OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND (1916-2020): A GREAT ACTRESS

Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland (July 1, 1916 – July 25, 2020) was a British-American actress. The major works of her cinematic career spanned from 1935 to 1988. 

She appeared in 49 feature films and was one of the leading actresses of her time. She was the last major surviving star from the Golden Age of Hollywood Cinema and oldest living Academy Award winner until her death in July 2020.

Her younger sister was the actress Joan Fontaine: she has also a post in my blog.

De Havilland first came to prominence with Errol Flynn as a screen couple in adventure films such as Captain Blood (1935) and The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). One of her best-known roles is that of Melanie Hamilton in Gone with the Wind (1939) (it has a post in the blog), for which she received her first of five Oscar nominations, the only one for Best Supporting Actress.

De Havilland departed from ingénue roles in the 1940s and later distinguished herself for performances in Hold Back the Dawn (1941), To Each His Own (1946), The Snake Pit (1948), and The Heiress (1949), receiving nominations for Best Actress for each and winning for To Each His Own and The Heiress. She was also successful in work on stage and television. De Havilland lived in Paris from the 1950s and received honours such as the National Medal of the Arts, the Légion d'honneur, and the appointment to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

In addition to her film career, de Havilland continued her work in the theatre, appearing three times on Broadway, in Romeo and Juliet (1951), Candida (1952), and A Gift of Time (1962).

She also worked in television, appearing in the successful miniseries Roots: The Next Generations (1979) and Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna (1986), for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Television Movie or Series. During her film career, de Havilland also collected two New York Film Critics Circle Awards, the National Board of Review Award for Best Actress, and the Venice Film Festival Volpi Cup. For her contributions to the motion picture industry, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She and her sister remain the only siblings to have won major acting Academy Awards and the only sisters to have won any Academy Awards.

She was a British-American actress. She was one of two the only living star of Gone with the Wind, but there are also actors with smaller roles in said movie who are still alive. She has won the Academy Award two times. She is the sister of late actress Joan Fontaine, who also won the Academy Award. They did not get along ever since they were children.

De Havilland was born in Tokyo to British parents. She became an American citizen in 1941. She lived in Paris from 1956 until her death in 2020.

De Havilland died on 26 July 2020 at her home in Paris at the age of 104.

FILMS

·                    Alibi Ike (1935)

·                    The Irish in Us (1935)

·                    A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935 film) (1935)

·                    Captain Blood (1935)

·                    A Dream Comes True (1935 - short subject)

·                    Anthony Adverse (1936)

·                    The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936)

·                    The Making of a Great Motion Picture (1936 - short subject)

·                    Call It a Day (1937)

·                    It's Love I'm After (1937)

·                    The Great Garrick (1937)

·                    Gold Is Where You Find It (1938)

·                    The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

·                    Four's a Crowd (1938)

·                    Hard to Get (1938)

·                    A Day at Santa Anita (1939 - short subject)

·                    Wings of the Navy (1939)

·                    Dodge City (1939)

·                    The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)

·                    Gone with the Wind (1939)

·                    Raffles (1940)

·                    My Love Came Back (1940)

·                    Santa Fe Trail (1940)

·                    The Strawberry Blonde (1941)

·                    Hold Back the Dawn (1941)

·                    They Died with Their Boots On (1941)

·                    The Male Animal (1942)

·                    In This Our Life (1942)

·                    Show Business at War (1943 - short subject)

·                    Princess O'Rourke (1943)

·                    Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943 film) (1943)

·                    Government Girl (1943)

·                    To Each His Own (1946)

·                    Devotion (1946)

·                    The Well-Groomed Bride (1946)

·                    The Dark Mirror (1946 film) (1946)

·                    The Snake Pit (1948)

·                    The Heiress (1949)

·                    My Cousin Rachel (1952)

·                    That Lady (1955)

·                    Not as a Stranger (1955)

·                    The Ambassador's Daughter (1956)

·                    The Proud Rebel (1958)

·                    Libel (1959)

·                    The Light in the Piazza (1962)

·                    Lady in a Cage (1964)

·                    Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)

·                    The Adventurers (1970)

·                    Pope Joan (1972)

·                    Airport '77 (1977)

·                    The Swarm (1978)

·                    The Fifth Musketeer (1979)