Laurence Olivier
A Biography

I thoroughly enjoyed all the information given about Sir Laurence Olivier's accomplishments and relations to those in his personal and professional life. I would have just preferred that Mr. Spoto was a lot less "colorful" in adding his own narrative to some of the events that took place. I ended up......more

After reading this particular book, I learnt that the author, Donald Spoto, has written a number of these such biographies. And he did a really good job of this one. For me the book really was an intimate encounter with Laurence Olivier, written with sensitivity and authority. You become familiar wi......more

I had this notion that Laurence Olivier must have possessed a noble and sophisticated character because he was probably the greatest actor of all time. This book portrayed an insecure, self-centered and at times mean-spirited human. He was certainly not a monster but he was probably like any any oth......more

This was a good. solid biography. I'm interested in film, theatre and acting and I wanted to find out more about the life of this famous English actor. The biography had plenty of interesting details about Olivier's career and about the man himself. He came across as very ambitious and hard-working......more

One of the better biographies I've read--not necessarily for style or investigative ardor (though there is plenty of both) but because of Larry (as he preferred to be called, at least toward the end of his life) and the combination of ambition, insecurity, and talent that propelled him to the top of......more