While Leigh made Streetcar in 1951 , Olivier joined her in Hollywood to film Carrie , based on the controversial novel Sister Carrie ; although the film was plagued by troubles , Olivier received warm reviews and a BAFTA nomination . 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 . " After a holiday with Coward in Jamaica , she seemed to have recovered , but Olivier later recorded , " I am sure that ... [ 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 . 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 . "