Truly Madly

A sweeping Hollywood biography of the passionate, turbulent marriage of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh based on new research, including exclusive access to uncovered correspondence and interviews.

In 1934, a friend brought fledgling actress Vivien Leigh to see Theatre Royal, where she would first lay eyes on Laurence Olivier in his brilliant performance as Anthony Cavendish. That night, she told her friend that he was the man she was going to marry. There was just one problem: she was already married, and so was he.

MADLY is the biography of a marriage, a love affair that still captivates millions, even decades after both actors' deaths. Vivien and Laurence were two of the first truly global celebrities - their fame fueled by the explosive growth of tabloids and television, which helped and hurt them in equal measure. They seemed to have it all and yet, in their own minds, they were doomed, blighted by mental illness which transformed their relationship from the stuff of dreams into a living nightmare.

Author Stephen Galloway takes readers on a bewitching journey as he studies their turbulent relationship, one that lasted through some of the world's most unstable decades as the duo fled war, struggled with the loss of fame, and rebuilt their lives again and again.

Galloway is careful to bring out the nuance that often gets lost Sunday Times
Compelling...Highly readable and especially sympathetic to the many frailties of Vivien Leigh, Truly Madly gives a fresh perspective on the rise and fall of a great romance between two people who loved not wisely but too well. Daily Express

After many years as the executive editor of The Hollywood Reporter, Stephen Galloway became the dean of Chapman University's Dodge College of Film and Media Arts.

An Emmy Award-winning writer and producer, Galloway created the Reporter's celebrated Oscar Roundtables, along with the Netflix series The Hollywood Masters, which he hosted and executive produced. Over three decades, he has written about a who's who of Hollywood and the media, from Steven Spielberg to Meryl Streep, from Ted Turner to Tom Cruise. He is also the author of the bestseller Leading Lady: Sherry Lansing and the Making of a Hollywood Groundbreaker.

Galloway has an M.A. from Cambridge University, where he graduated with First Class Honors before coming to America on a Harkness Fellowship. After earning his diploma at the American Film Institute, he worked in film and television in France and the U.S. before joining the Reporter.

A sweeping Hollywood biography of the passionate, turbulent marriage of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh based on new research, including exclusive access to uncovered correspondence and interviews. In 1934, a friend brought fledgling actress Vivien Leigh to see Theatre Royal, where she would first lay eyes on Laurence Olivier in his brilliant performance as Anthony Cavendish. That night, she told her friend that he was the man she was going to marry. There was just one problem: she was already married, and so was he.MADLY is the biography of a marriage, a love affair that still captivates millions, even decades after both actors' deaths. Vivien and Laurence were two of the first truly global celebrities - their fame fueled by the explosive growth of tabloids and television, which helped and hurt them in equal measure. They seemed to have it all and yet, in their own minds, they were doomed, blighted by mental illness which transformed their relationship from the stuff of dreams into a living nightmare.Author Stephen Galloway takes readers on a bewitching journey as he studies their turbulent relationship, one that lasted through some of the world's most unstable decades as the duo fled war, struggled with the loss of fame, and rebuilt their lives again and again.

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