
Olivia de Havilland
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Female
Birthday
1916-07-01
Day of Death
2020-07-26 (104 years old)
Place of Birth
Tokyo, Japan
Olivia de Havilland
Biography
Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland DBE (July 1, 1916 - July 25, 2020) was a British-American actress, whose career spanned from 1935 to 1988. She appeared in 49 feature films, and was one of the leading movie stars during the golden age of Classical Hollywood. She is best known for her early screen performances in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) and Gone with the Wind (1939), and her later award-winning performances in To Each His Own (1946), The Snake Pit (1948), and The Heiress (1949).
Born in Tokyo to British parents, de Havilland and her younger sister, actress Joan Fontaine, moved with their mother to California in 1919. They were brought up by their mother Lilian, a former stage actress who taught them drama, music, and elocution.
Olivia de Havilland made her screen debut in Reinhardt's A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1935. During her career, she often played demure ingénues opposite popular leading men, including Errol Flynn, with whom she made nine films. They became one of Hollywood's most popular romantic on-screen pairings.
She achieved her initial popularity in romantic comedy films, such as The Great Garrick (1937), and in Westerns, such as Dodge City (1939). Her natural beauty and refined acting style made her particularly effective in historical period dramas, such as Anthony Adverse (1936), and romantic dramas, such as Hold Back the Dawn (1941).
In her later career, she was most successful in dramas, such as Light in the Piazza (1962), and unglamorous roles in psychological dramas including Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964). In addition to her film career, de Havilland continued her work in the theatre, appearing three times on Broadway. She also worked in television, appearing in the successful miniseries, Roots: The Next Generations (1979), and television feature films, such as Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna, for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.
During her film career, de Havilland won two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, 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. For her lifetime contribution to the arts, she received the National Medal of Arts from President George W. Bush, and was appointed a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
De Havilland and Joan Fontaine are the only siblings to have won Academy Awards in a lead acting category. A lifelong rivalry between the two actresses resulted in an estrangement that lasted over three decades. De Havilland lived in Paris since 1956, and celebrated her 100th birthday on July 1, 2016.
In June 2017, two weeks before her 101st birthday, de Havilland was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to drama. She was the oldest woman ever to receive the honour. In a statement, she called it "the most gratifying of birthday presents".
Acting
(2021)
The Rebellious Olivia de Havilland
as Self - Actress
(2009)
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
as Self (archive footage)
(2005)
The Adventures of Errol Flynn
as Self - Actress (also archive footage)
(2004)
(1995)
(1988)
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind
as Self - Cast Member in 'Gone with the Wind' (archive footage)
(1988)
The Woman He Loved
as Aunt Bessie Merryman
(1985)
Night of 100 Stars II
as Self
(1983)
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
(1983)
(1983)
(1982)
Murder Is Easy
as Honoria Waynflete
(1982)
The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana
as Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother
(1979)
The Fifth Musketeer
as Anne d'Autriche
(1978)
The Swarm
as Maureen Schuester
(1978)
Inside 'the Swarm'
as Self
(1977)
Airport '77
as Emily Livingston
(1972)
Pope Joan
as Mother Superior
(1972)
The Screaming Woman
as Laura Wynant
(1970)
The Adventurers
as Deborah Hadley
(1969)
The Extraordinary Seaman
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
(1966)
Noon Wine
as Ellie Thompson
(1964)
Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte
as Miriam Deering
(1964)
Lady in a Cage
as Mrs. Cornelia Hilyard
(1962)
Light in the Piazza
as Meg Johnson
(1959)
Libel
as Lady Margaret Anne Loddon
(1958)
The Proud Rebel
as Linnett Moore
(1956)
The Ambassador's Daughter
as Joan Fisk
(1955)
Not as a Stranger
as Kristina Hedvigson / Kristina Marsh
(1955)
That Lady
as Ana de Mendoza
(1952)
My Cousin Rachel
as Rachel Sangalletti Ashley
(1949)
The Heiress
as Catherine Sloper
(1948)
The Snake Pit
as Virginia Stuart Cunningham
(1946)
The Dark Mirror
as Terry Collins / Ruth Collins
(1946)
Devotion
as Charlotte Brontë
(1946)
To Each His Own
as Miss Josephine 'Jody' Norris
(1946)
The Well Groomed Bride
as Margie Dawson
(1944)
Breakdowns of 1944
as Self
(1943)
Government Girl
as Elizabeth 'Smokey' Allard
(1943)
Thank Your Lucky Stars
as Self
(1943)
Princess O'Rourke
as Princess Maria
(1943)
Show-Business at War
as Self
(1943)
(1942)
In This Our Life
as Roy Timberlake
(1942)
The Male Animal
as Ellen Turner
(1942)
Breakdowns of 1942
as Self
(1941)
They Died with Their Boots On
as Elizabeth Bacon
(1941)
The Strawberry Blonde
as Amy Lind
(1941)
Hold Back the Dawn
as Emmy Brown
(1940)
Santa Fe Trail
as Kit Carson Holliday
(1940)
(1940)
My Love Came Back
as Amelia Cornell
(1939)
Gone with the Wind
as Melanie Hamilton
(1939)
Dodge City
as Abbie Irving
(1939)
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
as Lady Penelope Gray
(1939)
Raffles
as Gwen
(1939)
Wings of the Navy
as Irene Dale
(1938)
The Adventures of Robin Hood
as Maid Marian
(1938)
Hard to Get
as Margaret "Maggie" Richards
(1938)
Gold Is Where You Find It
as Serena Ferris
(1938)
Four's a Crowd
as Lorri Dillingwell
(1938)
Out Where the Stars Begin
as Serena Ferris (archive footage)
(1937)
It's Love I'm After
as Marcia West
(1937)
Call It a Day
as Catherine 'Cath' Hilton
(1937)
A Day at Santa Anita
as Olivia de Havilland (uncredited)
(1937)
The Great Garrick
as Germaine de la Corbe
(1936)
Anthony Adverse
as Angela Guiseppe
(1936)
The Charge of the Light Brigade
as Elsa Campbell
(1936)
(1936)
(1935)
Captain Blood
as Arabella Bishop
(1935)
A Midsummer Night's Dream
as Hermia
(1935)
A Dream Comes True
as Herself (uncredited)
(1935)
The Irish in Us
as Lucille Jackson
(1935)
Alibi Ike
as Dolly Stevens