 Director George Cukor described Leigh as a " consummate actress , hampered by beauty " , and Laurence Olivier said that critics should " give her credit for being an actress and not go on forever letting their judgments be distorted by her great beauty . " Garson Kanin shared their viewpoint and described Leigh as " a stunner whose ravishing beauty often tended to obscure her staggering achievements as an actress . Great beauties are infrequently great actresses – simply because they don 't need to be . Vivien was different ; ambitious , persevering , serious , often inspired . " 
