Reviews

Leigh, the actress who embodied roles she made famousScarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desireis presented from many perspectives in this rendering by London film critic Walker. With access to unpublished materials and conversations with family members and professional colleagues, he arranges a composite of a willful, talented and, finally, self-destructive woman. At age six, Leigh was sent from her home in India to convent school in England, where she remained. Extraordinary looks and an agreeable husband who remained her friend throughout her later turbulent marriages, were ingredients in her theatrical success. It was as the wife of Sir Laurence Olivier, however, that she triumphed. The 15 years of their tempestuous union are empathetically treated by Walker, as are her final yearsshe died in 1967of struggle with manic-depression. Walker offers a measured appraisal of a haunted woman. Photos not seen by PW. (September 30)

Leigh retains her hold over the imagination as Scarlett O'Hara, as a great screen beauty, and as a notable actor. This biography is a serious assessment, which reads well, with a novelist's sense of telling scene and strong dialogue. Through new source material, it argues a coherent view of this troubled actor, showing her fated to self-destruction from her early impulsiveness, through her physical illnesses, to her later manic-depressive episodes. The lavishness, the emotional recklessness, and the artistic competitiveness are clearly delineated. But she was a tragic figure, playing out her own doom. The book is apparently well researched, but lacks the textual documentation needed for a serious work. For popular collections. Thomas E. Luddy, English Dept., Salem State Coll., Mass .