Vivien Leigh: an intimate portrait

390 Pages·2013·20.77 MB·English

by  Kendra Bean

VIVIEN
LEIGH
AN INTIMATE PORTRAIT

© 2013 by Kendra Bean Published by Running Press, A Member of the Perseus Books Group All rights
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FOR MOM, DAD, AND DEREK

CONTENTS
Foreword by Claire Bloom
Introduction
Chapter 1: Fame in a Night
Chapter 2: Scarlett
Chapter 3: The War Years
Chapter 4: Theater Royalty
Chapter 5: Streetcar
Chapter 6: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
Chapter 7: The End of the Affair
Chapter 8: Twilight
Epilogue: Legacy
Chronology of Films
Chronology of Plays
Bibliography
Chapter Notes
Photo Credits
Index
Acknowledgments
FOREWORD BY CLAIRE BLOOM
I hold in my hand an antique enameled box, decorated with roses both inside and
out. Fragile and exquisite, it was a gift to me from Vivien Leigh. I treasure it.
Vivien chose her gifts with great care throughout the year, saving them for some
special occasion and for the perfect recipient.
We met when performing together on the London stage in Duel of Angels,
written by Jean Giraudoux. I was Lucrece, the sacrificial victim, dressed in
white. Vivien, dressed in red, was the dangerous and destructive Paola. This, the
late ’50s, was still the time of stylish theater, when leading ladies were expected
to be both beautiful and beautifully dressed on and off the stage. Christian Dior
designed our dresses. Vivien’s beauty was like that of a Siamese cat, her eyes the
same extraordinary shade of blue, her light movements almost feline in their
grace. Her frame was so minute that when, in the course of the play, I put my
arm around her shoulder, I felt I was embracing an exotic and fragile bird. And