Darlings of the Gods

The marriage of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh in 1940 was one of the great love stories of its day, with Olivier rapidly becoming the leading actor of his generation and Vivien Leigh soon to attain an international reputation in Gone With The Wind.

By the end of the Second World War the Oliviers ruled the English stage, which is where Garry O’Connor’s book begins.

In 1948, the Oliviers led an Old Vic Company tour of Australia and New Zealand. Their marriage was no longer as secure as it had once been, and by the time they reached England again, the best years were behind them.

Included in this fascinating account are anecdotes of the Oliviers’ travels working in Australasia and being entertained as celebrities.

‘I know no other biographer except Boswell who reveals so intimate and vivid a knowledge of the beliefs, doubts, certainties, strangenesses, quiddities, strengths and achievements of his subject as does O’Connor’ – Sir Harold Hobson, Sunday Times

This book was dramatized into a film in 1989 with Anthony Higgins playing Laurence Olivier and Mel Martin playing Vivian Leigh.

Garry O’Connor is a playwright, biographer and novelist whose work includes biographies of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI. He co-wrote the memoir of Sir Derek Jacobi, and his own work Chaucer’s Triumph has been both a novel and a play.

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