Actresses of the Golden Age of Hollywood Olivia De Havilland And Joan Fontaine - sisters. As a reward (and perhaps as a punishment for success), they received a long, long life, during which it seemed that there was everything between them except love and mutual understanding.
However, if you learn from this article something bad about your favorite Melanie from Gone with the Wind, then do not rush to conclusions. As you know, any medal has two sides. Moreover, the sisters had different views on this. Winner of two Oscars, De Havilland and the “Hitchcock blonde” Fontaine, who received her only statuette first, were always a tasty morsel for the press.
Playing off similar sisters who were competing for Hollywood Olympus - what could be more exciting? But there is no smoke without fire, and therefore this whole life-long story fell on “fertile” soil. To figure it out, let's turn to the roots - to the childhood of the De Havilland sisters, and at the same time find out why the youngest Joan was forbidden to have her real name...
By the way, in some sources Olivia is called nothing less than a Princess and a beauty, and Joan is called a simpleton. However, you can form your own opinion.
Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine
The childhood of the De Havilland sisters and their famous mother Lilian Fontaine
The girls' father was Walter De Havilland , a successful lawyer, cousin of the famous aviators Geoffrey and Hereward De Havilland. Mother is an actress who, as a girl, bore the name Lilian Augusta Ruse, and became known as Lilian Fontaine .
Both Walter and Lillian were English, but due to the duties of the father of the family, they spent a long time in Tokyo, where their daughters Olivia were born in 1916 and Joan in 1917.
Further, this story is reminiscent of the fairy tale about Cinderella Joan, who had an evil echidna mother and an arrogant older sister who did not want to share dresses, toys and the attention of her parents. Only all this happened in the “coordinate system” of Joan herself.
The De Havilland family with little Olivia and the house servant / Liliane Fontaine
Lillian, still pursuing her acting ambitions, gave birth two years in a row. Presumably the handsome Walter at this time began an affair with one of the Japanese women who served in their house in Tokyo. This seems to be true, because after divorcing his first wife, he married her.
Relations between the spouses went wrong even before the birth of Joan, who, as luck would have it, turned out to be a very sick girl, which irritated Lillian’s already shattered psyche. This was probably passed on to the children. Therefore, the eldest Olivia, born in love, received more attention and new dresses, and Joan received the remnants of both.
Very soon, Lillian was tired of such a life and, under the pretext of a doctor’s recommendation and caring for the sick Joan, she took her daughters to a warmer place - to California. I didn’t want to return home to Britain with its rainy climate, and besides, Lilian still wanted to be an actress. Living near Hollywood turned out to be the ideal option.
Betty White
- "The Golden Girls", "Lost Valentine", "Boston Legal", "Widower's Love"
American comedian Betty White is rightfully included in the TOP of famous long-lived actors. She was born in 1922 and is still actively involved in filming. In addition, Betty voices popular cartoons and animated series. Despite the fact that White is an actress who is almost 100 years old, she can be seen in popular television shows, and her positive attitude can be the envy of many young colleagues.
Life in California and the first successes of the De Havilland sisters
In California, girls went to school. In her autobiography, published in 1978 under the telling title “Not a Bed of Roses,” Joan told how difficult these years were for her. She wore out her clothes and endured the bullying of her older sister, who beat her and cut her dresses so that Joan would not get them. At school, Olivia was a newspaper editor and wrote a caustic “testament” there:
I bequeath to my sister the ability to win the hearts of boys, which she does not currently possess.
And her mother always took Olivia’s side - she was a beloved child, whom Lillian planned to give an excellent education, and there was no longer enough money or desire for her youngest daughter.
Lilian Fontaine with her daughters
Looking ahead, here we must make allowances for the circumstances: firstly, Joan wanted to sell the book and added as much drama as possible to the story and her interviews, and secondly, in 1975, their mother passed away, which completely quarreled the sisters. After all, Joan was not at the funeral, and she, of course, blamed Olivia for this. In the absence of Lillian, the main witness and judge, it was possible to strike the sister as painfully as possible.
In any case, at the age of 13, Joan ran away from this “hell” to Father Japan. When she returned back, Olivia was already taking her first confident steps in Hollywood, and their mother directed all her efforts to help her eldest daughter. Joan got the role of her sister's cook and driver.
Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland
One of these evenings, when Joan was either delivering sandwiches to Olivia for filming or waiting for her at the gate, the producer approached her. So the younger De Havilland found herself “in the business.” True, at the insistence of her mother, she had to take a pseudonym so that it would not interfere with her eldest daughter’s career. It became the surname of their stepfather - Lilian's second husband George Fontaine.
By the way, “Queen Mother” Lilian herself also became famous under this surname, but after the success of both daughters.
The rivalry between sisters Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland and their three Oscars between them
Olivia's first steps were very consistent and successful. By the time Gone with the Wind was released, Hollywood was already carrying her in her arms. True, she never received the coveted Oscar for her role as Melanie.
Things turned out much worse for my sister - for several years she was a backup singer for more successful actors. But one day fate brought Joan together with an agent who led her to Alfred Hitchcock himself. For him, Fontaine played in “Rebecca” and “Suspicion,” for the latter film in 1942 and received an Oscar. The first of the sisters.
Oscar winners: Joan Fontaine (1942) and Olivia de Havilland (1947)
What added piquancy to the situation was that Olivia was also nominated that year for the film Hold Back the Dawn. They say that at the ceremony Joan did not even look in the direction of her older sister who wanted to congratulate her. Olivia took revenge twice: five years later, receiving her statuette for the film “To Each His Own,” and in 1950 - again for “The Heiress.”
Starting in the 50s, the careers of both sisters gradually began to decline. Subsequently, they both switched to working in television series, which were then gaining momentum.
Movies
The comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream premiered in 1935. Critics received the film lukewarmly, but Olivia de Havilland was praised for her “truthful reading of Shakespeare.”
Olivia de Havilland in A Midsummer Night's Dream
Warner Bros. They believed that adventure cinema would not “take off” during the Great Depression, but they took a risk and released “Captain Blood’s Odyssey” (1935). Olivia's colleague on the set was the then unknown Errol Flynn. In total, the actors appeared together on camera 8 times. "Captain Blood's Odyssey", despite the film company's concerns, was nominated for 4 Oscars, including best picture.
In September 1937, Olivia and Errol received the leading roles in The Adventures of Robin Hood. The story about the altruistic knight was a resounding success and was awarded the main Oscar statuette. The film is considered one of the most popular adventure films of the classic Hollywood era.
Olivia de Havilland in The Adventures of Robin Hood
Warner Bros., grateful for de Havilland's talent, gave her what they thought were the best roles. The actress played “empty” characters in “Four is a Crowd” and “Unapproachable” (1938). Even in her youth, Olivia could not afford to waste time on the roles of typical lovers, and therefore she seriously thought about leaving the film company.
1939 is considered the peak of Hollywood's golden age, but de Havilland could not enjoy this time due to mental anguish. In an interview she recalled:
“I was so depressed that I could barely remember my lines.”
Olivia de Havilland in the film Gone with the Wind
The greatest film project in Hollywood history, Gone with the Wind (1939), helped the actress recover. Producer David Selznick wrote a letter to Warner Bros. asking permission for de Havilland to play the role of Melanie Hamilton Wilkes. While other actresses were fighting for the role of Scarlett O'Hara, Olivia saw herself as Melanie - a character whose quiet dignity and inner strength she felt in herself.
Gone with the Wind won 8 Oscars, and de Havilland was nominated for the first time - for Best Supporting Actress.
Olivia de Havilland and Vivien Leigh
During the Second World War, the actress did not stop acting. The most interesting project was “Hold Back the Dawn” (1941), for which de Havilland had to prematurely “fall into old age” - the story develops over the course of 30 years. To get used to the role, Olivia used different perfumes suitable for each age and changed the timbre of her voice.
Her role in the drama Hold Back the Dawn in 1946 brought the actress her first Oscar. By that time, de Havilland had legally severed her relationship with Warner Bros., and historian Tony Thomas noted that the statuette became a symbol of the long struggle to be called a capable actress.
Olivia de Havilland and Charles Boyer in Hold Back the Dawn
Her first work outside of the contract was the drama “To Each His Own” (1946) about a woman who gives up a child for adoption and then tries to atone for this sin for the rest of her days. De Havilland's "golden" time ended with the drama My Cousin Rachel (1952)
In 1964, the actress played the final two leading roles in her filmography: “Woman in a Cage” and “Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte.” The latest project with Olivia was shared by her best friend Bette Davis. He was nominated for an Oscar 7 times.
Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland in Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte
It became increasingly difficult to choose worthy roles, the number of actresses grew, and de Havilland was forced to go to television. The programs “Afternoon Wine” (1966), “Screaming Woman” (1972), and the TV series “The Love Boat” (1977-1987) followed. Her last project was “The Woman He Loved” (1988).
After retiring as an actress, de Havilland remained faithful to cinema. In 2003, she appeared at the Oscars to announce the winner and ended up receiving a 6.5-minute standing ovation.
Olivia de Havilland and George W. Bush
In 2008, 92-year-old Olivia received the highest professional award, the National Medal of Arts, from the hands of President George W. Bush. 2 years later, she was awarded the Legion of Honor, and on the eve of her 101st birthday, she was awarded the Order of the British Empire and the title “Dame”. De Havilland was unable to attend the ceremony at Buckingham Palace due to health reasons, so she was presented with the award at home in 2020.
Personal life of the De Havilland sisters
As for her personal life, the younger sister beat Olivia here too. Joan first married actor Brian Ahern, but only lived with him for six years. Their divorce, ironically, happened in 1946 - the year of De Havilland's first marriage.
At that time, Joan, always sharp-tongued, was ruthless about her sister’s marriage and did not miss the opportunity to say that her husband, the writer Marcus Goodrich, was a loser and was sitting on his wife’s neck, having not achieved success in Hollywood. However, she was somewhat right.
Joan married three more times and could not live with any of her husbands for ten years. In her second marriage to producer William Dozier, she gave birth to a daughter, Deborah, and took in Puerto Rican Martita Pareja, who ran away from home at the age of 16 so as not to return. After all, the “adoption” was temporary - to give the poor girl an education. Apparently, she was never able to melt Joan’s stone heart in order to stay with her forever.
Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland with their children
What about Olivia? In her first marriage, she gave birth to a son, Benjamin, who became a famous mathematician. Unfortunately, in 1991, illness took him away. The union with his father, as Joan predicted, did not last long; in 1955, Olivia married more successfully - to the publisher of Paris Match, Pierre Galante, giving birth to his daughter Giselle.
They lived with Pierre for 24 years and separated peacefully. Olivia maintained good relations with both husbands, and even personally looked after Galante when he was struggling with a serious illness in the 90s.
Rogue Trophy
Olivia de Havilland's first step in cinema was easy (like everything in life): a cameo role, a meeting with an agent, a contract and almost immediately - the role of the romantic heroine Arabella Bishop, Captain Blood's bride. Olivia's beauty and amazing femininity, which favorably set off the prowess of the “real man” Errol Flynn, who played Blood, pleased America.
Flynn and de Havilland became the most romantic movie couple in Hollywood. They starred in seven films together. Enthusiastic spectators had already, as they say, “married” them, but Olivia for a long time categorically denied any hints of a possible romance. In an interview, de Havilland stated: “I once read somewhere that Flynn wrote that he fell in love with me. I was amazed by this confession, because it never occurred to me that he liked me.”
However, in another interview, given much later, the actress admitted that the attraction was mutual: “Yes, we really were in love with each other, and, perhaps, this was obvious thanks to the on-screen “chemistry” between us. But circumstances turned out to be against us.” According to Olivia, Flynn even proposed to her, but since he was married and delayed getting a divorce, de Havilland eventually turned him away.
Olivia de Havilland hid her affair with Robin Hood almost all her life. Photo: Still from the film
“Many years later,” the actress continues, “having watched The Adventures of Robin Hood, where we starred together, I remembered how good it was for us in those days, and I sat down to write a letter to Flynn. I confessed the warm feelings that every frame with his participation evoked in me. But then... I tore up the letter, deciding that Errol would think I was a fool. And after some time he died. I will forever regret not sending that letter.”
Long life of the De Havilland family
The years that Olivia lived happily in her second marriage in Paris, in the relationship between the sisters, can be called “a bad peace is better than a good quarrel.” That is, they practically did not communicate, maintaining the appearance of a family, so as not to upset their elderly mother.
Lillian passed away in 1975 at the age of 88. It was then that the already middle-aged sisters quarreled to smithereens for many years.
Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland with their mother Lilian Fontaine
Their father died in 1968 at the age of 95 (!) years; at 87, he married for the third time. So, the sisters had good heredity. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter back in 1978, Joan said:
I got married first, won an Oscar before Olivia, and if I die first, she'll undoubtedly be furious because I'll beat her to that too.
And yes... Joan won that bet too. She passed away in 2013 at the age of 96. For many years, Fontaine lived in California almost alone, only occasionally communicating with her sister and her own daughter. Deborah found herself closer to Aunt Olivia than her own mother.
Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland
Olivia dreamed of living to 100, but then changed her mind and decided that 110 years was a more acceptable figure. On July 1 she turned 103 years old. Every year, de Havilland breaks one Hollywood record after another. We hope that our beloved “Melanie” will fulfill her promise and delight us with something interesting from her life!
The secret of the centenarian actress’s youth: “I drank wine during the day and whiskey in the evening!”
On May 1 of this year, all of France celebrated the centenary of one of its most famous actresses, Danielle Darrier. Yes, she is alive, healthy, and, despite the fact that she has retired from active work, she does not seem to complain about life. And on May 6, all Russian publications (including, of course, KP) congratulated Vladimir Etush on his 95th birthday...
On the occasion of these anniversaries, we decided to remember the actors who have already turned one hundred - and at the same time those who are approaching this magical date.
Daniel Darrier (100 years old)
The legendary Frenchwoman began acting as a teenager - at the dawn of sound cinema she sang and danced in the musical “The Ball”. Fame came to her when she was not yet twenty - she starred in the melodrama Mayerling (1936) about the doomed love of the Austro-Hungarian Crown Prince Rudolf and the young Baroness Maria von Vechera. She was immediately invited to Hollywood, but she did not stay there (although, knowing English perfectly, she sometimes later starred in American films). The real heyday came for her in the 50s: she starred in several films by the great director Max Ophüls, then in “Red and Black” with Gerard Philip, in the film “Marie October”, popular at the Soviet box office...
She played her last really high-profile role in 2001, in the acclaimed film “8 Women” by Francois Ozon. In general, it worked until 2010. A few years ago, in an interview with TV Mag, she said: “I always slept well, ate well, drank whiskey in the evenings and wine at the table. And I’m lucky - I have good health, a good memory, I’m not shaking from old age! And for all this I am grateful to heaven.”
Kirk Douglas (100 years old)
A star of the 50s and 60s (Spartacus, Vikings, Lust for Life), the father of Michael Douglas celebrated his 100th birthday last December. He was not prevented from reaching this age by a severe stroke suffered in 1996, after which he lost the ability to speak (however, thanks to therapy, his speech was quickly restored - two months later he was even able to personally accept an honorary Oscar for the achievements of his entire career and thank him from the stage public; about the stroke and its consequences, he wrote a book “My Stroke of Luck”, translated something like “Luck hit the head”). Douglas still acts as a blogger - he used to have a column on MySpace, and now writes for the Huffington Post.
Kirk Douglas is the star of the film “Spartacus” Photo: still from the film.
He considers his happy marriage to be the main reason for his longevity: he has been living in perfect harmony with his second wife Ann (she is now 97 years old) for 63 years. He has no other recipes. “But I believe there is a reason why we are here. I survived a stroke, survived a plane crash to bring more good into this world.” (In 1991, the helicopter in which Douglas was flying collided with a small plane; after this incident, he seriously turned to religion, namely Judaism, in which he was once raised: his parents were Jews who came to the United States from the Russian Empire , from the Belarusian town of Chausy in the Mogilev region. Since the 90s, Douglas has been known as one of the main Hollywood philanthropists - he spends large sums on charity).
Olivia de Havilland (100 years old)
Film historians remember Olivia de Havilland for her roles in adventure films like Captain Blood and Robin Hood, but the mass audience has long forgotten them. But he will never forget Melanie from Gone with the Wind (1939). De Havilland is the only person involved in the film who is still alive as of mid-2017.
A couple of months ago, the series “Feud: Betty and Joan” was released about the extremely difficult relationship between two Hollywood stars Betty Davis and Joan Crawford. Olivia de Havilland was played by Catherine Zeta-Jones. She appears only in episodes, commenting on the main action. And the fate of Olivia herself could also serve as the basis for such a series: she had a complex relationship, bordering on hatred, with her younger sister, actress Joan Fontaine. They say that even as a child, Olivia did not like the very fact that she had a sister: she tore her dresses, forcing Joan to sew them again. They fought quite a lot.
The mass audience will never forget Melanie from Gone with the WindPhoto: still from the film
In 1942, both were nominated for an Oscar, Joan won - and refused to accept Olivia’s congratulations. In 1947, Olivia received the Oscar - and, in turn, pointedly did not shake her sister’s hand, which she extended to her backstage. In the mid-70s, Fontaine said: “You can divorce your sister the same way you can divorce your husband. I don’t communicate with her and I don’t intend to communicate!” And then she said: “I was the first to get married, the first to win an Oscar, and, undoubtedly, I will die first - and my sister will be furious when she realizes that I beat her here too!” Well, Joan did die first - in 2013, at the age of 96. De Havilland now says in an interview that she behaved well towards Joan, but she sometimes “reacted unfairly and even insultingly.”
Olivia lives in Paris (since 1953, since she married the Frenchman Pierre Galante), at the age of one hundred she can climb up and down the stairs in her mansion without problems and without outside help, reads well, despite age-related problems with her eyes, she answers questions asked by e-mail. In response to questions about longevity, he says that the main thing is to love, laugh and constantly learn something.
Doris Day (95 years old)
It’s a pity, but this name will mean almost nothing to the Russian reader: films with Doris Day did not make their way behind the Iron Curtain. Just take my word for it: this is one of the most famous actresses of the 50s and 60s, and at one time she was the top box office star in Hollywood.
Films with Doris Day did not make it behind the Iron CurtainPhoto: still from the film
In fact, she is primarily a singer, and she got into films almost by accident: director Michael Curtiz was looking for a “100% American girl” for a role in the comedy “Love on the High Seas” (1948), and Day’s lack of acting experience did not bother him at all. He turned out to be right: the newly minted actress enjoyed enormous success. She starred mainly in frivolous color musical comedies ("Conversation Under the Blanket", "The Pajama Game", "Please Don't Eat the Daisies"), although there were more serious roles in her filmography - for example, in Alfred Hitchcock's thriller "The Man Who Too Much" knew a lot."
When youth passed, so did her career as an actress. Day has not acted in films since 1968, and on television since 1973, but older Americans cannot forget her. She was nominated for an Oscar only once, although in recent years some film experts and viewers have demanded that the Academy award her an honorary award for her entire career.
Now she lives in the Californian town of Carmel, surrounded by animals (like Brigitte Bardot, she is an ardent defender of their rights). The secret of longevity, in her opinion, is to think positively and not waste time worrying: “What will be, will be!”
And, of course, you need to feel young. All her life, Day believed that she was born in 1924, and only in April 2017, the Associated Press found a birth certificate, from which it was clear that she was born in 1922. Day responded by saying, “I always said age was just a number and I never paid much attention to my birthdays. But it’s cool to finally find out how old I am!”
Yulia Borisova (92 years old)
Yulia Borisova acted rarely in films, but aptly: few will forget her Nastasya Filippovna in Ivan Pyryev’s “The Idiot” (1958) or the diplomat Elena Koltsova, based on Alexandra Kollontai, in the film “Ambassador of the Soviet Union” (1969). But on the stage of the Vakhtangov Theater she has been a prima for many decades. There are television versions of several of her famous performances (the most popular are “The Warsaw Melody” and “Antony and Cleopatra” - in both Borisova played with Mikhail Ulyanov, who said about her: “Yulia Konstantinovna is not the star of the Vakhtangov Theater. She is his great planet!”) Now she participates in the performances “Eugene Onegin. Scenes from a Novel", "Pier" and "Take an Umbrella, Madame Gautier!"
Yulia Borisova acted rarely in films, but aptly: few will forget her Nastasya Filippovna in Ivan Pyryev’s “The Idiot” Photo: still from the film
Borisov does not give interviews. Her partner Vyacheslav Shalevich several years ago said in an interview with KP: “In life, she was unattainable and rather royally did not notice worship and loved only her husband Isaiah Spector (administrator of the Vakhtangov Theater, died in 1974 - Ed.). After she was widowed, she did not let anyone into her life, devoting herself to her son, daughter, grandchildren, and now great-grandchildren. Julia is circling over them so reverently!”
Angela Lansbury (91 years old)
At the age of 14, she moved with her mother and brothers from her native England to America. And soon she was already starring in Hollywood films: for her first film roles, in “Gaslight” (1944) and “The Picture of Dorian Gray” (1945), she received two Oscar nominations in the “Best Supporting Actress” category. However, the career that began so brilliantly ended up developing rather sadly: Lansbury starred in passable films, and most often played women older than herself (“Hollywood has aged me!” she once exclaimed). In The Manchurian Candidate (1962), one of her few truly outstanding films, she played the mother of Laurence Harvey's hero, although in real life she was only three years older than him.
However, the Lansbury Theater had much better luck. And worldwide success came to her thanks to television. In 1983, she was offered a choice of two roles: one in a comedy series, the other in a detective series. Lansbury initially wanted to star in a sitcom, but her agents eventually convinced her to star in a detective story called Murder, She Wrote. And they were not mistaken: the heroine, writer Jessica Fletcher, became no less popular than Lieutenant Columbo (a series about which, by the way, the same producers launched at one time). Lansbury was extremely demanding: she forced the writers to rewrite lines that she didn’t like, she chose costumes and hairstyles herself, she insisted that Jessica Fletcher could not have any romances (otherwise the producers were always trying to push some men on the heroine) - she must stay an example of a strong single woman.
Lansbury starred in pedestrian films, most often playing women older than herself. Photo: still from the film
In 2013, Lansbury received an honorary Oscar for her career achievements. She still appears on stage in plays; next year the new “Mary Poppins” will premiere, where she will appear in the role of a balloon saleswoman.
A couple of years ago she spoke about her longevity: “I’m resting. I sleep during the day. I don't eat anything. Taking care of your body is very important when you reach a certain age. And I am a biomechanical woman: I have new knees, new hips (the actress underwent surgery for medical reasons back in 1994 - Ed.) - everything is new, and this is very important: joint replacement is generally one of the first places on the list of my favorite things !”
