 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 <unk> , she told Olivier that she was in love with Finch , and had been having an affair with him ; 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 " , and in his diary , Coward expressed the view that " things had been bad and getting worse since 1948 or <unk> . " 
