Damn You, Scarlett O'Hara: The Private Lives of Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier

by Darwin Porter, Roy Moseley

Overview

The tempestuous, scandalous love affair of the 20th century's Romeo and Juliet was second in fame and notoriety only to that of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and by many accounts, even more corrupt. Even though the spotlight shone on this famous pair throughout most of their tabloid-fueled careers, much of what went on behind the velvet curtain remained hidden from view until the publication of this ground-breaking biography. For the first time, the sexual excesses and interpersonal anguish of this impossibly famous team of actors are exposed in graphic, sometimes wrenching detail.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781936003167
Publisher:	Blood Moon Productions
Publication date:	02/16/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	708
Sales rank:	945,794
File size:	14 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Darwin Porter has been fascinated by the Oliviers since his early 20s, when he first began collecting facts and anecdotes during his tenure as an entertainment columnist and bureau chief for Knight Newspapers and The Miami Herald. Darwin sustained a 30-year writing partnership with Stanley Haggart, a Hollywood and London West End insider. Haggart was a companion of the famous British director, Peter Glenville, one of Larry Olivier’s lovers and role models, and one of the hundreds of witnesses whose observations contributed to the percolating stewpot of insights into the motivations of Olivier and Leigh. “Everyone who knew them,” according to Darwin, “had anecdotes and points of view about the Oliviers. The challenge involved compiling them into a coherent overview of their personal histories and what made them tick.” Today, Darwin is one of the most prolific biographers in the world. His portraits of Paul Newman, Howard Hughes, Merv Griffin, Steve McQueen, Marlon Brando, Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, and Michael Jackson have generated widespread reviews and animated radio and blogsite commentaries worldwide. Some of his biographies have been serialized to millions of readers in The Sunday Times of London and The Mail on Sunday. He’s also the co-author, with Danforth Prince, of Blood Moon’s Babylon Series, Volumes One and Two, with others scheduled for release soon. Darwin is also the well-known author of many past and present editions of The Frommer Guides (including the series’ guides to London, England, Scotland, and Wales), a respected travel guidebook series presently administered by John Wiley & Sons Publishers. When he’s not traveling, Darwin lives with a menagerie of once-abandoned pets in a Victorian house in one of the outer boroughs of New York City.

Known in theatrical and film circles in both Hollywood and London, Roy Moseley is a distinguished biographer, having collaborated on best-selling books about Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, Merle Oberon, and Cary Grant. He also wrote the first major biography ever published of Sir Rex Harrison, and an intimate memoir of his intimate, decades-long association with Bette Davis. For years, he was a close friend and confidant of Lord and Lady Olivier, sharing their secrets, tragedies, and triumphs. Much of the heretofore unpublished information he learned over his decades within their orbit is shared in this biography of the legendary pair, whose glamour and talent stunned the world. An internationally recognized movie, television, and theater journalist, Roy has also known some of the major figures associated with the Oliviers, including Sir Noël Coward, Sir John Gielgud, and dozens of other luminaries of London’s West End and the Hollywood Hills. Today, Roy lives and works in Los Angeles.

Editorial Reviews

"The biography, Damn You, Scarlett O'Hara, is the first to identify Leigh's lesbian lovers...One of her first bisexual lovers to be named in the book is Isabel Jeans, an actress who...had appeared in early films by Alfred Hitchcock.There are at least two other lesbian relationships outlined in the book, as well as affairs with a host of dashing leading men, including Marlon Brando and Rex Harrison." — The Sunday Times

From the Publisher