Joan Fontaine
Acting • Born 1917-10-22 – Died 2013-12-15
Biography
Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland (October 22, 1917 – December 15, 2013), known professionally as Joan Fontaine, was an English-American actress who is best known for her starring roles in Hollywood films during the "Golden Age". She was born in Tokyo, Japan, in what was known as the International Settlement. Her father was a British patent attorney with a lucrative practice in Japan, but due to Joan and older sister Olivia de Havilland's recurring ailments the family moved to California in the hopes of improving their health. Mrs. de Havilland and the two girls settled in Saratoga while their father went back to his practice in Japan. Joan's parents did not get along well and divorced soon afterward. Mrs. de Havilland had a desire to be an actress but her dreams were curtailed when she married, but now she hoped to pass on her dream to Olivia and Joan. While Olivia pursued a stage career, Joan went back to Tokyo, where she attended the American School. In 1934 she came back to California, where her sister was already making a name for herself on the stage. Joan likewise joined a theater group in San Jose and then Los Angeles to try her luck there. After moving to L.A., Joan adopted the name of Joan Burfield because she didn't want to infringe upon Olivia, who was using the family surname. She tested at MGM and gained a small role in No More Ladies (1935), but she was scarcely noticed and Joan was idle for a year and a half. During this time she roomed with Olivia, who was having much more success in films. In 1937, this time calling herself Joan Fontaine, she landed a better role as Trudy Olson in You Can't Beat Love (1937) and then an uncredited part in Quality Street (1937). Although the next two years saw her in better roles, she still yearned for something better. In 1940 she garnered her first Academy Award nomination for Rebecca (1940). Although she thought she should have won, (she lost out to Ginger Rogers in Kitty Foyle (1940)), she was now an established member of the Hollywood set. She would again be Oscar-nominated for her role as Lina McLaidlaw Aysgarth in Suspicion (1941), and this time she won. Joan was making one film a year but choosing her roles well. In 1942 she starred in the well-received This Above All (1942). The following year she appeared in The Constant Nymph (1943). Once again she was nominated for the Oscar, she lost out to Jennifer Jones in The Song of Bernadette (1943). By now it was safe to say she was more famous than her older sister and more fine films followed. In 1948, she accepted second billing to Bing Crosby in The Emperor Waltz (1948). Joan took the year of 1949 off before coming back in 1950 with September Affair (1950) and Born to Be Bad (1950). In 1951 she starred in Paramount's Darling, How Could You! (1951), which turned out badly for both her and the studio and more weak productions followed. Absent from the big screen for a while, she took parts in television and dinner theaters. She also starred in many well-produced Broadway plays such as Forty Carats and The Lion in Winter. Her last appearance on the big screen was The Witches (1966) and her final appearance before the cameras was Good King Wenceslas (1994). She is, without a doubt, a lasting movie icon.
Filmography
82 credits
Rebecca
Movie • 1940
Mrs. de Winter
Letter from an Unknown Woman
Movie • 1948
Lisa Berndle
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Movie • 1961
Dr. Susan Hiller
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
Movie • 1956
Susan Spencer
Kiss the Blood Off My Hands
Movie • 1948
Jane Wharton
The Women
Movie • 1939
Peggy Day
Suspicion
Movie • 1941
Lina McLaidlaw Aysgarth
Jane Eyre
Movie • 1943
Jane Eyre
Gunga Din
Movie • 1939
Emmaline "Emmy" Stebbins
You Gotta Stay Happy
Movie • 1948
Dee Dee Dillwood
Ivanhoe
Movie • 1952
Rowena
The Witches
Movie • 1966
Gwen Mayfield
Serenade
Movie • 1956
Kendall Hale
Island in the Sun
Movie • 1957
Mavis Norman
Born to Be Bad
Movie • 1950
Christabel
Ivy
Movie • 1947
Ivy
Becoming Cary Grant
Movie • 2017
Self (archive footage)
The Emperor Waltz
Movie • 1948
Johanna Augusta Franziska
A Damsel in Distress
Movie • 1937
Alyce Marshmorton
Othello
Movie • 1951
Page
Quality Street
Movie • 1937
Charlotte Parratt
The Bigamist
Movie • 1953
Eve Graham
September Affair
Movie • 1950
Manina Stuart
Casanova's Big Night
Movie • 1954
Francesca Bruni
The Constant Nymph
Movie • 1943
Tessa Sanger
A Certain Smile
Movie • 1958
Françoise Ferrand
Something to Live For
Movie • 1952
Jenny Carey
Sky Giant
Movie • 1938
Meg Lawrence
Until They Sail
Movie • 1957
Anne Leslie
This Above All
Movie • 1942
Prudence Cathaway
No More Ladies
Movie • 1935
Caroline Rumsey
Frenchman's Creek
Movie • 1944
Dona St. Columb
Darling, How Could You!
Movie • 1951
Alice Grey
From This Day Forward
Movie • 1946
Susan
The Duke of West Point
Movie • 1938
Ann Porter
Decameron Nights
Movie • 1953
Fiametta / Bartolomea / Ginevra / Isabella
The Affairs of Susan
Movie • 1945
Susan Darell
Blond Cheat
Movie • 1938
Julie Evans
Man of Conquest
Movie • 1939
Eliza Allen
Music for Madame
Movie • 1937
Jean Clemens
You Can't Beat Love
Movie • 1937
Trudy Olson
A Million to One
Movie • 1936
Joan Stevens
Maid's Night Out
Movie • 1938
Sheila Harrison
The Man Who Found Himself
Movie • 1937
Doris King
Flight to Tangier
Movie • 1953
Susan Lane
Howard Hughes: His Women and His Movies
Movie • 2000
Self (archive footage)
The Users
Movie • 1978
Grace St. George
Hollywood: The Selznick Years
Movie • 1961
Self (uncredited)
Before the Fact: Suspicious Hitchcock
Movie • 2004
Self (archive footage)
All by Myself: The Eartha Kitt Story
Movie • 1982
Self
Good King Wenceslas
Movie • 1994
Queen Ludmilla
Dark Mansions
Movie • 1986
Margaret Drake
Hitchcock, Selznick and the End of Hollywood
Movie • 1999
Self (archive footage)
The Art Director
Movie • 1949
Self / Jane Eyre (archive footage) (uncredited)
Tender Is the Night
Movie • 1962
Baby Warren
Breakdowns of 1942
Movie • 1942
Self
Songs for After a War
Movie • 1976
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Showbiz Ballyhoo
Movie • 1982
Self (archive footage)
Joan Fontaine, "Rebecca" Screen Test
Movie • 1939
Self
The Love Boat
TV • 1977
Jennifer Langley
Hotel
TV • 1982
General Electric Theater
TV • 1953
Countess Irene Forelli
Cannon
TV • 1971
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
TV • 1958
One Step Beyond
TV • 1959
Ellen Grayson
The 20th Century Fox Hour
TV • 1955
Aloha Paradise
TV • 1981
The Bing Crosby Show
TV • 1964
The Oscars
TV • 1953
Self
Letter to Loretta
TV • 1953
Self - Guest Host
Talking Pictures
TV • 2013
Self (archive footage)
General Electric Theater
TV • 1953
Melanie Langdon
General Electric Theater
TV • 1953
Laurel Chapman
General Electric Theater
TV • 1953
Judith
General Electric Theater
TV • 1953
Linda Stacey
Four Star Playhouse
TV • 1952
Trudy
Crossings
TV • 1986
Alexandra Markham
What's My Line?
TV • 1950
Self - Panelist
What's My Line?
TV • 1950
Self
The Mike Douglas Show
TV • 1961
Self - Co-Host
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
TV • 1962
Alice Pemberton
The World of Hammer
TV • 1994
Self (archive footage)