Vivien Leigh won international acclaim at the age of twenty-six when she crossed the Atlantic and walked off with the coveted part of Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind under the noses of some of Hollywood’s most famous stars. For this part alone she has earned a lasting place in film history. Loved by millions,  Vivien had a illustrious stage and screen career that spanned thirty years.  She triumphed in such diverse roles as Blanche Dubois  in A Streetcar Named Desire and Cleopatra, playing opposite her husband Laurence Olivier.  She was a complex and driven personality, a brilliant actress whose terrifying dips into manic depression were little understood by those around here. This is no ‘Hollywood’ filmography, but an intensely researched biography that includes Vivien Leigh’s parents and a detailed history of her relationship with Leigh Holman. Of course, her love for Laurence Olivier and their twenty year marriage is covered, so much of it made difficult by recurring bouts of tuberculosis and manic depression. Vickers, drawing on many hours of conversation with her devoted friend, the actor John Merivale, explained how Vivien re-established her life after the divorce. Illustrated with black and white photographs.