Oscar-winning in 1947 and 1950 for his roles in “To Each His Own” (1946) and “The Heiress” (1949), Havilland was born in Japan in a British family on 1 July 1916.
Since 1941, he has been a citizen of the United States of America, and since 1953 he lives in Paris.
Together with Kirk Douglas, born in 1916, Olivia de Havilland is the longest-running Hollywood star. He has worked with famous producers such as David O. Selznick, with directors such as Michael Curtiz and Anatole Litvak and actors such as Errol Flynn and Mickey Rooney.
With a lawyer father, Walter de Havilland, a descendant of a British family in Guernsey, and a theater actress mother with a short career in cinema in the 1940s, Olivia de Havilland is the cousin of Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, a pioneer of aviation.
In 1919, her parents parted, and her mother had the idea of moving to Saratoga, near San Francisco.
In 1934, Olivia de Havilland was preparing to become an English teacher when she was spotted by director Max Reinhardt in “The Dream of a Summer Night” after William Shakespeare, playing with a band of amateurs. Reinhardt hired her for a film adaptation, signing a five-year contract with Warner Brothers studios. In the following years, she appeared in “Captain Blood” (1935) along with the then-unknown Australian Errol Flynn. They become the most famous couple on the screen.
Four films, including “The Charge of the Light Brigade” (1936) and Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), were followed by Errol Flynn.
In 1939, Olivia de Havilland starred in “The Wings of the Wind,” produced by influential David O. Selznick, starring Melanie Hamilton, who became the wife of Ashley Wilkes (played by Leslie Howard), loved by Scarlett O’Hara Vivien Light).
“The Wings of the Wind” was rewarded with nine Oscar prizes and the biggest cash of that time.
From her record, two Golden Globes and an award ceremony received in Venice for “The Snake Pit” (1948).
Among the films, she starred include “The Dark Mirror” (1946), “My Cousin Rachel” (1952) and The Psychological Thriller “Hush … Hush Sweet Charlotte” (1964 ), alongside Bette Davis, part of the Fifth Musketeer, alongside Ursula Andress and Beau Bridges, followed by films and television series including “North and South” with Patrick Swayze, Kirstie Alley and Lesley-Anne Down.
Olivia de Havilland said he saw “The Wings of the Wind” a few dozen times and “every time, it brings me joy.”
“Fortunately, do not make me melancholy,” she told her colleagues who did not live. “When I see them vibrate on the screen, I have experienced such a meeting with them, I am happy.”
In 1960, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and in 2008, Olivia de Havilland was rewarded by President George W. Bush with the US National Medal for the Arts.
In 2017, the actress sued FX Networks at the Los Angeles Superior Court, saying she had not allowed herself to be featured on Ryan Murphy’s “Feud: Bette and Joan” series, and that the way she is presented has affected its reputation.
In the series, her role is played by Catherine Zeta-Jones. Susan Sarandon is Bette Davis, and Jessica Lange, Joan Crawford.
The trial was overturned by a California court of appeal, the judges arguing that producers are entitled to make changes to an event in their presentation, in order to make it more attractive to the public. Later, he arrived at the Supreme Court in California, who also rejected him. At the end of last year, she asked the US Supreme Court to investigate her case.
