Light of a Star: The Career of Vivien Leigh

by Gwen Robyns

Light of a star

255 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1970

Reviews

[James]

After reading “Light of a Star,” I learned quite a lot about Vivien Leigh, an actress whom I always loved. She didn’t make many films but I’ve seen them all. It wasn’t “Gone With the Wind” or “Streetcar” that introduced me to her, but her last film, Ship of Fools, which I saw at the tender age of 14. This was a quick & easy read. It was written as loving tribute to the actress but for most of the time there was too much fawning over her. At times it read like a cheesy Hollywood gossip column. I also found it annoying that the author constantly used her & Olivier’s full names throughout the book to depict anything they said or did, lest you forget that the Vivien of which she was speaking was indeed, Miss Leigh. The other issue I had is when the author begins to tell of Miss Leigh’s manic depressive episodes about three quarters of the way through, she does so in a way that depicts these episodes as having gone on for years, yet the previous chapters give no account of such episodes. It’s as though she suddenly decided it was time to cover the psychological aspects of her life. Most of us know she suffered from mental illness, but it would have been nice had the author given us a more gradual segue into these events rather springing them on us all at once. In my opinion, it detracted from the credibility of this narrative. I own another Vivien Leigh biography which I hope will be more enjoyable than this one.

[Mick Meyers]

An innocent biography on the actress.it could be said that it was written in soft focus.meaning that the book was written in due difference,with no hint of scandal or any of the stories that have been covered in other more salacious books.a fairly good read.