Vivien Leigh

Scarlett O'Hara will live as long as women dream romantic dreams. And Vivien Leigh, the young woman who won that part in the 1939 movie,"Gone With The Wind,"after a long and brilliant campaign,thereby coming to embody the dream for as long as celluloid lasts, must be considered one of the world's great beauties. Yet, as this excellent biography by Anne Edwards makes clear, Leigh's life eventually took on a darker tinge. Anyone simply enjoying her high-spirited flirtatiousness at Scarlett's Tara, or her highly-charged scenes with Clark Gable's Rhett Butler, could never imagine the ultimate sadness of her life. Like almost any other beautiful woman who's ever been queried on the subject, Leigh did not think herself beautiful. She thought her hands too big, her neck too long, her legs too fat. And though she gave the world superlative performances on stage as Ophelia and Cleopatra, and onscreen in "That Hamilton Woman," and "A Streetcar Named Desire," as well as "Gone With The Wind," she never felt herself to be a good actress. She also never thought herself worthy of Laurence Olivier, the Prince of English Players, whom she won, as lover and husband, after another long and brilliant campaign and a notorious love affair. Leigh once spent six hours in a dress-fitting session, insisting the designer hide her "too-long" neck: clearly, she thought she had to be perfect. She loved Olivier with a passionate, tremulous intensity, and felt their life together must also be perfect. If he was the Prince, then the King of Players,she must be the Queen. So she deprived herself --and us--of numerous film parts, making movies only when she needed the money. She hid her Oscar for "Gone With The Wind" until Olivier had one of his own, and so would no longer be jealous. She, in fact, stayed with him regardless, while he thought only of his career. Mind you, he repaid her love and loyalty for many years, staying with her even after her serious emotional problems became apparent. She drank too much, smoked too much, worked too hard, and slept too little. Friends and family learned to chart the terrible manic/depressive cycles. She'd fight the onset of her attacks courageously, then be overwhelmed-- scream obscenities and groundless accusations against her friends. Tear her clothes off and have to be physically restrained. She fantasized "guiltless sex" with working class men, made advances to taxi drivers and delivery men. She identified herself so strongly with Blanche du Bois, her part in "Streetcar Named Desire," that she used Blanche's dialogue as her own, without realizing it. The treatments prescribed for her illness were as terrible as the attacks; electroshock, immersion of her body in ice, then in water as hot as she could stand. However, she never lost her courage, even after Olivier left her for another woman. Her final illness left an important part open for Elizabeth Taylor in "Elephant Walk." Edwards has handled Leigh's life

"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.