A Biography by...
London, Hamish Hamilton, 1953
Signed by the two of the British 'greats' of the theatre. The Hollywood love story of Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier is legendary. They met after one of the actress's stage performances in 'The Mask of Virtue' in London in 1936. Olivier, 28, stopped by to congratulate the rising star, then in her early 20s, on her performance. Though Olivier was married to actress Jill Esmond at the time and Leigh was also married with a child, the pair took an immediate liking to one another.
In 1939, Olivier was filming the adaptation of Wuthering Heights, leaving Leigh behind in England, where she began to show the first signs of a lifelong mental illness, now known as Bipolar disorder. By 1949, the marriage was faultering but both continued with their careers, with Leigh cast as Blanche DuBois in a West End production of 'A Streetcar Named Desire'. It was a huge success and Leigh went on to portray DuBois in the film version. Although she received great critical acclaim for her performance, the success of the play and the film took an emotional toll on Leigh that she would later say 'tipped me over into madness.'
In 1953, Leigh suffered a nervous breakdown shortly after arriving in Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, to film Elephant Walk with English-born Australian actor Peter Finch. The actress was immediately sent back home to Britain, where she suffered a period of incoherence and confessed to her husband that she'd been having an affair with Finch. Leigh and Olivier did not give up on their marriage but continued to appear together onstage. However, their performances suffered as a result of their increasing lack of chemistry.
By 1958, having kept up appearances for nearly 10 years, Leigh considered her marriage to be over. She began seeing actor Jack Merivale, who knew of her tuberculosis and promised Olivier he would take care of her. At the same time, Olivier began an affair with actress Joan Plowright, who was 22 years his junior.
First edition; 8vo; monochrome portrait frontispiece signed by Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier, numerous monochrome plates from photographs, mild peripheral spotting to preliminary and terminal leaves, mostly to the plain endpapers; publisher's maroon cloth, slight dust-soiling, pictorial dust-jacket, chipped and creased at extremities, three short, closed tears but in the main, a rare survival.
In 1939, Olivier was filming the adaptation of Wuthering Heights, leaving Leigh behind in England, where she began to show the first signs of a lifelong mental illness, now known as Bipolar disorder. By 1949, the marriage was faultering but both continued with their careers, with Leigh cast as Blanche DuBois in a West End production of 'A Streetcar Named Desire'. It was a huge success and Leigh went on to portray DuBois in the film version. Although she received great critical acclaim for her performance, the success of the play and the film took an emotional toll on Leigh that she would later say 'tipped me over into madness.'
In 1953, Leigh suffered a nervous breakdown shortly after arriving in Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, to film Elephant Walk with English-born Australian actor Peter Finch. The actress was immediately sent back home to Britain, where she suffered a period of incoherence and confessed to her husband that she'd been having an affair with Finch. Leigh and Olivier did not give up on their marriage but continued to appear together onstage. However, their performances suffered as a result of their increasing lack of chemistry.
By 1958, having kept up appearances for nearly 10 years, Leigh considered her marriage to be over. She began seeing actor Jack Merivale, who knew of her tuberculosis and promised Olivier he would take care of her. At the same time, Olivier began an affair with actress Joan Plowright, who was 22 years his junior.
First edition; 8vo; monochrome portrait frontispiece signed by Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier, numerous monochrome plates from photographs, mild peripheral spotting to preliminary and terminal leaves, mostly to the plain endpapers; publisher's maroon cloth, slight dust-soiling, pictorial dust-jacket, chipped and creased at extremities, three short, closed tears but in the main, a rare survival.
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