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
O.O All because she was born in India dosen’t make her ethnically Indian. Most Americans don’t have Native in them. She looks Irish/English exactly.
Vivien Leigh was definitely anglo Indian… Her mothers sirname Yackjee is under no dispute whatsoever, except from those people that wish to spread racially biased misinformation… The name “Yackjee” has been anglicized by British / Americans from its original version… and it originates from the Laskar tribe situated between the present day states of Assam & Bengal… which is in existance even today…
Vivien’s mother had absolutely no lineage of european ancestry… she was just a convert to Christianity – what with all the Anglo Saxon missionaries being sent there to try and convert the local population. It is very common to find numerous Indians & Anglo Indians with completely Christian names even today, so trying to incinuate that her mother’s name “Gertrude Robinson” makes her partially Irish etc. is totally baseless fallacy… The house in Darjeeling which Vivien Leigh was born has been turned into a small museum dedicated to the star… and there you will find photographs of her parents too – and her mother, dressed in traditional attire clearly looks Indian…
Firstly there were no Irish people in the far eastern states of colonial India… even the British presence in the region was extremely limited… mainly comprising of army personnel (excluding their families) … And it is a well known fact that the British servicemen used to engage is romantic liaisons with the local female populous… producing an entire generation of anglo Indians that live there even to this day…
Vivien Leigh has got to be one of the most incredibly beautiful women that ever graced the silver-screen. I agree there’s a possibility that she had Indian ancestry on her mothers side as her mothers family tree is quite obscure & Vivien was born in India where many British people intermarried with the Indian population, but she’s definitely half English from her fathers side who was born in Yorkshire. I could actually believe that Vivien has Irish ancestry from her mothers side as Vivien has the really dark hair, pale white skin & blue/green eyes that is very common with Irish people. I think it’s safe to say Vivien Leigh is white, I mean you really couldn’t get much paler than her, but she may have had distant Indian ancestry. Another Anglo-Indian film star Merle Oberon, who was part Indian & looked much more Indian to me than Vivien Leigh ever did.
There are Anglo-Indians in India who swear her mother was mixed, and you can’t always go by looks, @Patty. There are some half Indians out there with blonde hair and light eyes and you’d never know. (Karan Kapoor, Nikki Bedi, Sabine Singh.)
HOWEVER, there is no real evidence, plausible or otherwise, that Vivien Leigh was part Indian. It is what it is, a RUMOR, and very likely a false one. The mystery on her mothers surname (Yackjee) has also been linked to her having adopted the name, as well is it being a shortened form of something Armenian. We don’t know, and we probably never will. But if this is going be seen as legitimate and trustworthy, I’d take off that she was part Indian as there is NO EVIDENCE to support this.
I understand some details of her ancestry might be obscure, but it’s better to go with what is known for sure, and not delve into rumors unless there is a real source.
The moderator is notorious for posting rumors under celebrities’ ethnicity. It bothers me because it seems to be some sort of tactic of race baiting.
There is no proof that she is part Indian. She is 100% Anglo-Irish. Her black hair is deceiving. But plenty of people in Ireland and England have black hair. Please get over yourselves and stop being delusional. Pay attention to the facts and not the anecdotal evidence you want to believe in.