Olivier

I'm a college junior who was introduced to Olivier in a Shakespeare on Film class. After reading Confessions of an Actor and his autobiography, I was disappointed and bored to tears. Luckily I found this book on the library shelf. It is slow paced, incredibly interesting, and well researched to say the least. I wish I had read this book first. I think it would have helped me decipher to secret crypto Olivier used in his own books to "edit out" the less glittery (or more glittery?) parts of his life (like his homosexual relationships and several other things). If you are new to Olivier fandom, this is the best place to start.

Sir Laurence Olivier (1907-1989) is arguably the greatest English speaking actor of the twentieth century. Among his immortal Shakespearean portayals on stage and screen are: Hamlet; King Lear; Richard III; Romeo: Macbeth and all the major Shakespearean roles; several great films such as Rebecca, Pride and Prejudice; Wuthering Heights Henry V and Richard III. He wed three times: (all were actresses) Jill Esmond; the troubled but brilliant Vivian Leigh (the immortal Scarlet O'Hara in Gone With the Wind and Blanch Dubois in Tennessee Williams' classic "A Streetcar Named Desire"). and Joan Plowright. Terry Coleman is a veteran British reporter and author. He has been designated by the Olivier family as the official biographer. He portrays Sir Larry warts and all! Olivier was egocentric, high living and often profane. His tempestuous marriage to the mentally ill Vivian Leigh is one of the classic love tales of the acting world. Coleman gives us all the facts of Olivier's life but the reader still feels that Olivier was an enigma to himself and to the millions enthralled by his acting. Like most human beings he could be warm and caring and also aloof and cruel. His philandering is less than commendable. He comes across as a fairly shallow fellow concerned with his own glory and career. His directorship of the National Theatre was difficult and cost him his health. Olivier is to be commended about the way he worked in films during his last years to enable his wife Joan Plowright and children to have financial security following his death. Sir Larry along with Sir Ralph Richardson and Sir John Gieguld were the greatest thespians on the stage during their lives. Olivier was more of a natural actor and was an athletic and powerful force of nature. All in all we shall not see his like again. Olivier was a high Tory who was conservative in his belief although his religous commitment seems weak (his father with whom he did not get along was an Anglican clergyman) This is the one book on Laurence Olivier you want to read to know the story of a great actor! Well recommended!

This is a memorable rendering of the life of a great, and complicated actor. Read it along with a biography of Vivien Leigh, and you have a great story.

In the 1950s, other girls had crushes on Tab Hunter, Troy Donahue and James Dean. My crush was Laurence Olivier --- maybe it was because my father taught Shakespeare, but really I think it was his beautiful voice, sensitive mouth, brooding Heathcliffian eyes...you get the picture. I kept a scrapbook; I even wrote to him, and he replied --- well, sort of: a blue aerogramme thanking me for my kind letter and signed "L. Olivier." I wish I still had it. So you can see that I was disposed to be fascinated by OLIVIER, the new biography by journalist Terry Coleman. Actually, this is the first and only biography to be sanctioned by Sir Laurence's widow, actress Joan Plowright, and the Olivier estate. The advantage of "official" works, of course, is that the author gets access to all sorts of formerly unavailable personal papers. The downside is that he tends to be weighed down by the need to document endlessly, explain copiously, and set the record straight. This is not a fast-moving book. But it is a compelling and sometimes touching one that lets us glimpse the private side of an honest-to-God genius. The view isn't always edifying. Olivier is revealed as self-absorbed, vulnerable, flirtatious, excessive, sometimes embarrassingly silly (in his letters to Vivien Leigh, his second wife and grand passion) and surprisingly shrewd about business (I remember being a bit shocked when Sir Laurence did American TV ads for Polaroid, but it turns out that years earlier he had made a deal for the production of Olivier cigarettes, giving him a lot of free smokes and a hefty percentage of the take). A self-described "liar," he isn't the easiest subject for a biographer to decipher, though Coleman does his best to sort out the facts from the embroidery. Olivier could also be generous and devoted: The sad story of his deteriorating relationship to the mentally unstable Leigh (she was a victim of bipolar, also known as "manic," depression) often shows him to be remarkably forbearing. The demise of the marriage took years; it's not clear why --- loyalty, public relations? --- but the circumstances were not made public at the time. I remember being distressed by the breakup and blaming him (he had already moved on to Plowright), but the truth is, Leigh had affairs as well (a long one with actor Peter Finch) and they seem to have inflicted equal-opportunity suffering. The issue of sexuality is a principal one for Coleman. A less respectful 1991 Olivier biography by Donald Spoto got a lot of play for its "revelation" that the actor was bisexual and had a long relationship with comedian Danny Kaye. In a seven-page Author's Note, Coleman acknowledges the probability of a fleeting early affair with a man (not Kaye) and observes that Olivier's on-stage, on-screen appeal had an element of androgyny, but he devotes most of the space to emphatic denials of Spoto's assertions. Indeed, Olivier's bedroom prowess (extensive, on the evidence; he was unfaithful to all three wives)

Laurence Olivier would be a finalist in anyone's listing of the Greatest-Actor-of-All-Time category. He was nominated for 13 Oscars as director/producer/actor. He would receive two honorary Oscars to go with his two wins as the producer/actor for "Hamlet" (1948). Certainly Mr. Olivier was driven to become the Greatest Actor of his generation and such drive made him a genius in his chosen profession. However his personal life was a disaster and would not win him any accolades as Father/Husband of the year. Mr. Coleman had access to the private papers of Mr. Olivier and has created a thorough, if not a bit dense, biography of his life. In 500+ pages of text and appendences (plus nearly 100 pages of notes), he chronicles his times & times, his brilliance and his flaws (neglectful as a parent and a womanizer). This is a very readable account of a creative actor who lived for his craft, whether it was on the stage, on film or in televison. After finishing this book, the reader is encouraged to view his films, especially "Richard III" and "King Lear."