Inside Laurence Olivier’s 3 marriages to major UK actresses

Laurence Olivier is one of the UK’s most famous actors, with the star being credited in over 50 films and dominating the West End during the mid-20th century, alongside contemporaries like John Gielgud, Michael Redgrave and Ralph Richardson.

The late actor made his film debut all the way back in 1930, appearing in Too Many Crooks, but he soon landed major roles, including as Heathcliff in 1939’s Wuthering Heights, Horatio Nelson in That Hamilton Woman and Van Helsing in 1979’s Dracula.

However, away from the stage and screen, the legendary actor was married three times, and on each occasion, it was to a major leading lady in the entertainment world. Laurence was first married to Jill Esmond, before getting married to Vivien Leigh, and finally settling down with Joan Plowright.

During his life, the Oscar-winning star, who died at the age of 82 in 1989, welcomed four children, and some of them have picked up roles in shows like EastEnders, Doctors and Casualty.

Scroll down for all you need to know about the loves of Sir Laurence’s life…

Jill Esmond

Laurence and Jill married in 1930, the same year that Laurence made his film debut. The couple first met in 1928 during a production of Bird in the Hand, and Laurence was so smitten that he proposed to the actress after just three weeks.

The couple ended up separated in 1929 when Bird in the Hand transferred to Broadway, and while Jill was selected to be part of the cast, Laurence wasn’t. However, when the star got the chance to star in a Broadway play later that year, he seized the opportunity, later recounting: “I managed to find a chance to play in New York and I jumped at it. The show, Murder On The Second Floor, only lasted five weeks. But I got to see Jill.”

The couple chose an engagement ring at Tiffany’s before finally marrying on 25 July 1930. However, reportedly just weeks after their nuptials, the couple came to regret their decision. Laurence wrote that the decision was a “crass mistake” and that he “insisted on getting married from a pathetic mixture of religious and animal prompting”.

Despite this, the pair remained married for ten years and even acted opposite one another in plays like Private Lives and The Green Bay Tree.

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Laurence’s eyes eventually strayed and he became enamoured with Hollywood star Vivien Leigh, embarking on an affair with the actress. The actor would later reflect: “I couldn’t help myself with Vivien. No man could. I hated myself for cheating on Jill, but then I had cheated before, but this was something different. This wasn’t just out of lust. This was love that I really didn’t ask for but was drawn into.”

Laurence and Jill, who welcomed a son named Tarquin in 1936, would divorce in 1940. Despite their split, the pair remained close and Laurence continued to pay alimony to Jill until his death. Speaking about Laurence in a letter to Tarquin, Jill wrote: “It’s funny after all that time how I can still love him so much.”

Jill died at the age of 82 on 28 July 1990.

Vivien Leigh

Vivien first met Laurence in 1935 after being introduced to him in a restaurant, but when the pair appeared as lovers in Fire Over England in 1937, they started an affair. At the time, due to their respective marriages, the pair had to keep their new relationship out of the public eye.

After they obtained divorces from their respective partners, Laurence and Vivien married just months later, on 31 August 1940. In 1945, she sadly had a miscarriage, and Laurence later figured out that the actress was suffering from manic depression, which would leave her with no memory of her breakdowns.

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Laurence would later write of her mental state: “Throughout her possession by that uncannily evil monster, manic depression, with its deadly ever-tightening spirals, she retained her own individual canniness – an ability to disguise her true mental condition from almost all except me, for whom she could hardly be expected to take the trouble.”

During their relationship, Vivien had two affairs, one with Australian actor Peter Finch and a second with actor John Merivale, who personally assured Laurence that he would be able to look after her. Laurence and Vivien divorced in 1960.

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Sadly, Vivien would die seven years later, at the age of 53, after suffering from tuberculosis. Her body was discovered by John, and he soon contacted Laurence. Writing in his autobiography, Confessions of an Actor, Laurence said that he “stood and prayed for forgiveness for all the evils that had sprung up between us”.

Joan Plowright

Laurence’s third marriage took place in 1961 to actress Joan Plowright, who was 22 years his junior. The pair had met while performing in The Entertainer, and during their relationship, they welcomed three children, Richard, Tamsin and Julie, who have gone on to work in theatre and television.

The actress previously said of her husband: “[Laurence] would talk about his life — that he was at a crossroads, that life had become horrendous for him and he had to make a break. He wanted a family life, a life of substance, not living out of a trunk and glitzy parties.”

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In 2001, she told The Guardian: “Our commitment was total. I loved him so much I would have died for him but there were times when I didn’t know how to live with him.”

Joan and Laurence remained together until Laurence’s death at the age of 82 in 1989, after years of declining health. Joan remained single for the rest of her life, and she died at the age of 95 on 16 January 2025.