Olivia de Havilland

Career / Biography

Olivia De Havilland was a successful and popular British actress in the 1930's and 1940's and the sister of Joan Fontaine. She won the Oscar for Best actress twice, was nominated twice more for Best Actress and a further nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She was brought up with a strained atmosphere with her step father that fed into a lifelong animosity between the two sisters. She acted in her local theatre in Midsummers Night Dream, was spotted by Max Reinhardt who signed her to appear at the Hollywood bowl and from that she appeared in his film version for Warner Bros. She appeared in a number of films with Errol Flynn, starting with Captain Blood and then Charge Of The Light Brigade. They worked well together in period films and the on screen chemistry is evident in films like The Adventures Of Robin Hood. Her opportunity to be more than the love interest to swashbuckling Errol Flynn came with her role in Gone With The Wind for which she was Oscar nominated. She fought for more dramatic acting roles after this and had another Oscar nomination for Hold Back The Dawn. In 1943 she fought Warner Bros over her contract, which she won but was blacklisted in the industry for two years. She then signed a deal with Paramount and made To Each His Own for which she won a best actress Oscar. She had another Oscar nomination for the Snake Pit playing a woman with a mental illness and the problems with the system. She continued with challenging roles in The Heiress for which she won her second Oscar as it showed off her dramatic acting ability. In the 1950's she did less films as she was more involved with her young family. In 1955 she married her second husband who was French and they moved to France. In 1964 she played the villain character opposite Bette Davis in Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte. She was more selective in the few films she appeared in and also worked on television. In 1988 she retired from acting.

Olivia de Havilland

Career / Biography

Films

Oscars