Editing Laurence Olivier (section)

===1951–1954: Independent work===
While Leigh made ''Streetcar'' in 1951, Olivier joined her in Hollywood to film ''[[Carrie (1952 film)|Carrie]]'', based on the controversial novel ''[[Sister Carrie]]''; although the film was plagued by troubles, Olivier received warm reviews and a [[BAFTA]] nomination.<ref name="TCM: Carrie"/> Olivier began to notice a change in Leigh's behaviour, and he later recounted that "I would find Vivien sitting on the corner of the bed, wringing her hands and sobbing, in a state of grave distress; I would naturally try desperately to give her some comfort, but for some time she would be inconsolable."{{sfn|Olivier|1994|p=184}} After a holiday with Coward in Jamaica, she seemed to have recovered, but Olivier later recorded, "I am sure that&nbsp;... [the doctors] must have taken some pains to tell me what was wrong with my wife; that her disease was called manic depression and what that meant—a possibly permanent cyclical to-and-fro between the depths of depression and wild, uncontrollable mania.{{sfn|Coleman|2006|p=246}} He also recounted the years of problems he had experienced because of Leigh's illness, writing, "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."{{sfn|Olivier|1994|p=185}}

In January 1953 Leigh travelled to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) to film ''[[Elephant Walk]]'' with Peter Finch. Shortly after filming started she suffered a breakdown, and returned to Britain where, between periods of incoherence, she told Olivier that she was in love with Finch, and had been having an affair with him;{{sfn|Capua|2003|pp=128–129}} she gradually recovered over a period of several months. As a result of the breakdown, many of the Oliviers' friends learned of her problems. Niven said she had been "quite, quite mad",{{sfn|Coleman|2006|pp=254–263}} and in his diary, Coward expressed the view that "things had been bad and getting worse since 1948 or thereabouts."{{sfn|Coward|1983|p=211}}

For the [[Coronation of Elizabeth II|Coronation]] season of 1953, Olivier and Leigh starred in the West End in [[Terence Rattigan]]'s [[Ruritania]]n comedy, ''[[The Sleeping Prince (play)|The Sleeping Prince]]''. It ran for eight months{{sfn|Darlington|1968|p=79}} but was widely regarded as a minor contribution to the season, in which other productions included Gielgud in ''[[Venice Preserv'd]]'', Coward in ''[[The Apple Cart]]'' and Ashcroft and Redgrave in ''Antony and Cleopatra''.{{sfn|Holden|1988|pp=279–280}}<ref name="times-coronation-season"/>

Olivier directed his third Shakespeare film in September 1954, ''Richard III'' (1955), which he co-produced with Korda. The presence of four theatrical knights in the one film—Olivier was joined by [[Cedric Hardwicke]], Gielgud and Richardson—led an American reviewer to dub it "An-All-Sir-Cast".<ref name="crowdus"/> The critic for ''The Manchester Guardian'' described the film as a "bold and successful achievement",<ref name="Guard: Richard"/>{{sfn|Coleman|2006|pp=265–266}} but it was not a box-office success, which accounted for Olivier's subsequent failure to raise the funds for a [[Macbeth (unfinished film)|planned film]] of ''Macbeth''.<ref name="crowdus"/> He won a BAFTA award for the role and was nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award, which [[Yul Brynner]] won.<ref name="Oscar: Richard"/><ref name=BAFTA/>