
Dark Star
A Biography of Vivien Leigh
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 months free
Buy for $18.46
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Alasdair Buchan
-
By:
-
Alan Strachan
Bloomsbury presents Dark Star by Alan Strachan, read by Alasdair Buchan.
Winner of the Society for Theatre Research Book Prize 2020
Vivien Leigh was perhaps the most iconic actress of the twentieth century. As Scarlett O’Hara and Blanche Du Bois she took on some of the most pivotal roles in cinema history. Yet she was also a talented theatre actress with West End and Broadway plaudits to her name. In this ground-breaking new biography, Alan Strachan provides a completely new full-life portrait of Leigh, covering both her professional and personal life. Using previously unseen
sources from her archive, recently acquired by the V&A, he sheds new light on her fractious relationship with Laurence Olivier, based on their letters and diaries, as well as on the bipolar disorder which so affected her later life and work. Revealing new aspects of her early life as well as providing glimpses behind-the-scenes of the filming of Gone with the Wind and A Streetcar Named Desire, this book provides the essential and comprehensive life-story of one of the twentieth century’s greatest actresses.
Listeners also enjoyed...




















People who viewed this also viewed...
















The difficulty she had balancing her gift with her romance and bipolar disease
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Really good and restrained…
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It’s only drawback are portions that overfocus on Olivier, who has plenty of biographies written about him, and feel like pull away from Leigh’s story.
Fascinating, complex, and well written biography of a great star
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
As for the book, I don’t know how to describe it. The pacing is haphazard, the language is at times crude and vulgar, and there’re countless mentions of people I’ve never heard of. I think it’s mostly aimed at a British audience and that’s fine. I became distracted by having to stop and look up sometimes 3 people who appear in 1 paragraph.
I’m sure there’re many people who have and will enjoy the book. I’m simply not one of them.
Enjoy your day.
Oddly written and painfully narrated.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
She was devastated when she ruined relationships and projects due to her loss of mental stability and tuberculosis.. Still, so many friends , relatives, ex husbands and professional associates loved and admired her and saw her unique artistry. It was a fascinating listen.
So much more to this actress and kind friend
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
great biography of a great star!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Most complete fair biography.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The book's content is immaculately researched, honest yet nonjudgemental toward the wild drive it took for Vivien Leigh and Olivier to become legendary theatrical stars. Her remarkable intelligence and awareness is described in excellent depth so as to convince readers that she absorbed everything she encountered, alchemized it internally, and gave it back with love. The vast details of her choice of roles, her preparation and performances are stunning. Her gifts were eventually accelerated into bi-polar psychotic episodes, in a time when the mental disease was hardly understood for what it is- involuntary.
Treasured Listening
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in knowing about this beautiful and talented actress
L.G.
A very full and productive life.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great Story.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.