From the Publisher
Sir Laurence Olivier met everyone, knew everyone, and played every role in existence. But the century’s most accomplished actor was as elusive in life as he was on the stage.
In this enthralling biography, acclaimed biographer Terry Coleman draws for the first time on the vast archive of Olivier’s private papers and correspondence, and those of his family, finally uncovering the history and the private self that Olivier worked so masterfully all his life to obscure. For Olivier, acting and sex were inseparable: his relationships with his wives Vivien Leigh and Joan Plowright, and many others, became both a powerful inspiration and a constant torment, each feeding the other and driving Olivier to greater heights.
Here, in the first comprehensive and only authorized biography, Coleman uncovers the origins of Olivier’s genius and reveals the methods of the century’s most fascinating performer.
The New York Times -
William Grimes
Olivier was authorized by the Olivier family. Terry Coleman, a former arts correspondent for The Guardian of London, had access to previously unavailable letters, diaries and recorded interviews, and he has used them, in this lively, scrupulously researched biography, to clarify and correct numerous errors, some created by Olivier himself, and to provide a rich new account of several chapters in Olivier's life, especially his tormented relationship with Vivien Leigh.
Publishers Weekly
Sir Laurence Olivier's estate selected Coleman, a British journalist and historian (The Nelson Touch), as the actor's authorized biographer, and he makes the most of his access to the archives. Olivier (1907-1989) had a tendency to "instinctively improve the truth"-a visit from a drunken Ralph Richardson, for example, was changed in the telling to a nearly fatal brawl-but Coleman delicately peels away the embellishments. He quotes extensively from Olivier's correspondence; a few passages, such as a lengthy extract from a letter describing how he'd like to spank Vivien Leigh, feel excessive. The turbulent relationship with Leigh, which began and ended with extramarital affairs, does generate some drama, but Olivier was never really the Hollywood type. The bitter feuds he endured through his early stewardship of Britain's National Theater are more this biography's cup of tea. Coleman commendably keeps the amateur psychoanalysis that permeates most celebrity bios to a minimum. On the subject of Olivier's sexuality, he leaves no doubt the tales of heated romance with Danny Kaye in Donald Spoto's 1991 biography are bogus, conceding only the existence of one probable encounter with a British stage actor in the 1930s. With a similarly sober approach throughout, this version of Olivier's life will surely become the new standard. Photos. Agent, Peter Matson, on behalf of Michael Sissons of PFD in the U.K. (Nov.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
Celebrated stage and silver screen star Laurence Olivier is routinely ranked as one of the 20th century's greatest actors. Truly a man for all seasons, he could be credible as the ardently romantic Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights, a king in Henry V, or a washed-up vaudevillian in The Entertainer. Such a great subject demands a great book, but despite being granted wide access to materials from Olivier's estate, journalist Coleman's (The Nelson Touch) biography ranks as a disappointment. Olivier worked with a who's who of stage and screen stars, yet these personalities fail to come to life on the page. Granted, as a man who assumed many identities in his acting career, the "real" Olivier is hard to find. But Coleman's main focus is the well-plowed territory of Olivier's tempestuous love-hate relationship with Vivien Leigh, a relationship at times as intense as any Shakespearean tragedy. Olivier's own memoir, Confessions of an Actor, and Anthony Holden's solid biography, Laurence Olivier, are both o.p., but Coleman's book fails to fill this gap. Not a necessary addition for most libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 6/1/05.]-Stephen Rees, Levittown Lib., PA Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Once more unto the great actor's life, and what a slog it becomes. Selected by the estate of Laurence Olivier (1907-89) to write the authorized biography, British novelist/historian Coleman (The Nelson Touch, 2002, etc.) gained access to the performer's voluminous papers and correspondence. No previous biographer, he writes, had such access, which he uses to trace the now familiar course of Olivier's life over three marriages, six decades on stage and film and 12 strife-ridden yet satisfying years as director of Britain's National Theatre. Coleman's report is exhaustive and fastidious: Longish sections establish the exact dates when the actor said or did something, which is important enough for the record and for correcting Olivier's variously embellished versions. For all its detail, however, the biography lacks a keen perspective to raise it above the serviceable. Coleman offers little insight into Olivier's personal and professional lives, scarcely examining why he remained with Vivien Leigh long after their once passionate relationship turned destructive. He cites Othello as a pinnacle of Olivier's artistry, yet describes little more than how the actor made up for the performance. A seven-page author's note lengthily disputes claims (namely by biographer Donald Spoto) that Olivier led an actively bisexual life. Coleman attributes the one known homosexual affair to experimentation and quotes the actor's widow, Joan Plowright, offering what one hopes is the last word on the matter: "If he did, so what?"Writers, like God, dwell in details. Coleman should have remembered that He also makes judgments. Agent: Michael Sissons/PFD
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