Description

A sweeping and heartbreaking Hollywood biography about the passionate, turbulent marriage of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh.

A New York Times bestseller

As seen in the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday

In 1934, a friend brought fledgling actress Vivien Leigh to see Theatre Royal, where she would first lay eyes on Laurence Olivier in his brilliant performance as Anthony Cavendish. That night, she confided to a friend, he was the man she was going to marry. There was just one problem: she was already married-and so was he.

TRULY, MADLY is the biography of a marriage, a love affair that still captivates millions, even decades after both actors’ deaths. Vivien and Larry were two of the first truly global celebrities – their fame fueled by the explosive growth of tabloids and television, which helped and hurt them in equal measure. They seemed to have it all and yet, in their own minds, they were doomed, blighted by her long-undiagnosed mental-illness, which transformed their relationship from the stuff of dreams into a living nightmare.

Through new research, including exclusive access to previously unpublished correspondence and interviews with their friends and family, author Stephen Galloway takes readers on a bewitching journey. He brilliantly studies their tempestuous liaison, one that took place against the backdrop of two world wars, the Golden Age of Hollywood and the upheavals of the 1960s – as they struggled with love, loss and the ultimate agony of their parting.

Publisher Review

[A] richly detailed account of the fiery ascent and demise of one of Hollywood's most glamorous couples. . . This page-turning biography is one to get swept up in. * Publishers Weekly * [A] dishy narrative about the tumultuous marriage of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. . . A good choice for lovers of theater and cinema-and for those who live for the drama. * Kirkus Reviews * This is a wonderful read with elegant prose and eloquent dish. Stephen Galloway has for many years been one of the foremost chroniclers of the American film industry. Here, he draws back the curtain on the passionate, complicated relationship between two of its most beloved stars, Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh, a dream pairing that turned into a nightmare. * William Friedkin, Oscar-winning director of The French Connection and The Exorcist *