Dark Star

A Biography of Vivien Leigh

By: Alan Strachan

Narrated by: Alasdair Buchan

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.

©2020 Alan Strachan (P)2020 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

The difficulty she had balancing her gift with her romance and bipolar disease

The book was well researched but the reader did not do it justice with his flippant tone.

Really good and restrained…

What a life Vivian led! A fuller picture of her as a woman, a wife, and a mental-health survivor. This is relatively lean on basking in the glow of her legacy performances. I wouldn’t have minded a little more indulgence here, But I respect the restraint and the research. Well-written.

Fascinating, complex, and well written biography of a great star

An incredible biography of an incredible star. Although dark at times, as the title warns, the story benefits from Strachan’s nuanced understanding of the ups and downs of Leigh’s career and condition, providing a complex and balanced depiction of her that feels fair to her legacy.

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.

Oddly written and painfully narrated.

I tried, I really did, but it was no use. I got as far as GWTW before I called it quits. The narrator is wrong for the story and makes it difficult from the start. I actually had to listen to the book on.08 to get any sense of the storyline.

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.

great biography of a great star!

loved it, although I wish the reader would've done some research on how people's names are pronounced.