leigh and John Gielgud, it marked Leigh’s final performance before her death in 1967

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  • 1988
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    Hollywood Scandals and Tragedies

    Hollywood Scandals and Tragedies

    1 1988 HD

    Famous Hollywood Scandals and Tragedies

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  • 2023
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    Flashing Images of Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando

    Flashing Images of Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando

    1 2023 HD

    Flashing images of Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando taken from A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

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  • 1993
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    Korda: I Don't Grow on Trees: Part One

    Korda: I Don't Grow on Trees: Part One

    1 1993 HD

    Part 1 of a documentary about when Alexander Korda was asked about who might replace him when he has resigned as a chief of the production of the British Lion.

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  • 1948
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    The Ed Sullivan Show

    The Ed Sullivan Show

    6.8 1948 HD

    The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the CBS Sunday Night Movie, which ran only one season and was eventually replaced by other shows. In 2002, The Ed Sullivan Show was ranked #15 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

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  • 2015
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    Iconic Couples of Hollywood

    Iconic Couples of Hollywood

    1 2015 HD

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  • 1958
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    Small World

    Small World

    7.3 1958 HD

    Presents a filmed, intercontinental conversation that links moderator Edward R. Murrow in New York with three internationally known figures located in different parts of the world. What set this apart from other televised interview/discussion programs was the fact that its participants could not see each other but could hear one another via telephone lines and radio.

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