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 Olivia Mary de Havilland was born on July 1, 1916 in Tokyo, Japan to British parents, Lilian Augusta (Ruse), a former actress, and Walter Augustus de Havilland, an English professor and patent attorney. Her sister Joan, later to become famous as Joan Fontaine, was born the following year. Her surname comes from her paternal grandfather, whose family was from Guernsey in the Channel Islands. Her parents divorced when Olivia was just three years old, and she moved with her mother and sister to Saratoga, California.After graduating from high school, where she fell prey to the acting bug, Olivia enrolled in Mills College in Oakland, where she participated in the school play "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and was spotted by Max Reinhardt. She so impressed Reinhardt that he picked her up for both his stage version and, later, the Warner Bros. film version in 1935. She again was so impressive that Warner executives signed her to a seven-year contract. No sooner had the ink dried on the contract than Olivia appeared in three more films: The Irish in Us (1935), Alibi Ike (1935), and Captain Blood (1935), this last with the man with whom her career would be most closely identified: heartthrob Errol Flynn. He and Olivia starred together in eight films during their careers. In 1939 Warner Bros. loaned her to David O. Selznick for the classic Gone with the Wind (1939). Playing sweet Melanie Hamilton, Olivia received her first nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, only to lose out to one of her co-stars in the film, Hattie McDaniel.After GWTW, Olivia returned to Warner Bros. and continued to churn out films. In 1941 she played Emmy Brown in Hold Back the Dawn (1941), which resulted in her second Oscar nomination, this time for Best Actress. Again she lost, this time to her sister Joan for her role in Suspicion (1941). After that strong showing, Olivia now demanded better, more substantial roles than the "sweet young thing" slot into which Warners had been fitting her. The studio responded by placing her on a six-month suspension, all of the studios at the time operating under the policy that players were nothing more than property to do with as they saw fit. As if that weren't bad enough, when her contract with Warners was up, she was told that she needed to make up the time lost because of the suspension. Irate, she sued the studio, and for the length of the court battle she didn't appear in a single film. The result, however, was worth it. In a landmark decision, the court said that not only would Olivia not need to make up the time, but also that all performers would be limited to a seven-year contract that would include any suspensions handed down. This became known as the "de Havilland decision": no longer could studios treat their performers as chattel. Olivia returned to the screen in 1946 and made up for lost time by appearing in four films, one of which finally won her the Oscar that had so long eluded her: To Each His Own (1946), in which she played Josephine Norris to the delight of critics and audiences alike. Olivia was the strongest performer in Hollywood for the balance of the 1940s.In 1948 she turned in another strong showing in The Snake Pit (1948) as Virginia Cunningham, a woman suffering a mental breakdown. The end result was another Oscar nomination for Best Actress, but she lost to Jane Wyman in Johnny Belinda (1948). As in the two previous years, she made only one film in 1949, but she again won a nomination and the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Heiress (1949). After a three-year hiatus, Olivia returned to star in My Cousin Rachel (1952). From that point on, she made few appearances on the screen but was seen on Broadway and in some television shows. Her last screen appearance was in The Fifth Musketeer (1979), and her last career appearance was in the TV movie The Woman He Loved (1988).Her turbulent relationship with her only sibling, Joan Fontaine, was press fodder for many decades; the two were reported as having been permanently estranged since their mother's death in 1975, when Joan claimed that she had not been invited to the memorial service, which she only managed to hold off until she could arrive by threatening to go public. Joan also wrote in her memoir that her elder sister had been physically, psychologically, and emotionally abusive when they were young. And the iconic photo of Joan with her hand outstretched to congratulate Olivia backstage after the latter's first Oscar win and Olivia ignoring it because she was peeved by a comment Joan had made about Olivia's new husband, Marcus Goodrich, remained part of Hollywood lore for many years.Nonetheless, late in life, Fontaine gave an interview in which she serenely denied any and all claims of an estrangement from her sister. When a reporter asked Joan if she and Olivia were friends, she replied, "Of course!" The reporter responded that rumors to the contrary must have been sensationalism and she replied, "Oh, right--they have to. Two nice girls liking each other isn't copy." Asked if she and Olivia were in communication and spoke to each other, Joan replied "Absolutely." When asked if there ever had been a time when the two did not get along to the point where they wouldn't speak with one another, Joan replied, again, "Never. Never. There is not a word of truth about that." When asked why people believe it, she replied "Oh, I have no idea. It's just something to say ... Oh, it's terrible." When asked if she had seen Olivia over the years, she replied, "I've seen her in Paris. And she came to my apartment in New York often." The reporter stated that all this was a nice thing to hear. Joan then stated, "Let me just say, Olivia and I have never had a quarrel. We have never had any dissatisfaction. We have never had hard words. And all this is press." Joan died in 2013.During the hoopla surrounding the 50th anniversary of GWTW in 1989, Olivia graciously declined requests for all interviews as the last of the four main stars. She enjoyed a quiet retirement in Paris, France, where she resided for many decades, and where she died on 26 July, 2020, at the age of 104.Olivia de Havilland was not only the last surviving major cast member of Gone with the Wind (1939) and one of the longest-lived major stars in Hollywood history, but she was unquestionably the last surviving iconic figure from the peak of Hollywood's golden era during the late 1930s, and her passing truly marked the end of an era.
Bio:
Olivia Mary de Havilland was born on July 1, 1916 in Tokyo, Japan to British parents, Lilian Augusta (Ruse), a former actress, and Walter Augustus de Havilland, an English professor and patent attorney. Her sister Joan, later to become famous as Joan Fontaine, was born the following year. Her surname comes from her paternal grandfather, whose family was from Guernsey in the Channel Islands. Her parents divorced when Olivia was just three years old, and she moved with her mother and sister to Saratoga, California.After graduating from high school, where she fell prey to the acting bug, Olivia enrolled in Mills College in Oakland, where she participated in the school play "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and was spotted by Max Reinhardt. She so impressed Reinhardt that he picked her up for both his stage version and, later, the Warner Bros. film version in 1935. She again was so impressive that Warner executives signed her to a seven-year contract. No sooner had the ink dried on the contract than Olivia appeared in three more films: The Irish in Us (1935), Alibi Ike (1935), and Captain Blood (1935), this last with the man with whom her career would be most closely identified: heartthrob Errol Flynn. He and Olivia starred together in eight films during their careers. In 1939 Warner Bros. loaned her to David O. Selznick for the classic Gone with the Wind (1939). Playing sweet Melanie Hamilton, Olivia received her first nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, only to lose out to one of her co-stars in the film, Hattie McDaniel.After GWTW, Olivia returned to Warner Bros. and continued to churn out films. In 1941 she played Emmy Brown in Hold Back the Dawn (1941), which resulted in her second Oscar nomination, this time for Best Actress. Again she lost, this time to her sister Joan for her role in Suspicion (1941). After that strong showing, Olivia now demanded better, more substantial roles than the "sweet young thing" slot into which Warners had been fitting her. The studio responded by placing her on a six-month suspension, all of the studios at the time operating under the policy that players were nothing more than property to do with as they saw fit. As if that weren't bad enough, when her contract with Warners was up, she was told that she needed to make up the time lost because of the suspension. Irate, she sued the studio, and for the length of the court battle she didn't appear in a single film. The result, however, was worth it. In a landmark decision, the court said that not only would Olivia not need to make up the time, but also that all performers would be limited to a seven-year contract that would include any suspensions handed down. This became known as the "de Havilland decision": no longer could studios treat their performers as chattel. Olivia returned to the screen in 1946 and made up for lost time by appearing in four films, one of which finally won her the Oscar that had so long eluded her: To Each His Own (1946), in which she played Josephine Norris to the delight of critics and audiences alike. Olivia was the strongest performer in Hollywood for the balance of the 1940s.In 1948 she turned in another strong showing in The Snake Pit (1948) as Virginia Cunningham, a woman suffering a mental breakdown. The end result was another Oscar nomination for Best Actress, but she lost to Jane Wyman in Johnny Belinda (1948). As in the two previous years, she made only one film in 1949, but she again won a nomination and the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Heiress (1949). After a three-year hiatus, Olivia returned to star in My Cousin Rachel (1952). From that point on, she made few appearances on the screen but was seen on Broadway and in some television shows. Her last screen appearance was in The Fifth Musketeer (1979), and her last career appearance was in the TV movie The Woman He Loved (1988).Her turbulent relationship with her only sibling, Joan Fontaine, was press fodder for many decades; the two were reported as having been permanently estranged since their mother's death in 1975, when Joan claimed that she had not been invited to the memorial service, which she only managed to hold off until she could arrive by threatening to go public. Joan also wrote in her memoir that her elder sister had been physically, psychologically, and emotionally abusive when they were young. And the iconic photo of Joan with her hand outstretched to congratulate Olivia backstage after the latter's first Oscar win and Olivia ignoring it because she was peeved by a comment Joan had made about Olivia's new husband, Marcus Goodrich, remained part of Hollywood lore for many years.Nonetheless, late in life, Fontaine gave an interview in which she serenely denied any and all claims of an estrangement from her sister. When a reporter asked Joan if she and Olivia were friends, she replied, "Of course!" The reporter responded that rumors to the contrary must have been sensationalism and she replied, "Oh, right--they have to. Two nice girls liking each other isn't copy." Asked if she and Olivia were in communication and spoke to each other, Joan replied "Absolutely." When asked if there ever had been a time when the two did not get along to the point where they wouldn't speak with one another, Joan replied, again, "Never. Never. There is not a word of truth about that." When asked why people believe it, she replied "Oh, I have no idea. It's just something to say ... Oh, it's terrible." When asked if she had seen Olivia over the years, she replied, "I've seen her in Paris. And she came to my apartment in New York often." The reporter stated that all this was a nice thing to hear. Joan then stated, "Let me just say, Olivia and I have never had a quarrel. We have never had any dissatisfaction. We have never had hard words. And all this is press." Joan died in 2013.During the hoopla surrounding the 50th anniversary of GWTW in 1989, Olivia graciously declined requests for all interviews as the last of the four main stars. She enjoyed a quiet retirement in Paris, France, where she resided for many decades, and where she died on 26 July, 2020, at the age of 104.Olivia de Havilland was not only the last surviving major cast member of Gone with the Wind (1939) and one of the longest-lived major stars in Hollywood history, but she was unquestionably the last surviving iconic figure from the peak of Hollywood's golden era during the late 1930s, and her passing truly marked the end of an era.
Tivia:
Confessed in later years that she had an intense crush on Errol Flynn during the years of their filming, saying that it was hard to resist his charms.In 1965 she became the first female president of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival.She and Joan Fontaine are the first sisters to win Oscars and the first ones to be Oscar-nominated in the same year.Her mother named her Olivia after William Shakespeare's romantic heroine in "Twelfth Night".When she was nine years old she made a will in which she stated, "I bequeath all my beauty to my younger sister Joan [Joan Fontaine], since she has none".After her divorce in 1979 from second husband Pierre Galante, they remained close friends; after he became ill with cancer, she nursed him until his death in 1998.Was romantically involved with James Stewart, Howard Hughes, John Huston in the late 1930s.Is descended from the Haverlands of Normandy, one of whom (the Lord of Haverland) accompanied William the Conquerer in his invasion of England in 1066.Olivia and Joan were brought up strictly by their mother, Lilian, with whom they lived. They had to ask for permission to go out in the evening and report back when they returned. Any young man who wished to date either of the sisters was first invited to tea to be vetted.As of December 15 2014, the 75th anniversary of the premiere of Gone with the Wind (1939), she is the only surviving major cast member. She has been the only survivor of the four principal leads since 1967. The only other surviving cast member who received screen credit is Mickey Kuhn.Justly famous for her court victory against Warner Brothers in the mid-1940s (many others had sued Warners but failed), which stopped Jack L. Warner from adding suspension periods to actors' contracts and therefore meant more freedom for actors in Hollywood. It became known as the "de Havilland decision".She holds the record for the most people thanked in an Oscar acceptance speech (27), which she set when she accepted the award for Best Actress for To Each His Own (1946).De Havilland's son, Benjamin Briggs Goodrich, a statistical analyst, died at his mother's Paris home in 1991, aged 42, after a long battle with Hodgkin's disease. He had first been diagnosed with the disease when he was 19 years old.Showed flair as a writer when "Every Frenchman Has One," a lighthearted autobiographical account of her attempts at adapting to French life, was published in 1962.Two weeks before her 101st birthday, she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2017 Birthday Honours by Queen Elizabeth II for services to Drama. She is the oldest woman ever to receive the honor. In a statement, she called it "the most gratifying of birthday presents.".Fifteen years after her previous appearance as a presenter at an Academy Awards ceremony, she made a special appearance onstage at the The 75th Annual Academy Awards (2003) and received a standing ovation. It was to be her final ever appearance at the Oscars.Visited New York in the spring of 2004 to film a special commentary programme for the upcoming DVD of Gone with the Wind (1939), to be released in November that year.Olivia accepted two film roles turned down by Ginger Rogers: To Each His Own (1946) and The Snake Pit (1948). She won an Oscar for To Each His Own (1946) and was nominated for The Snake Pit (1948). Rogers later regretted turning down the roles and wrote: "It seemed Olivia knew a good thing when she saw it. Perhaps Olivia should thank me for such poor judgment".Despite a reportedly turbulent relationship, Olivia and her sister Joan Fontaine celebrated Christmas 1962 together along with their then-husbands and children.A full-time resident of Paris, France, since the mid-1950s, Olivia resided at her home on Rue Benouville. She used to read the Scriptures at the American Cathedral, Paris, at Christmas and Easter until around 2012.She is only the third Oscar-winning actor to celebrate a 100th birthday. The others are George Burns, who died less than two months after passing the 100-year mark in 1996, and Luise Rainer, who lived to be 104.Was the surprise guest honoring the late Bette Davis, her long-time friend and fellow actress, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Los Angeles on May 1, 2008. The event, "A Centennial Tribute to Bette Davis", was hosted by film historian Robert Osborne. Its reception included Davis' son (Michael Merrill), Davis's long-time personal assistant, Kathryn Sermak, and friends including Gena Rowlands and Joan Leslie.December 15, 2019 saw her become the first ever main cast member of a Best Picture Oscar winning film (Gone with the Wind (1939)) to live to see its 80th anniversary.She was very eager to play the part of Melanie in Gone with the Wind (1939) but Jack L. Warner, with whom she was under contract, refused to loan her out fearing that she would then become dissatisfied with her lot at Warners. It was only the persuasion of his wife that he let her go but he was right when she found she got much better treatment away from Warners.Was offered the role of Mary Hatch Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life (1946) after Jean Arthur turned it down, but she also turned it down, as did such other actresses as Ann Dvorak and Ginger Rogers. Donna Reed was finally cast in the role.In celebration of her 100th birthday, she was honored as Turner Classic Movies Star of the Month for July 2016.She and Errol Flynn acted together in eight movies: The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Captain Blood (1935), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), Dodge City (1939), Four's a Crowd (1938), The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), Santa Fe Trail (1940), and They Died with Their Boots On (1941) Both are also featured in a ninth film, Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943), although in separate scenes.Turned down the role of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), reportedly saying that "a lady just doesn't say or do those things on the screen". De Havilland set the record straight in a 2006 interview, saying that she had recently given birth to her son when offered the part and was simply unable to relate to the character.It was reported in October 2001 that she was among 40 prominent French residents who were victims of hoax anthrax attacks (the attacks were proven to be hoaxes after a woman was arrested in Paris for sending out envelopes containing a powdery substance).Gave birth to her first child at age 33, son Benjamin Goodrich, on September 27, 1949. The child's father was her first husband, Marcus Goodrich; they divorced in 1953, and he died in 1991.Gave birth to her second child at age 40, daughter Giselle Galante, on July 18, 1956. The child's father was her second husband, Pierre Galante; they divorced in 1979, and he died in 1998.Received the Medal of Arts honor from President George W. Bush at a White House ceremony in the East Room on November 17, 2008, "for her persuasive and compelling skill as an actress in roles from Shakespeare's Hermia to Margaret Mitchell's Melanie. Her independence, integrity, and grace won creative freedom for herself and her fellow film actors.".She has a street named after her in Mexico City. Renowned Mexican actor and director Emilio Fern��ndez lived in Coyoacan Town on a street with no name at all, so he asked the authorities to name this street "Dulce Olivia," Spanish for "Sweet Olivia," after her.[July 2006] Celebrated her 90th birthday at her daughter's home in Malibu.Elder daughter of Walter Augustus de Havilland (1872-1968), born Lewisham, London, England, who was a patent attorney in Japan and also the author of the 1910 book "The ABC of Go", which provides a detailed and comprehensive description of the Japanese board game; and of his wife, actress Lilian Fontaine (n��e Lillian Augusta Ruse), born in Reading, Berkshire, England. Elder sister of actress Joan Fontaine. Ex-sister-in-law of Collier Young, Brian Aherne and William Dozier. Aunt of Debbie Dozier.Is a 15th cousin twice removed of Errol Flynn, her co-star in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938).Relations between Olivia and younger sister Joan Fontaine were never strong and worsened in 1941, when both were nominated for Best Actress Oscars. Their mutual dislike and jealousy escalated into an all-out feud after Fontaine won for Suspicion (1941). Despite the fact that de Havilland went on to win two Academy Awards of her own, they remained permanently estranged.Her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is at 6764 Hollywood Blvd.One of her cousins, Capt. Sir Geoffrey de Havilland (1882-1965), was a British aviation pioneer, aircraft designer and owner of the de Havilland Aircraft Co. Its wooden bomber Mosquito has been considered the most versatile warplane ever built. The ill-fated de Havilland Comet was the first commercial jet airliner in 1952.In the 1950s the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum near Tucson, AZ, named one of their female javelinas "Olivia de Javelina" in her honor; Their male was named "Gregory Peckory" to honor actor Gregory Peck.In April 1946 she set off a power struggle within the Hollywood Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences and Professions (HICCASP) by refusing to deliver two speeches in Seattle as written by her fellow executive council member Dalton Trumbo, later one of the blacklisted Hollywood Ten. She felt Trumbo's text was too left-wing and worried that the organization was becoming "automatically pro-Russian".Attended the funeral of Charlton Heston in April, 2008.She has appeared in three films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Gone with the Wind (1939) and The Heiress (1949).Has put her longevity down to the three L's: "Love, laughter and learning".At the age of 82, was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Hertfordshire, England.Prior to her death, de Havilland was largely considered to be the last surviving major cultural celebrity of the 1930s, and certainly the last who had been an adult at that time (Jane Withers, a popular child star of the mid-late 30s, survived her by just over a year).Following the death of film editor Elmo Williams in November 2015, de Havilland became the oldest living Oscar winner. She held this distinction for four years and 8 months until she passed away 25 days after her 104th birthday. This makes her the second longest lived winner of a competitive Academy Award behind Luise Rainer, who died at the end of 2014, two weeks shy of her 105th birthday.As of de Havilland's 103 birthday (July 1, 2019), she is the earliest surviving recipient of a Best Actress Oscar nomination. She was nominated in 1942 for Hold Back the Dawn (1941).[May 1999] Revealed in a UK press interview that she was a great admirer of the then 98-year-old Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (whom she had earlier portrayed in the TV film The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana (1982)), stating that she hoped "to follow her example and live many years longer". De Havilland would go onto match and beat the Queen Mother's eventual lifespan of 101 years and 238 days old.Bette Davis and Joan Crawford were cast in Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) by Robert Aldrich in the hopes of repeating the success of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962). Davis got a producer's credit and conspired to make things difficult for Crawford, who eventually pretended to be too ill to work, causing production to be delayed resulting in her being dropped and replaced by de Havilland. Crawford reportedly only learned the news on the radio after it had been leaked to the press. |
| Name: |
Olivia de Havilland |
Type: |
Actress,Soundtrack (IMDB) |
| Area: |
All World |
Platform: |
IMDB |
| Category: |
|
Business scope: |
Actress,Soundtrack |
| Products for sale: |
Actress,Soundtrack |
| Model rank: |
566 |
| Last update: |
2024-07-01 04:52:36 |
Olivia de Havilland profile
| Height: |
5' 3' (1.60 m) |
| Biography: |
Olivia Mary de Havilland was born on July 1, 1916 in Tokyo, Japan to British parents, Lilian Augusta (Ruse), a former actress, and Walter Augustus de Havilland, an English professor and patent attorney. Her sister Joan, later to become famous as Joan |
| Trivia: |
Confessed in later years that she had an intense crush on Errol Flynn during the years of their filming, saying that it was hard to resist his charms.In 1965 she became the first female president of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival.She and Joan Fontaine are the first sisters to win Oscars and the first ones to be Oscar-nominated in the same year.Her mother named her Olivia after William Shakespeare's romantic heroine in "Twelfth Night".When she was nine years old she made a will in which she stated, "I bequeath all my beauty to my younger sister Joan [Joan Fontaine], since she has none".After her divorce in 1979 from second husband Pierre Galante, they remained close friends; after he became ill with cancer, she nursed him until his death in 1998.Was romantically involved with James Stewart, Howard Hughes, John Huston in the late 1930s.Is descended from the Haverlands of Normandy, one of whom (the Lord of Haverland) accompanied William the Conquerer in his invasion of England in 1066.Olivia and Joan were brought up strictly by their mother, Lilian, with whom they lived. They had to ask for permission to go out in the evening and report back when they returned. Any young man who wished to date either of the sisters was first invited to tea to be vetted.As of December 15 2014, the 75th anniversary of the premiere of Gone with the Wind (1939), she is the only surviving major cast member. She has been the only survivor of the four principal leads since 1967. The only other surviving cast member who received screen credit is Mickey Kuhn.Justly famous for her court victory against Warner Brothers in the mid-1940s (many others had sued Warners but failed), which stopped Jack L. Warner from adding suspension periods to actors' contracts and therefore meant more freedom for actors in Hollywood. It became known as the "de Havilland decision".She holds the record for the most people thanked in an Oscar acceptance speech (27), which she set when she accepted the award for Best Actress for To Each His Own (1946).De Havilland's son, Benjamin Briggs Goodrich, a statistical analyst, died at his mother's Paris home in 1991, aged 42, after a long battle with Hodgkin's disease. He had first been diagnosed with the disease when he was 19 years old.Showed flair as a writer when "Every Frenchman Has One," a lighthearted autobiographical account of her attempts at adapting to French life, was published in 1962.Two weeks before her 101st birthday, she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2017 Birthday Honours by Queen Elizabeth II for services to Drama. She is the oldest woman ever to receive the honor. In a statement, she called it "the most gratifying of birthday presents.".Fifteen years after her previous appearance as a presenter at an Academy Awards ceremony, she made a special appearance onstage at the The 75th Annual Academy Awards (2003) and received a standing ovation. It was to be her final ever appearance at the Oscars.Visited New York in the spring of 2004 to film a special commentary programme for the upcoming DVD of Gone with the Wind (1939), to be released in November that year.Olivia accepted two film roles turned down by Ginger Rogers: To Each His Own (1946) and The Snake Pit (1948). She won an Oscar for To Each His Own (1946) and was nominated for The Snake Pit (1948). Rogers later regretted turning down the roles and wrote: "It seemed Olivia knew a good thing when she saw it. Perhaps Olivia should thank me for such poor judgment".Despite a reportedly turbulent relationship, Olivia and her sister Joan Fontaine celebrated Christmas 1962 together along with their then-husbands and children.A full-time resident of Paris, France, since the mid-1950s, Olivia resided at her home on Rue Benouville. She used to read the Scriptures at the American Cathedral, Paris, at Christmas and Easter until around 2012.She is only the third Oscar-winning actor to celebrate a 100th birthday. The others are George Burns, who died less than two months after passing the 100-year mark in 1996, and Luise Rainer, who lived to be 104.Was the surprise guest honoring the late Bette Davis, her long-time friend and fellow actress, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Los Angeles on May 1, 2008. The event, "A Centennial Tribute to Bette Davis", was hosted by film historian Robert Osborne. Its reception included Davis' son (Michael Merrill), Davis's long-time personal assistant, Kathryn Sermak, and friends including Gena Rowlands and Joan Leslie.December 15, 2019 saw her become the first ever main cast member of a Best Picture Oscar winning film (Gone with the Wind (1939)) to live to see its 80th anniversary.She was very eager to play the part of Melanie in Gone with the Wind (1939) but Jack L. Warner, with whom she was under contract, refused to loan her out fearing that she would then become dissatisfied with her lot at Warners. It was only the persuasion of his wife that he let her go but he was right when she found she got much better treatment away from Warners.Was offered the role of Mary Hatch Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life (1946) after Jean Arthur turned it down, but she also turned it down, as did such other actresses as Ann Dvorak and Ginger Rogers. Donna Reed was finally cast in the role.In celebration of her 100th birthday, she was honored as Turner Classic Movies Star of the Month for July 2016.She and Errol Flynn acted together in eight movies: The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Captain Blood (1935), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), Dodge City (1939), Four's a Crowd (1938), The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), Santa Fe Trail (1940), and They Died with Their Boots On (1941) Both are also featured in a ninth film, Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943), although in separate scenes.Turned down the role of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), reportedly saying that "a lady just doesn't say or do those things on the screen". De Havilland set the record straight in a 2006 interview, saying that she had recently given birth to her son when offered the part and was simply unable to relate to the character.It was reported in October 2001 that she was among 40 prominent French residents who were victims of hoax anthrax attacks (the attacks were proven to be hoaxes after a woman was arrested in Paris for sending out envelopes containing a powdery substance).Gave birth to her first child at age 33, son Benjamin Goodrich, on September 27, 1949. The child's father was her first husband, Marcus Goodrich; they divorced in 1953, and he died in 1991.Gave birth to her second child at age 40, daughter Giselle Galante, on July 18, 1956. The child's father was her second husband, Pierre Galante; they divorced in 1979, and he died in 1998.Received the Medal of Arts honor from President George W. Bush at a White House ceremony in the East Room on November 17, 2008, "for her persuasive and compelling skill as an actress in roles from Shakespeare's Hermia to Margaret Mitchell's Melanie. Her independence, integrity, and grace won creative freedom for herself and her fellow film actors.".She has a street named after her in Mexico City. Renowned Mexican actor and director Emilio Fern��ndez lived in Coyoacan Town on a street with no name at all, so he asked the authorities to name this street "Dulce Olivia," Spanish for "Sweet Olivia," after her.[July 2006] Celebrated her 90th birthday at her daughter's home in Malibu.Elder daughter of Walter Augustus de Havilland (1872-1968), born Lewisham, London, England, who was a patent attorney in Japan and also the author of the 1910 book "The ABC of Go", which provides a detailed and comprehensive description of the Japanese board game; and of his wife, actress Lilian Fontaine (n��e Lillian Augusta Ruse), born in Reading, Berkshire, England. Elder sister of actress Joan Fontaine. Ex-sister-in-law of Collier Young, Brian Aherne and William Dozier. Aunt of Debbie Dozier.Is a 15th cousin twice removed of Errol Flynn, her co-star in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938).Relations between Olivia and younger sister Joan Fontaine were never strong and worsened in 1941, when both were nominated for Best Actress Oscars. Their mutual dislike and jealousy escalated into an all-out feud after Fontaine won for Suspicion (1941). Despite the fact that de Havilland went on to win two Academy Awards of her own, they remained permanently estranged.Her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is at 6764 Hollywood Blvd.One of her cousins, Capt. Sir Geoffrey de Havilland (1882-1965), was a British aviation pioneer, aircraft designer and owner of the de Havilland Aircraft Co. Its wooden bomber Mosquito has been considered the most versatile warplane ever built. The ill-fated de Havilland Comet was the first commercial jet airliner in 1952.In the 1950s the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum near Tucson, AZ, named one of their female javelinas "Olivia de Javelina" in her honor; Their male was named "Gregory Peckory" to honor actor Gregory Peck.In April 1946 she set off a power struggle within the Hollywood Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences and Professions (HICCASP) by refusing to deliver two speeches in Seattle as written by her fellow executive council member Dalton Trumbo, later one of the blacklisted Hollywood Ten. She felt Trumbo's text was too left-wing and worried that the organization was becoming "automatically pro-Russian".Attended the funeral of Charlton Heston in April, 2008.She has appeared in three films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Gone with the Wind (1939) and The Heiress (1949).Has put her longevity down to the three L's: "Love, laughter and learning".At the age of 82, was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Hertfordshire, England.Prior to her death, de Havilland was largely considered to be the last surviving major cultural celebrity of the 1930s, and certainly the last who had been an adult at that time (Jane Withers, a popular child star of the mid-late 30s, survived her by just over a year).Following the death of film editor Elmo Williams in November 2015, de Havilland became the oldest living Oscar winner. She held this distinction for four years and 8 months until she passed away 25 days after her 104th birthday. This makes her the second longest lived winner of a competitive Academy Award behind Luise Rainer, who died at the end of 2014, two weeks shy of her 105th birthday.As of de Havilland's 103 birthday (July 1, 2019), she is the earliest surviving recipient of a Best Actress Oscar nomination. She was nominated in 1942 for Hold Back the Dawn (1941).[May 1999] Revealed in a UK press interview that she was a great admirer of the then 98-year-old Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (whom she had earlier portrayed in the TV film The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana (1982)), stating that she hoped "to follow her example and live many years longer". De Havilland would go onto match and beat the Queen Mother's eventual lifespan of 101 years and 238 days old.Bette Davis and Joan Crawford were cast in Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) by Robert Aldrich in the hopes of repeating the success of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962). Davis got a producer's credit and conspired to make things difficult for Crawford, who eventually pretended to be too ill to work, causing production to be delayed resulting in her being dropped and replaced by de Havilland. Crawford reportedly only learned the news on the radio after it had been leaked to the press. |
| Trademarks: |
Emotionally (and sometimes physically) vulnerable characters
Despite her great beauty, was often cast as plain, everyday women |
| Quotes: |
Famous people feel that they must perpetually be on the crest of the wave, not realizing that it is against all the rules of life. You can't be on top all the time; it isn't natural.
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[on Hollywood's reaction to her landmark court victory against Warner Bros.] I was told I would never work again, if I lost or won. When I won, they were impressed and didn't bear a grudge.
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The one thing that you simply have to remember all the time that you are there is that Hollywood is an Oriental city. As long as you do that, you might survive. If you try to equate it with anything else, you'll perish.
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The TV business is soul-crushing, talent-destroying and human being-destroying. These men in their black towers don't know what they are doing. It's slave labor. There is no elegance left in anybody. They have no taste. Movies are being financed by conglomerates, which take a write-off if they don't work. The only people who fight for what the public deserves are artists.
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We were like a stock company at Warners. We didn't know any of the stars from the other studios. |
| Salaries: |
Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1965) - $100,000
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Lady in a Cage (1964) - $300,000
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Gone with the Wind (1940) - $25,000
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Raffles (1939) - $1,250 /week |
| Job title: |
Actress,Soundtrack |
| Others works: |
(9/34) Stage: Appeared (as "Hermia") in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (her professional debut), Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, CA. Directed by Max Reinhardt.
(1962) Stage: Appeared (as "Lael Tucker Wertenbaker") in "A |
| Spouse: |
Pierre Galante (April 2, 1955 - April 30, 1979) (divorced, 1 child)Marcus Goodrich (August 26, 1946 - August 28, 1953) (divorced, 1 child) |
| Children: |
Benjamin GoodrichGiselle Galante |
| Parents: |
Lilian Fontaine
Walter Augustus de Havilland |
| Relatives: |
Joan Fontaine (Sibling)
Debbie Dozier (Niece or Nephew) |
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