Born in Tokyo, Olivia de Havilland seemed destined for acting greatness from a young age. She came from a storied family tradition (her mother a stage actress, her father a patent attorney & professor), her cousin the designer of the famed de Havilland airplanes (which you'll know from cinema classics like Out of Africa and The English Patient). She was taught Shakespeare and music at a young age, but didn't intend to become an actress...until destiny took a hand. While she was studying to be a teacher, she was understudying as Hermia in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream when the actress who was playing the part (Gloria Stuart...yes, Titanic's Gloria Stuart) left the production and de Havilland was allowed to play the role. When a production of the movie was about to be made at Warner Brothers, de Havilland was signed to a contract and played the same part. For the next fifty years, she'd act almost continually in film and eventually television.
For most, Olivia de Havilland's legend begins (and for casual film fans) ends with Gone with the Wind. It's certainly where I discovered her. I remember, like many, not liking Melanie Wilkes the first time I saw the film. She was too timid, too mousy, too nice compared to the flaming fire that was Scarlett O'Hara. But upon repeat visits, you have to admire Melanie. She's kind, but no pushover. Look at the scene where she introduces Scarlett, the wanton woman in crimson, to everyone at the party, letting them all know that she forgave Scarlett...and thus shoving the salt that much deeper into the wound of Scarlett's betrayal of Melanie. De Havilland won her first of five Oscar nominations for the role, and while she didn't win, her later victory (especially for The Heiress, perhaps her best role) proved that Melanie was no accident.
De Havilland's legend didn't confine itself just to her film roles. She was a fighter, and perhaps the most critical figure in taking down the studio system. When Warner Brothers extended her contract (she felt she was getting garbage films, one of which we reviewed here and agreed with Olivia's assessment of the script), Warner said that they deserved more time from one of their biggest stars, and insisted that she had another six months on her contract, and so she sued to get out of the contract. Other stars had tried this (including de Havilland's good pal Bette Davis), but Olivia was the first to win. Afterwards, Jack Warner tried to blackball her, but Paramount signed her to a two picture deal, the first of which was To Each His Own...for which de Havilland won an Oscar, and suddenly the studio system could no longer blackball a performer into doing as they wished.
De Havilland's other legend, of course, involved her complicated relationship with her sister Joan Fontaine, the only two siblings to win Oscars in the lead acting categories, with Joan winning for Suspicion over Olivia's performance in Hold Back the Dawn. There's been more ink spilled over this feud than probably either sister ever could have imagined, and while I can't say it wasn't occasionally gossipy & intriguing to read the feuding comments of two screen legends, I hope both have found peace on the other side with whatever drove this fracture.
This is a sad day. There will be film fans and critics who pronounce this the end of an era, the last great star of the 1940's laid to rest, and in some ways they're right. But I take comfort in knowing that Olivia de Havilland hasn't made a movie in twenty years, and yet in the past few years as I've delved further into this era's films, I feel like I've never known her work more. I'm sure I'm not alone in that journey. A great star like Olivia de Havilland is afforded immortality as long as people love the many, many stories she gifted us with in her lifetime, and so while I bid adieu to her today, I know it will not be goodbye-I'll see her again, at the movies.
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