Olivia de Havilland

Acting · 2.2 popularity

Age

110

Movies

Born: July 1, 1916 – July 26, 2020
From: Tokyo, Japan

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".

Works

83 films

Gone with the Wind

19397.9

The Adventures of Robin Hood

19387.5

The Dark Mirror

19467.0

Airport '77

19775.6

The Swarm

19785.0

Captain Blood

19357.2

They Died with Their Boots On

19416.7

The Heiress

19497.8

Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte

19647.3

The Charge of the Light Brigade

19366.5

Dodge City

19396.9

Santa Fe Trail

19405.8

A Midsummer Night's Dream

19356.4

The Proud Rebel

19586.1

Night of 100 Stars II

19856.8

The Snake Pit

19487.1

In This Our Life

19426.9

The Fifth Musketeer

19794.9

1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year

20097.5

My Cousin Rachel

19526.7

The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies

19958.0

The Woman He Loved

198810.0

Breakdowns of 1942

19426.0

Light in the Piazza

19626.4

The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind

19888.2

Beyond Tara: The Extraordinary Life of Hattie McDaniel

2001

The Extraordinary Seaman

19693.4

Not as a Stranger

19556.2

The Adventures of Errol Flynn

20057.7

Princess O'Rourke

19436.5

Government Girl

19435.7

Pope Joan

19726.1

That Lady

19556.6

Lady in a Cage

19646.1

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex

19396.3

The Adventurers

19704.7

Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage

19837.0

The Fabulous Allan Carr

20174.5

The Strawberry Blonde

19417.0

Murder Is Easy

19826.6

Gold Is Where You Find It

19387.0

Cavalcade of the Academy Awards

19406.3

Hard to Get

19386.3

Breakdowns of 1944

19446.5

Jacques Tati, tombé de la lune

20217.5

Stardust: The Bette Davis Story

20066.6

The Rebellious Olivia de Havilland

20217.3

Four's a Crowd

19385.5

To Each His Own

19467.0

Destins secrets d’étoiles - Grace, Jackie, Liz, Marilyn…

20158.0

Gone with the Wind – Makeup and Wardrobe Tests

2020

The Male Animal

19424.5

Bette Davis: The Benevolent Volcano

19837.8

Devotion

19465.9

Raffles

19396.2

Thank Your Lucky Stars

19436.2

Hold Back the Dawn

19416.7

Errol Flynn: Portrait of a Swashbuckler

1983

Inside 'the Swarm'

19788.0

It's Love I'm After

19377.1

Screen Snapshots (Series 16, No. 1)

19366.0

A Dream Comes True

19356.3

The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana

19825.5

Anthony Adverse

19365.7

Libel

19596.8

Show-Business at War

19437.0

The Screaming Woman

19726.8

Noon Wine

19667.0

Wings of the Navy

19396.2

The Ambassador's Daughter

19564.9

Leslie Howard: The Man Who Gave a Damn

20159.0

A Day at Santa Anita

19376.0

British Pathé Newsreels: Gone with the Wind

1939

Call It a Day

19377.0

My Love Came Back

19404.9

The Great Garrick

19376.3

The Irish in Us

19357.5

Alibi Ike

19356.2

Out Where the Stars Begin

19386.8

The Well Groomed Bride

19465.7

The Making of a Great Motion Picture

19366.7

Melanie Remembers: Reflections by Olivia de Havilland

20047.2

Stars on Horseback

19435.0