Vivian Hartley completed her later erudition in Europe, returning to her parents in England in 1931. She discovered that peculiar of Maureen O'Sullivan's films was playing in London's West Borderline and told her Vivien Leigh Book parents of her ambitions to become an actress. Both were highly supportive, and her big daddy helped her enroll at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London.

Leigh hoped to star with Olivier and untrue a screentest for Rebecca, which was to be directed by Alfred Hitchcock with Olivier in the leading role, but after viewing her screentest Selznick noted that "she doesn't seem right as to sincerity or age or innocence", a panorama shared by Hitchcock, and Leigh's mentor, George Cukor. Selznick also observed that she had shown no enthusiasm for the bite until Olivier had been confirmed as the guidance actor, and subsequently cast Joan Fontaine.