Cinephiles will know that Kay Kendall’s life was certainly brief, the beautiful English actress dying of leukemia when only 32 years old, in London on September 6, 1959. This fact and a few others are generally known, but was she madcap too, as the book title says? It can often be as entertaining to read about the stars as it is to watch them on the screen.

Here we find a personality described as veering wildly from dazzling self-confidence to a bitter inferiority complex. Kendall swapped flats at the drop of a hat – especially when the rent was due in the early days – and didn’t much care for home conveniences, such as having furniture. She was likely to drop in unexpectedly on friends and bed down for a while.

Intimates say she was scatty, mad as a hatter, completely nuts and didn’t give a damn about things. She could be unconstrained in public, with wicked humour. At her most penniless she would somehow treat herself to little extravagances. Despite her zany ways she was mostly loved, nonetheless. She discovered sex early and took to it with great enthusiasm.

Kendall’s life of drama began in the womb.