Vivien Leigh
Birth Name: Vivian Mary Hartley
Date of Birth: 5 November, 1913
Place of Birth: Darjeeling, Bengal Presidency, British India
Date of Death: 8 July, 1967
Date of Place: London, England, U.K.
Ethnicity: English, likely Armenian and Irish
Vivien Leigh was a British actress. She twice won the Academy Award for Best Actress, for Gone with the Wind (1939) and A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). She also starred in Caesar and Cleopatra, The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, and Ship of Fools, among many others.
She was born in India. Her father, Ernest Richard Hartley, was English, and may have been born on the Isle of Islay, Argyll, Scotland or in Bingley, West Yorkshire, England. Her mother, Gertrude M. F. (Yackjee/Yackje), was born in Darjeeling, India.
Vivien had a daughter, actress Suzanne Farrington, with her first husband, barrister Herbert Leigh Holman.
There are at least three different couples referred to by genealogists as Vivien’s paternal grandparents. One couple are Seth Hartley and Sarah Jane Mawson. Seth was born in Calverley, West Yorkshire, England. Sarah was born in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England.
Vivien’s maternal grandfather was named Michael John Yackjee/Yackje (the son of Johannes/John Gabriel Yackjee and Elizabeth). It appears that Michael was of Armenian origin.
Vivien’s maternal grandmother was named Mary Therisa/Teresa/Theresa/I. Robinson (the daughter of James Wilson/Wilston Robinson). Vivien’s maternal grandmother was usually said to be the daughter of Irish parents.
Sources: Genealogies of Vivien Leigh – http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com
https://www.geni.com
https://genealogy.links.org
http://www.hartleyfamily.org.uk
http://townsley.info
Information about Vivien’s Armenian ancestry – http://chater-genealogy.blogspot.ca
A discussion of Vivien’s ancestry – http://www.gnxp.com
Marriage record of Vivien’s maternal grandparents, Michael John Yackjee/Yackje and Mary Therisa/Teresa/Theresa/I. Robinson – https://familysearch.org
SHE WAS HALF INDIAN BY DESCENT, HER MOTHERS NAME WAS YACKJEE WHICH IS A NAME THAT IS ONLY FOUND IN EAST INDIA.WITH DIFFERENT VARIATIONS IN THE SPELLING.
HER FATHER WORKED FOR THE BRITISH INDIAN ARMY AND WAS DISCOURAGED BY HIS COLLEAGUES FROM MARRYING WHAT THEY SAW AS A MIXED RACE GIRL WHICH WAS THE NORMAL PREJUDICE OF THE BRITISH.
BEAUTIFUL DARK INDIAN HAIR AND LARGE INDIAN EYES JUST LIKE HER MOTHER AND A NOBLE AFGHAN NOSE WITH A MIX OF EUROPEAN HERITAGE GAVE HER THE GLOBAL APPEAL.
1.8 BILLION SOUTH ASIANS AND WESTERNERS STILL QUESTION A PERSONS INDIAN HERITAGE ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY HAVE BEAUTY AND TALENT.HER FACE TODAY WOULD FIT IN COMFORTABLY IN BOLLYWOOD OR HOLLYWOOD.KEEP YOUR IGNORANT PREJUDICE IN THE PAST THIS IS 2012.
AND SHE’S CERTAINLY NOT ARMENIAN THAT LIES A FEW THOUSAND MILES TO THE WEST OF INDIA,,PLEASE
Her eyes look Irish.
Vivien looks a great deal like Maureen O’Sullivan the Irish actress who she went to boarding school with.
http://www.eskimo.com/~bpentium/tarzan/maureen.jpg
She is too pale & too pretty to Not be of part Irish descent!
I also see a touch of East Indian in her.
Wow, I never would have guessed Armenian. She looks mostly Irish.
I agree, there’s no way she was entirely English. The story about her being “Part French / Part Irish” just like Scarlett O’Hara was a myth David Selznick concocted to make her a more appealing choice for the role to the public. There is no evidence whatsoever of French ancestry her on either side of her family. Her father was an Englishman and her mother was most likely Anglo-Indian. Her racist Gone with the Wind fans often try to explain away her mother’s exotic surname with another story unsupported by any evidence that Gertrude was adopted by a man named Yackjee. Funny thing that even Gertrude Yackjee’s own sister, Mary apparently wasn’t aware of this. Hugo Vickers stated: “To this day Xan Fielding is uncertain of his grandmother (Mary Yackjee’s) origins, but he believes they might have been half-caste Parsi Indian. One of his aunts, Orlene, was very dark, and both Gertrude and Vivien had tight hair which crinkled easily. If the half-caste theory is true, it explains why so little information has been forthcoming. Both the pure Indians and the British in India looked down on the half-castes. Thus, such origins were invariably disguised. The name Yackjee was sometimes changed to Yackje [with an accent], or they used the inherited maternal name of Robinson, though this does not appear on Gertrude’s marriage certificate.”
Oh and btw, Holly, Kate Beckinsale is 1/5 Chinese.
Vivien is part Armenian, and Kate Beckinsale is 1/8 Burmese. Please get your information right before stating it.
1/5? Really . . .