LAURENCE OLIVIER: A BIOGRAPHY

Written several years after Olivier's death, this biography relates his life in great detail and his art in less completeness; what we find out is more than we want to know of the man and less than we want to know of the actor. Narrator David Case portrays the famous actors and actresses who surrounded Olivier by doing impressions of them, an unfortunate choice for most although quite well done for Sir John Gielgud. The women fare less well, with the narrator's register creeping into falsetto. Although a straight, neutral-voiced reading might not have produced a great recording, it might have produced an easier one to listen to for eighteen hours. E.F. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: APR 94]