Olivia de Havilland

Olivia de Havilland is a British American cinematic actress. http://www.fandango.com/oliviadehavilland/biographies/p17765 Olivia played Melanie Hamilton opposite Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable in Gone With the Wind. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031381/fullcredits#cast Olivia has won two Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role; one in 1947 for To Each His Own, and also in 1950 for The Heiress. Her younger sister Joan Fontaine is also an Academy Award winning actress. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000021/ Her mother was film and television actress Lillian Fontaine. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0284832/bio

Olivia was born in Tokyo, Japan to British parents. After her parent’s divorce at the age of four, Lilian, Olivia and Joan relocated to Saratoga, California. http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/deh0int-6 Her mother then married George Fontaine. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifestyle/article-23816660-hollywoods-sweetheart-olivia-de-havilland.do Joan and Olivia were simultaneously nominated for Academy Awards in 1941 in the Best Actress in a Leading Role category; Joan for Suspicion and Olivia for Hold Back the Dawn. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000014/bioJoan Fontaine won, which sparked a feud between the two sisters.http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/sibling-rivalry-hollywoods-oldest-feud-828301.html http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000021/bio http://entertainment.ca.msn.com/movies/oscars/gallery-oscars-2010.aspx?cp-documentid=23554585&page=8 Joan has stated publicly that the rivalry between the two sisters began during their childhood. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/sibling-rivalry-hollywoods-oldest-feud-828301.htmlhttp://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifestyle/article-23816660-hollywoods-sweetheart-olivia-de-havilland.dohttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1311426/Olivia-Havilland-Joan-Fontaine-Their-decade-feud.html?ITO=1490Today, the two sisters do not speak to each other, and Olivia refuses to speak of it in interviews. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/golden-girl-the-divine-olivia-de-havilland-1744807.html

Olivia has been nominated five times for an Academy Award and won twice; in addition, she has been nominated three times and won two Golden Globe Awards. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000014/awards In 1943 Olivia took on Warner Brothers in a landmark lawsuit and won more rights for her fellow actors and actresses, a decision labeled the “De Havilland Law.” http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-15/-gone-with-the-wind-star-de-havilland-feisty-at-94-recalls-studio-fight.html http://movies.msn.com/celebrities/celebrity-biography/olivia-de-havilland/ http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/deh0int-4 In 2010 Olivia was awarded the Legion of Honor by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=11595361

Olivia has been linked romantically to Errol Flynn, James Stewart, and Howard Hughes throughout her Hollywood career; Olivia denies any relationship with Flynn beyond flirting, as he was married at the time. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifestyle/article-23816660-hollywoods-sweetheart-olivia-de-havilland.dohttp://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/participant.jsp?participantId=46170|190058 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115757993223555601.html She has divorced twice; her son Benjamin, with ex-husband Marcus Goodrich, succumbed to Hodgkin’s Disease in 1991. http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/participant.jsp?participantId=46170|190058 In a 2005 Vanity Fair interview, Olivia was asked, “If you could change one thing about your family, what would it be?” to which she responded, “To have my son alive again, happy, healthy, and engaged in the work he loved most.” http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2005/03/proust_dehavilland200503 Olivia has resided in Paris, France since 1953. http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=11595361

• • Gone with the Wind (1939) - Melanie Hamilton
• • Hold Back the Dawn (1941) - Emmy Brown
• • To Each His Own (1946) - Miss Josephine "Jody" Norris
• • The Snake Pit (1948) - Virginia Stuart Cunningham
• • The Heiress (1949) - Catherine Sloper
• • My Cousin Rachel (1952) - Rachel Sangalletti Ashley
• • Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna (1986) - Dowager Empress Maria

Playing good girls in the '30s was difficult, when the fad was to play bad girls. Actually I think playing bad girls is a bore; I have always had more luck with good girl roles because they require more from an actress. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000014/bio

Thrust into my profession without any training whatsoever, I had to just flounder and just find my way. It was an agonizing experience. It's like jumping off a diving board in the Olympic contest without knowing how to swim or dive, and I just had to find my way. So one day, I said to Jimmy Cagney, "Jimmy, what is acting?" and he said, "I don't know." He said, "All I can tell you is whatever you say, mean it," and I thought that marvelous counsel. http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/deh0int-2

I would prefer to live forever in perfect health, but if I must at some time leave this life I would like to do so ensconced on a chaise longue, perfumed, wearing a velvet robe and pearl earrings, with a flute of champagne beside me and having just discovered the answer to the last problem in a British cryptic crossword. http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2005/03/proust_dehavilland200503