THE YEAR OF DE HAVILLAND

It's definitely time to celebrate!!!! It is the Year of De Havilland!!!! She is 100 today!!!!!!

 She’s now the oldest living Oscar winner. Olivia de Havilland and her late sister, Oscar-winner Joan Fontaine, were the subject of many a story of their infamous feud, but now Olivia needs to be fêted as the last great survivor of Hollywood’s Golden Age, as she celebrates her centennial. De Havilland was a big star before playing Melanie in Gone with the Wind. She came to Warner Brothers in 1935 and was immediately pared with Errol Flynn in Captain Blood. Flynn became a star, and the two would co-star in a series of popular films, climaxing with The Adventures of Robin Hood in 1938. Olivia was Maid Marion, and sexy Errol was a very hot Mr. Hood. In 1939, she played goodie goodie Melanie Wilkes in the mega hit Gone with the Wind.

De Havilland trooped back to the Brothers Warner and was given routine films. She made a loan out to Paramount—Hold Back the Dawn—which netted her a Best Actress nomination. But in 1941 she was up against her sister Joan Fontaine for Suspicion. Joan won, and Olivia never quite got over it. Olivia sued Warner Brothers in 1943 when she thought her seven-year contract was over and Jack Warner added on her suspension time. Olivia was off the screen for two years while the case was stuck in the courts. No other studio dared touch her until the decision. Well, Olivia won and “The De Havilland Decision” meant that a seven-year contract was exactly that. Free of the Warner prison, Olivia went to Paramount and won the 1946 Best Actress Oscar for the great weepie To Each His Own.

In 1948 she won her third Best Actress nomination, playing a mental patient in the gripping The Snake Pit. (She won the New York Film Critics award with the only unanimous vote in history.) In 1949 she reached her peak, winning a second Best Actress Oscar for her brilliant work in William Wyler‘s The Heiress. Not to mention her two Golden Globes awards and numerous other awards and honors.

Olivia married a Frenchman and went to Paris, where she has lived for the past 60 years. She was widowed, and her son from her first marriage died. But she has a lovely daughter, Giselle Galante, who is devoted to her.Queen de Havilland is now the last great Hollywood star and Oscar winner, and had every intention of celebrating her 100th birthday today. She recently stated, “Oh, I can’t wait for it. I’m certainly relishing the idea of living a century. Can you imagine that?

 

"I would prefer to live forever in perfect health, but if I must at some time leave this life, I would like to do so ensconced on a chaise longue, perfumed, wearing a velvet robe and pearl earrings, with a flute of champagne beside me and having just discovered the answer to the last problem in a British cryptic crossword."

"Famous people feel that they must perpetually be on the crest of the wave, not realising that it is against all the rules of life. You can't be on top all the time, it isn't natural."

"The TV business is soul crushing, talent destroying and human being destroying."

"I'm all for typewriters, with instant carbon copies, and seeing films in cinemas."

 

What an achievement. My dearly departed grandmother was a huge fan of hers. She wrote her once and had a written letter from her, but upon her death, we could never did find the letter when the house was being cleaned out. I for one salute Olivia de Havilland. She is the real Oscar gold. Regal and beautiful, and can you believe how good she still looks?!?! Lets all celebrate with her as she passes the century mark with flying colors. A era in film history will pass with her.