Publisher's Synopsis
Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland DBE, born on July 1st, 1916, Tokyo, Empire of Japan, was an actress, who appeared in 49 movies, being one of the leading stars of her time. Olivia was the last major survivor the Golden Age of Hollywood Cinema and oldest Academy Award winner before she passed away on July 26th 2020. Her younger sister was the actress Joan Fontaine. De Havilland 1st became famous when playing opposite Errol Flynn in adventure films including Captain Blood (1935) then The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). One of her best-known roles was that of Melanie Hamilton in Gone with the Wind (1939), for which she received her first of 5 Oscar nominations, the only one for Best Supporting Actress.
Olivia stopped appearing in ingénue roles during the '40s, being acclaimed for her performances in Hold Back the Dawn (1941), To Each His Own (1946), The Snake Pit (1948), and The Heiress (1949), receiving Oscar nominations for Best Actress for each, winning for To Each His Own and The Heiress. She also received praise for her roles on stage and TV. De Havilland lived in Paris from the '50s, receiving honours including the National Medal of the Arts and the Légion d'honneur, having been appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Olivia continued to appear in the theatre, including 3 times on Broadway, in Romeo and Juliet (1951), Candida (1952), and A Gift of Time (1962). She was also on TV, starring in the hit miniseries Roots: The Next Generations (1979) then Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna (1986), for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Television Movie or Series. During her motion picture career, de Havilland was also given 2 New York Film Critics Circle Awards, the National Board of Review Award for Best Actress, and the Venice Film Festival Volpi Cup, having received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to the movie industry. Olivia and Joan Fontaine are the only siblings to have won any Academy Awards.
