Vivien Leigh
Like a number of celebrities mentioned on the list, Vivien Leigh had to work hard to show off her acting skills because most people liked to focus on her physical appearance instead. And indeed, one director described her as a “consummate actress, hampered by beauty.” Although she was most popular for her parts in Gone with the Wind and A Streetcar Named Desire, you should know that her most prolific work was for the stage and not the screen. She fought tuberculosis during the last few decades of her life, but she eventually succumbed to the disease in 1967.
Vivien Leigh
Ava Gardner
Ava Gardner comes from South Carolina, which makes sense when you consider her accent. It is very interesting that MGM found her incomprehensible in those days. Nonetheless, she worked hard and they gave her a contract. After five years in the industry, she got a big break when she bagged a role in the noir film, The Killers. This launched her to stardom, which would give her half a century in the biz. Sadly, her smoking habit caught up to her in the ‘80s. She had to deal with stroke and emphysema in 1986, which rendered her paralyzed. She died of pneumonia 4 years later.
Ava Gardner
