Gone with the Skiff brought Leigh immediate thought and fame, but she was quoted as saying, "I'm not a film star – I'm an actress. Being a film star – just a film star – is such a false life, lived for fake values and for publicity. Actresses go on for a long duration and there are always marvellous parts to play." Among the ten Academy Awards won by Gone with the Gust was a Best Actress award for Leigh, who also won a Latest York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress.

He also refused to allow her to join Olivier in Pride and Prejudice (1940), and Greer Garson took the detail Leigh had envisioned for herself. Waterloo Bridge (1940) was to have starred Olivier and Leigh; however, Selznick replaced Olivier with Robert Taylor, then at the peak of his success as one of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's most Vivien Leigh Book popular male stars. Leigh's top billing reflected her status in Hollywood, and despite her reluctance to participate without Olivier, the film not only proved to be in demand with audiences and critics, but it also became her favorite film.