Lord Larry

Book excerpt: This exciting new biography of Laurence Olivier reveals the life, work and personality of arguably one of the greatest actors of all time as well as a fascinating secret. Michael Munn's candid analysis is based on his association with Olivier through formal and informal conversations, in which the great actor spoke candidly to Munn about life, sex, secrets and Shakespeare. Michael Munn first met Olivier in 1971 and from then, the two became great friends. At the peak of their friendship, Olivier revealed a secret to him which he had told very few, mainly because of his lifelong fear of alienating the American public, but most curious of all, he kept it to himself out of an impulse not to be thought as a hero, which greatly contradicted his famously incredible ego. This secret has been disclosed by Munn for the first time and reveals that Laurence Olivier was recruited by SOE and MI-5, through film producer Alexander Korda, to promote the cause of Britain's war against Germany while in the USA at a time when many Americans were isolationists. This book reveals some highly personal and rarely expressed thoughts from Olivier and from the people who knew him best.