Customer Reviews

Vivien Leigh

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Gone With The Wind" is my all-time favorite movie, which I've seen probably a million times now. I "blame" Vivien Leigh for the movie's success and for being so strong in my heart. Besides being the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, Vivien's acting is so wonderful, you really believe she IS Scarlett O'Hara. At least, she always will be for me. BUT, little did anyone know Ms. Leigh's hidden secret -- her mental illness, which made her success all the more enthralling. Despite bouts of "craziness" and bouts of fear so great she hid in corners, Leigh became America's sweetheart. Her portrayal of Scarlett was one of a woman you love and hate. Folks note in the biography that after Vivien got over one of her "crazy" spells, she was so kind to everyone and quick to apologize that everyone just loved her and felt the need to protect her all the more. This book is wonderful in its portrayal of mental illness while describing the star's romantic life with star Laurence Olivier -- who later leaves her because he can't handle her mental instability. This was all before medication could have brought some dignity back to this diva's life. Author Edwards sure did her homework in describing a true lady who struggled to succeed while struggling for her life.

This book has been lionized as a labor of love, and I suppose it is-- a certain fondness approaching idolatry appears in every chapter. For all that, and despite a promising first chapter where we're introduced to Vivien as she meets David Selznick at the "burning of Atlanta" and he realizes he's found his Scarlett!-- this is a dull book.

but worse than that for anyone really interested in her life, it's a book missing very important facts. That's not Edwards' fault-- of all the people she acknowledges at the end of the book, Laurence Olivier, Viv's second husband and the man who was there as her manic-depressiveness began to take over, is not listed. Olivier did not speak much about Vivien until after he'd written his won two volumes of autobiography, in the 80s. (On Acting and its companion).

So, the notorious affair with Peter Finch, for example, is not described, or worse-- described as just a mild flirtation. Far too much is missing from the biography.

Alexander Walker's book VIVIEN, published after both Olivier and Leigh were dead, is a much better choice, and its style is also far more comprehensive. Walker spends less time speculating and more time grounding his ideas with citations and sources. There's also a book coming out in the spring of 2003 which promises to be complete.

In short, this must have been a very welcome book in 1977, 10 years after Viv's death, but it's obsolete now. I gave it two stars because in its time it did represent a great deal of labor and research, and the writing style works hard (unsuccessfully, for me) to keep the reader engaged. But for anyone who really needs to research her life and the lives of the many famous people in her life, it's missing too much.