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.
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 – 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
Vivien Leigh isn’t of Indian ancestry …
Not that beauty pagents are anything to go on but Indian and Venzuelian girls have won the most titles to Miss World and Miss Universe so every nationalty had an equal chance to win but these two came out top .
To add to the list of Vivien Leigh and Merle Oberon today you have ex Miss Ireland -Andrea Roche who has an Indian mother.Rhona Mitra has an Irish mother and father of Indian background.Christine Bleakley has an Irish father and mother of Indian background.
Saira Mohan a model of Irish French mother and Indan Punjabi father won the title of “Most Perfect Face ” attributed to her by fashion critics as it was the most cosmopolitian.
ps-I think old Patty has to thumbing down to do !
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0643353/bio
Mini Biography
Merle Oberon was born in Bombay, of mixed Welsh-Indian parentage, as Estelle “Queenie” Thompson. According to Michael Korda, she “became a feature of Bombay nightlife while still in her early teens and eventually made her way to England.
….another link for the jealous white woman to thumb down…………. !
http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/485559/index.html
Merle Oberon had an Indian mother and white father and its well know.
A sad racist hanging round here throwing a tantrum.thats the kind of sick person Merle Oberon had to contend with.
Merle Oberon was another with a Indian contribution.
About 50% in this case.
Both Oberon’s mother and Leigh’s mother were the Indian side.
Merle Oberon–another white woman born in India.
Neither Merle nor Vivien looked slightly Indian. Because they weren’t.
I agree, I don’t really believe Vivien was of Indian/South Asian descent, but there’s plenty of evidence Merle Oberon was starting with the fact that her niece Shelley Conn has confirmed it. It’s all the more apparent in her features and this picture with Rosalind Russell and Greer Garson, and the fact that she tried to hide her mother. http://www.imdb.com/media/rm4135884800/nm0643353