Truly, Madly: Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier, and the Romance of the Century

by Stephen Galloway

Overview

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST

A New York Times Bestseller

"A "well rounded and entertaining" (New York Times) Hollywood biography about the passionate, turbulent marriage of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh.

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Through new research, including exclusive access to previously unpublished correspondence and interviews with their friends and family, author Stephen Galloway takes readers on a bewitching journey.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.


 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538731970
Publisher:	Grand Central Publishing
Publication date:	03/22/2022
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	63,779
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Stephen Galloway is the dean of Chapman University's Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. Prior to joining Chapman in 2020, he was for many years the executive editor of The Hollywood Reporter.

Editorial Reviews

01/17/2022

Galloway (Leading Lady), former executive editor of the Hollywood Reporter, offers a richly detailed account of the fiery ascent and demise of one of Hollywood’s most glamorous couples. While starring in 1937’s Fire over England, Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier—both married at the time—became enmeshed in a passionate affair. “Each moment they weren’t working,” Galloway writes, “they would sneak off, find a private space where they could talk, laugh and touch.” After a break from filming 21 Days, the two ran away together and, a few years later, married in 1940. Weaving in uncovered correspondence and interviews with family and friends, Galloway delivers a taut narrative, charting the couple’s rise to stardom on stage and screen—notably Leigh’s performance as Scarlett O’Hara in 1939’s Gone with the Wind and Olivier’s starring role in 1944’s Henry V. But as the author unveils, Leigh’s shifting moods and, later, manic episodes and depression became the “slow drip of pain” that eventually led to the couple’s divorce in 1960. Galloway’s reporting is immersive and intimate, and studded with vivid recollections—including one from actor Hayley Mills of a “dressed-up evening” the couple hosted where guests were “stark naked, except wearing a tie.” It’s a riveting story brought to life by the outsized passion that entangled them and later tore them apart. This page-turning biography is one to get swept up in. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

01/01/2022

Galloway (dean, Dodge Coll. of Film and Media Arts, Chapman Univ.; Leading Lady: Sherry Lansing and the Making of a Hollywood Groundbreaker) painstakingly dissects the complicated relationship between two of the most famous actors to tread the boards and shine on screen—Sir Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. After falling in love while married to others, Olivier and Leigh became one of the first headline-making celebrity couples, whose passion and tempers provided almost daily fodder for gossip reporters. Galloway's extensive research reveals the many hurdles the couple faced—mounting financial problems, miscarriages, affairs, and Leigh's many health issues, from tuberculosis to undiagnosed bipolar disorder—and offers behind-the-scenes accounts from both their greatest successes (Gone with the Wind; Wuthering Heights) and their worst performances (their stage version of Romeo and Juliet was such a flop that audiences demanded their money back, and Leigh and Olivier lost their life savings, which they had invested into the production). While the focus is on Olivier and Leigh's relationship, Galloway also offers a riveting depiction of the First and Second World Wars and show business in the U.S. and the UK. VERDICT Will greatly appeal to cinema buffs, theater aficionados, and fans of the doomed lovebirds.—Lisa Henry

Library Journal

2021-12-24
The sweeping story of a relationship between two Hollywood legends.

Galloway, the former executive editor of the Hollywood Reporter, braids political, personal, and cinematic history in this dishy narrative about the tumultuous marriage of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. While this relationship has been written about countless times, the author endeavors to make this account more nuanced, using the prism of our modern understanding of mental health to address the problems Leigh battled throughout her life. To that end, we get a slightly more sympathetic view of the actor. As a child, she was sent from her birthplace in Darjeeling, India, to boarding school in England. An unrequited hunger for love and kindness is the throughline of Galloway’s depiction. She was lonely, frightened, and never appeared to fully recover from feelings of abandonment caused by her parents sending her away. These characteristics are easily identified now as obvious contributors to Leigh’s mental health struggles; during her lifetime, not so much. While readers now might relate to Leigh, it’s clear that during her marriage to Olivier, onlookers, as well as “Larry” himself, were inclined to believe she was at best mercurial and at worst crazy, while the husband was long-suffering. Galloway excels at detailing the couple's world, complete with cameos by Marilyn Monroe, Arthur Miller, Katharine Hepburn, and Warren Beatty. We also see how World War II and Hollywood politics impacted the pair’s destiny. Leigh comes across at times as strong, smart, and scathing; at others, desperate and brittle, as she endured numerous rounds of electroshock therapy in hopes of changing enough to keep Olivier’s love. Olivier, for his part, eventually gave up on his “Vivling” and made it about him. The first two-thirds of the book race by in full Technicolor, while the last third is thinner, reading more like an IMDB page or an obituary, which it eventually becomes for Galloway’s two tragic and beautiful subjects.

A good choice for lovers of theater and cinema—and for those who live for the drama.

Kirkus Reviews

"[W]ell rounded and entertaining. . . To the couple’s tale of passion [Stephen Galloway] adds compassion, along with the requisite lashings of gossip. . . Galloway splices this material seamlessly with old interviews and enough new ones with those Of That Era, such as Korda and Hayley Mills, to inject some pep and freshness."—New York Times

"Galloway, the former executive editor of the Hollywood Reporter, lifts himself clear of previous chronicles, including Olivier’s own self-lacerating memoirs, by supplementing firsthand accounts with retrospective diagnoses by experts like Kay Redfield Jamison and by tracing a genetic link to Leigh’s great-uncle, housed in a Kolkata asylum for much the same symptoms. More lucidly than ever, we can see how, in the grip of her own brain chemistry, Leigh quite literally lost her mind."

—The Washington Post

"Between the tabloid intrigue and the Shakespearean end is a compelling portrait of two people trying their best."—Vanity Fair

"[Truly, Madly] is very much Leigh’s story, told most poignantly as the book narrows its scope to chronicle her decline. . . Galloway juggles the complex story energetically. He’s at his best when he takes a forensic approach to the relationship and to Leigh’s struggles."—USA Today

"Gripping."—Wall Street Journal

 “In this deeply researched dual biography, Stephen Galloway uncovers the story of how the two stars–among the most famous in the world in their time—came together, captivated the world, and were ultimately torn apart. It's a fascinating look at the dueling powers of dizzying fame and true love.”—Town & Country

"[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

"[Truly, Madly] will greatly appeal to cinema buffs, theater aficionados, and fans of the doomed lovebirds."—Library Journal

"A haunting, irresistible read."—People Magazine

"Galloway traces the legends’ epic 20- year love story from its smoldering start to its bittersweet finish."—Closer

“Stephen Galloway’s irresistible narrative begins with a brazen act of incendiary passion between two of the world’s most brilliant actors. But their love story turns self-destructive, faithless, and vengeful as Leigh descends into a madness that Olivier is powerless to prevent. As they turn on each other, Galloway captures with clear-eyed compassion all of the anguish of two beautiful people stripped of hope and pretense.”—GLENN FRANKEL, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of Shooting Midnight Cowboy: Art, Sex, Loneliness, Liberation, and the Making of a Dark Classic

“A  juicy show-business story like this demands a skilled storyteller and scrupulous researcher. Stephen Galloway is both of those things, which is why his book is so valuable.”—LEONARD MALTIN, film critic and historian, author of Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide

“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

“One of the classic real-life movie star love stories, deeply romantic and inescapably tragic, is brought to vivid life in Stephen Galloway’s engrossing book. Thoroughly researched and engagingly written, it pulls us into the maelstrom and shows us the truth.”—KENNETH TURAN, NPR film critic

“Galloway is a gifted storyteller, whose eye for the tiny details that reveal raw human emotion and struggle is extraordinary.”—JANICE MIN, Contributing Editor, TIME

"[S]teamy and spellbinding. . . Truly, Madly is full of dish, glam and eccentricities. . . [A] fab read. Warning: have a handkerchief in hand."

 —Los Angeles Blade

From the Publisher