Olivia dehavilland

Olivia de Havilland was born in Tokyo, Japan (yes, you read correctly, it is not a mistake) on July 1, 1916. A year later, her sister Joan, also an actress, known as Joan Fontaine , would also be there. Well, he changed his artistic surname by taking his mother’s to avoid comparisons with Olivia, with whom he doesn’t get along too well. The reason for being born in such an exotic place was her father’s profession, a patent attorney, English like his wife. The fact is that the marriage was not going to last long, since they divorced when Olivia was three years old, and shortly after the mother, Lillian Fontaine , left with her girls for Saratoga in California, United States, in search of a better life.

Between the fact that the mother liked to act, and that Olivia excelled in such activity at school, the fact is that in a school performance of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, Shakespeare’s play, she played the role of Puck. A luxury spectator, Max Reinhardt, noticed the young woman at Mills College, and when she decided to make a film for WarnerA Midsummer Night’s Dream , he decided to offer Olivia another role from that play, that of Hermia. The rookie actress made her entrance into the Hollywood Olympus in 1935, at just 19 years old, and the studios, which soon saw her potential, offered her a contract. Almost immediately after her, she would begin her long film association with Errol Flynn , with whom she made nine films, westerns and adventures, some of them mythical asCaptain Blood (1935), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936) ,Robin of the Woods (1938),Santa Fe Trail (1940) andThey Died With Their Boots On (1941). About the actor he commented that “he was a devil, he teased me all the time. He was uncomfortable and very hard to work with. However, the movies worked.” He was also partnering with Hungarian-born director Michael Curtiz . But perhaps in this early period she shone above all when she was signed toGone with the Wind (1939), on loan to Metro; the film was her first Oscar nomination, of the five she had, although her co-star Hattie McDaniel would take the award . Although she was listed as a director by the great Victor Fleming , the actress gave the final result credit to producer David O. Selznick , for preserving her original vision, without giving in an iota, despite the dance of directors the film met.

Oliva’s second choice for the statuette was in 1941 forIf It Didn’t Dawn , by Mitchell Leisen , who also directed him five years later inThe intimate life of Julia Norris , which finally gave her the coveted award. It was an intense drama, in which a pregnant woman in socially scandalous conditions must give up her baby. Curiously, in 1941 she was competing with her own sister, who had followed her acting steps in the movies, and she did win forSuspicion , Alfred Hitchcock ‘s suspense. The lack of brotherly congratulations made their bad relationship clear.

Although he did not frequent comedy too much, he had a leading role in the funny The Redhead (1941), along with James Cagney . Ella e ella did a creditable double role of twin sisters in the thriller of the expert in film noir Robert Siodmak Through the looking glass (1946).

De La Havilland’s differences with Warner, settled in court, were famous. The draconian contract with the studio, for seven years, stipulated that if the actress refused to make a film, the time she was without work would be added to the seven years already provided. These conditionals, common at that time, were amazing, since it meant a diminished ability to choose interesting plots, and the possibility of prolonging the time that an actor was tied to studying it to infinity. The actress did not swallow, and she went to trial. Although the situation kept her in the dry dock for almost three years, she won the lawsuit, and she set an essential precedent for the future contractual conditions of the actors.

In her personal life, the actress went through two marriages that ended in divorce. In 1946 she married Marcus Goodrich, who gave her a son, who died at the age of 42; and in 1955 she did it with Pierre Galante, with whom she had a daughter, and from whom she separated in 1979. Before her, gossip had awarded her many romances with actors, in which it is difficult to distinguish reality from legend. . Her second marriage led him to establish her residence in France, and it was precisely in Paris that she died. Of how appreciated she is in the French country, she gives an idea of ​​the fact that she presided over the jury of the Cannes Film Festival in 1965, the first woman to do so.

Nest of Vipers (1948), a new thriller, would be de la Havilland’s fourth Oscar nomination. But the statuette double would not arrive until the following year withThe Heiress , by William Wyler , an extraordinary composition of the character imagined by the novelist Henry James . The final scene of the film, with Olivia refusing to open the door to her supposedly in love with her Montgomery Clift , is simply memorable.

The 50s would continue to produce interesting titles, such asMy cousin Raquel (1952) andThe princess of Eboli (1955). She would also return to work under Curtiz atThe proud rebel (1958). But the star was beginning to fade. Which was not an obstacle for her brilliance to shine in the intrigue ofLullaby for a Corpse (1962), by Robert Aldrich , which brought him together with another unforgettable actress, Bette Davis , in an amazing acting duel. From then on, her film presence is in titles that claim old glories in small roles, such asAirport 77 (1977) orThe swarm (1978). The last appearance of him on the big screen would be in 1979 inThe Fifth Musketeer . From then on, fleeting television appearances inHolidays at sea orNorth and South , marked his last works, untilThe Woman He Loved , from 1988.