Olivia de Havilland
Acting • Born 1916-07-01 – Died 2020-07-26
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".
Filmography
93 credits
Gone with the Wind
Movie • 1939
Melanie Hamilton
Santa Fe Trail
Movie • 1940
Kit Carson Holliday
Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte
Movie • 1964
Miriam Deering
The Fifth Musketeer
Movie • 1979
Anne d'Autriche
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Movie • 1938
Maid Marian
Murder Is Easy
Movie • 1982
Honoria Waynflete
Airport '77
Movie • 1977
Emily Livingston
Princess O'Rourke
Movie • 1943
Princess Maria
The Heiress
Movie • 1949
Catherine Sloper
Lady in a Cage
Movie • 1964
Mrs. Cornelia Hilyard
Thank Your Lucky Stars
Movie • 1943
Self
In This Our Life
Movie • 1942
Roy Timberlake
Anthony Adverse
Movie • 1936
Angela Guiseppe
The Snake Pit
Movie • 1948
Virginia Cunningham
The Charge of the Light Brigade
Movie • 1936
Elsa Campbell
The Dark Mirror
Movie • 1946
Terry Collins / Ruth Collins
Light in the Piazza
Movie • 1962
Meg Johnson
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
Movie • 1939
Lady Penelope Gray
Captain Blood
Movie • 1935
Arabella Bishop
They Died with Their Boots On
Movie • 1941
Elizabeth Bacon
Four's a Crowd
Movie • 1938
Lorri Dillingwell
The Swarm
Movie • 1978
Maureen Schuester
Dodge City
Movie • 1939
Abbie Irving
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Movie • 1935
Hermia
Hold Back the Dawn
Movie • 1941
Emmy Brown
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Movie • 1983
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Government Girl
Movie • 1943
Elizabeth 'Smokey' Allard
Devotion
Movie • 1946
Charlotte Brontë
To Each His Own
Movie • 1946
Miss Josephine 'Jody' Norris
The Male Animal
Movie • 1942
Ellen Turner
The Strawberry Blonde
Movie • 1941
Amy Lind
Not as a Stranger
Movie • 1955
Kristina Hedvigson / Kristina Marsh
My Cousin Rachel
Movie • 1952
Rachel Sangalletti Ashley
Libel
Movie • 1959
Lady Margaret Anne Loddon
The Proud Rebel
Movie • 1958
Linnett Moore
The Ambassador's Daughter
Movie • 1956
Joan Fisk
The Adventurers
Movie • 1970
Deborah Hadley
It's Love I'm After
Movie • 1937
Marcia West
Wings of the Navy
Movie • 1939
Irene Dale
The Adventures of Errol Flynn
Movie • 2005
Self - Actress (also archive footage)
Out Where the Stars Begin
Movie • 1938
Serena Ferris (archive footage)
Inside 'the Swarm'
Movie • 1978
Self
Alibi Ike
Movie • 1935
Dolly Stevens
The Great Garrick
Movie • 1937
Germaine de la Corbe
The Screaming Woman
Movie • 1972
Laura Wynant
Call It a Day
Movie • 1937
Catherine 'Cath' Hilton
That Lady
Movie • 1955
Ana de Mendoza
Raffles
Movie • 1939
Gwen
The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana
Movie • 1982
Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother
The Irish in Us
Movie • 1935
Lucille Jackson
My Love Came Back
Movie • 1940
Amelia Cornell
Gold Is Where You Find It
Movie • 1938
Serena Ferris
Hard to Get
Movie • 1938
Margaret "Maggie" Richards
The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies
Movie • 1995
Self
The Woman He Loved
Movie • 1988
Aunt Bessie Merryman
The Well Groomed Bride
Movie • 1946
Margie Dawson
Melanie Remembers: Reflections by Olivia de Havilland
Movie • 2004
Herself
Noon Wine
Movie • 1966
Ellie Thompson
Night of 100 Stars II
Movie • 1985
Self
Pope Joan
Movie • 1972
Mother Superior
Errol Flynn: Portrait of a Swashbuckler
Movie • 1983
Self
A Day at Santa Anita
Movie • 1937
Olivia de Havilland (uncredited)
A Dream Comes True
Movie • 1935
Herself (uncredited)
Breakdowns of 1944
Movie • 1944
Self
Show-Business at War
Movie • 1943
Self
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
Movie • 1940
Self
The Making of a Great Motion Picture
Movie • 1936
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind
Movie • 1988
Self - Cast Member in 'Gone with the Wind' (archive footage)
Screen Snapshots (Series 16, No. 1)
Movie • 1936
Self
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
Movie • 2009
Self (archive footage)
Bette Davis: The Benevolent Volcano
Movie • 1983
Self
Stars on Horseback
Movie • 1943
Breakdowns of 1942
Movie • 1942
Self
The Rebellious Olivia de Havilland
Movie • 2021
Self - Actress
The Extraordinary Seaman
Movie • 1969
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Jacques Tati, tombé de la lune
Movie • 2021
The Merv Griffin Show
TV • 1962
Self
The Hollywood Palace
TV • 1964
Self
Roots: The Next Generations
TV • 1979
Mrs. Warner
ABC Stage 67
TV • 1966
Ellie Thompson
The Oscars
TV • 1953
Self
The Mike Douglas Show
TV • 1961
Self
North and South
TV • 1985
Mrs. Neal
The Ed Sullivan Show
TV • 1948
Self
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
TV • 1973
Self
What's My Line?
TV • 1950
Self - Mystery Guest
The Love Boat
TV • 1977
Aunt Hilly
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
TV • 1962
Self
Golden Globe Awards
TV • 1944
Self - Nominee / Presenter
Anastasia - The Mystery of Anna
TV • 1986
Dowager Empress Maria
Reflets de Cannes
TV • 1954
Self
Golden Globe Awards
TV • 1944
Self - Presenter
People's Choice Awards
TV • 1975
Self