This is a non-fiction book about the relationship between Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh.
Laurence Olivier was born in 1907 in Dorking where his father was a curate. Dorking is a market town in Surrey.
His father was Gerard Olivier and his mother Agnes.
His siblings were Sibille and Dickie. The book mentions that Sibille was the rebellious one. When she could, she left home, became an actress and lived in sin with an actor.
Gerard secured a post in London, and family moved to Elgin Crescent.
His mother died of a brain tumour, which was something that marked Laurence for the rest of his days.
Vivien's parents were Ernest and Gertrude Hartley, and they lived in Calcutta. Yet, they returned to England, and after leaving Vivien in the Convent of the Sacred Heart, a boarding school in Roehampton, they returned to India.
Their marriage was not a success, and Olivier had different affairs with other actresses: Greer Larson, Ann Todd or Peggy Ashcroft. Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson was a British-American actress and singer. She was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer who became popular during the Second World War for her portrayal of strong women on the homefront.
Dorothy Ann Todd (24 January 1907 – 6 May 1993) was an English film, television and stage actress who achieved international fame when she starred in The Seventh Veil (1945).
Edith Margaret Emily Ashcroft (22 December 1907 – 14 June 1991), known professionally as Peggy Ashcroft, was an English actress whose career spanned more than 60 years.
Thanks to his wife, Laurence met Noel Coward and got a part in Private Lives. Private Lives is a 1930 comedy of manners in three acts by Noël Coward. It concerns a divorced couple who, while honeymooning with their new spouses, discover that they are staying in adjacent rooms at the same hotel. After touring the British provinces, the play opened the new Phoenix Theatre in London in 1930, starring Coward, Gertrude Lawrence, Adrianne Allen and Laurence Olivier.
In 1933 Vivien gave birth to her daughter, Suzanne.
After that, Leigh returned to the Royal Academic of Dramatic Art (RADA) and she had a small part in Things Are Looking Up.
Things Are Looking Up is a 1935 British musical comedy film directed by Albert de Courville and starring Cicely Courtneidge, Max Miller and William Gargan.
She also got parts in some plays: The Green Sash. Then she got the lead in "The Mask of Virtue".
Vivien met Laurence in 1936, and there was an instant connection. She was at the Savoy Grill, dining with John Buckmaster. John Rodney Buckmaster was an English actor on the stage, in films and on television, and a cabaret singer-songwriter.
In 1935 Laurence had a part in Romeo and Juliet with John Gielgud. For the first weeks of the run Gielgud played Mercutio and Olivier played Romeo, after which they exchanged roles.
Laurence and Vivien were in the same film together when they filmed Fire Over England. Fire Over England is a 1937 film drama, notable for providing the first pairing of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh.The film is a historical drama set during the reign of Elizabeth I focusing on England's victory over the Spanish Armada.
In 1936 Jill Esmond gave birth to their son, Simon Tarquin.
Some other films that Vivien was in were Dark Journey, Storm In a Teacup, A Yank At Oxford and St Martin's Lane.
Dark Journey is a 1937 British spy film directed by Victor Saville and starring Conrad Veidt, Vivien Leigh and Joan Gardner. the film is about two secret agents on opposite sides during World War I who meet and fall in love in neutral Stockholm.
Storm in a Teacup is a 1937 British romantic comedy, starring Vivien Leigh, Rex Harrison, Cecil Parker, and Sara Allgood. A reporter writes an article that embarrasses a politician. Meanwhile, the newspaperman is also attracted to his target's daughter.
A Yank at Oxford is a 1938 comedy-drama film starring Robert Taylor, Lionel Barrymore, Maureen O'Sullivan, Vivien Leigh and Edmund Gwenn.
Sidewalks of London, also known as St Martin's Lane, is a 1938 British black-and-white comedy drama starring Charles Laughton as a busker or street entertainer who teams up with a talented pickpocket, played by Vivien Leigh.
Vivien and Laurence starred another film, 21 Days. 21 Days is a 1940 British drama film. It was directed by Basil Dean and stars Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier and Leslie Banks.
In 1937 they were in Hamlet, a production that they took to Denmark. In June 1937 the Old Vic company took up an invitation to perform Hamlet in the courtyard of the castle at Elsinore, where Shakespeare located the play. Olivier secured the casting of Leigh. Because of torrential rain the performance had to be moved from the castle courtyard to the ballroom of a local hotel.
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