Oscr Profile #79: Olivia de Havilland

Born July 1, 1916 to a British patent attorney and his wife in Tokyo, Japan, Olivia de Havilland’s parents were divorced when she was three, after which she moved with her mother and younger sister, future star Joan Fontaine, to Saratoga, California. Catching the acting bug in high school, de Havilland was spotted by the legendary Max Reinhardt in a college production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and immediately cast in his stage production. He also cast her in the 1935 film version in which her performance so impressed Warner Bros. that they signed her to a seven year contract. Starring roles in major films including The Irish in Us; Captain Blood; Anthony Adverse and The Adventures of Robin Hood soon followed.

While just about every actress in Hollywood and beyond auditioned for the role of Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind, de Havilland sought the second lead of Melanie Hamilton practically unopposed and won it. It brought her the first of her five Oscar nominations.

De Havilland received a second Oscar nomination for playing the mousey schoolteacher who is duped into marrying Charles Boyer so he can become a U.S. citizen in 1941’s Hold Back the Dawn. She lost to Fontaine in Suspicion. Fontaine’s brushing past de Havilland in her rush to the podium was the first public indication of the sisters’ lifelong feud, allegedly sparked by Fontaine feeling that de Havilland was her mother’s favorite child.

Both Gone With the Wind and Hold Back the Dawn were made on loan out to other studios. Having been placed on suspension several times for protesting the roles she was given at her home studio, Warner Bros. informed her at the end of her seven year contract that the contract was extended an additional six months to cover the times she had been on suspension. An irate de Havilland sued and did not appear in a film from 1943 to 1946 while the case was being litigated. The California Court of Appeals ruled that performers did not have to make up the time. That landmark decision became known as The De Havilland Law.

The actress made a triumphant comeback in two 1946 films, To Each His Own and The Dark Mirror, winning an Oscar for the former. She followed those successes with two more, 1948’s The Snake Pit and 1949’s The Heiress, both of which brought her additional Oscar nominations. Following in the footsteps of Luise Rainer and Bette Davis, she became only the third actress to win two Oscars when she won her second for The Heiress.

After turning down the role of Blanche Du Bois in A Streetcar Named Desire, she starred in the 1952 film version of Daphne Du Murier’s My Cousin Rachel, after which she made several films of varying quality. She did not give another critically acclaimed performance until 1962’s Light in the Piazza.

She replaced Joan Crawford in 1964’s Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte opposite old friend Bette Davis. It was to be her last starring role. After that she played several supporting roles, usually as elegant ladies or aristocrats. Most of her later work was on TV where she played the Dowager Empress in the 1986 mini-series, Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna and Wallis Simpson’s aunt in that same year’s The Woman He Loved, her last on-screen appearance to date.

Seen now mainly at awards shows and tributes, Olivia de Havilland may yet have another great performance in her, but time is running out. The actress, who has lived in Paris since the 1950s, will be 96 in three months.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

TO EACH HIS OWN (1946), directed by Mitchell Leisen

Filmgoers got their first glimpse of 29 year-old de Havilland in three years as a gruff middle-aged businesswoman navigating the London blitz. They were relieved to find the actress’s legal problems hadn’t caused premature aging when the film flashed back to an 18 year-old de Havilland being romanced by a World War I daredevil flyer, played by John Lund. Left pregnant by Lund, who is killed in the war, de Havilland secretly has the baby which is adopted by a childless couple.

When the couple has a child of their own four years later, the now well-off de Havilland arranges to get the child back, but the boy misses his “Mommy”. The film flashes forward to World War II London, where the son, knowing he was adopted but not knowing de Havilland is his mother, is on leave where he and his fiancé are being wined and dined by de Havilland and her friend, a British lord, played by Roland Culver.

Will he figure it out? Will de Havilland tell him? Will Culver? The film has one of the most satisfying endings of any Hollywood film, featuring one of the best closing lines in film history. The look on de Havilland’s face when Lund taps her on the shoulder and asks her to dance is alone worthy of an Oscar.

THE DARK MIRROR (1946), directed by Robert Siodmak

De Havilland pulls out all the stops in this celebrated film noir which rumor has it will finally see a U.S. DVD and Blu-ray release this year.

Playing identical twins, one of whom is a murderess, detective Thomas Mitchell has both twins submit to a mental examination by psychiatrist Lew Ayres to determine which one is the killer.

Ayres falls in love with the good twin, but can he prove she is the innocent one? Will the jealous evil twin strike again?

Ayres, who had been held in low esteem by the public for being a conscientious objector during the war, was cast at de Havilland’s insistence. The resultant publicity which played up Ayres’ heroism as a non-combatant medic brought him renewed respect and an enduring career that lasted until his death fifty years later at the age of 88.

THE SNAKE PIT (1948), directed by Anatole Litvak

One of the first major films to deal with mental illness, de Havilland delivers a stunning tour-de-force performance as a woman who can’t understand why she has been sent to a mental institution. The flashbacks, relapses and eventual cure are richly detailed and de Havilland is given a strong cast to support her including Mark Stevens, Leo Genn, Celeste Holm, Beulah Bondi, Lee Patrick and Ruth Donnelly.

In addition to earning her a fourth Oscar nomination, her performance won her the first of two back to back New York Film Critics’ awards

THE HEIRESS (1949), directed by William Wyler

Henry James’ Washington Square has become a film and theatre staple, providing accomplished actresses sterling showcases for their talent. None has ever been more acclaimed than de Havilland in the role of the plain, awkward, extremely shy Catherine Sloper.

Her one chance at happiness comes in the form of fortune hunter Montgomery Clift, but their marriage plans are thwarted by her cruel father, played by Ralph Richardson.

The last scene which director Wyler forced her to do take after take of until she was completely exhausted remains one of the screen’s most memorable.

LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA (1962), directed by Guy Green

This one-of-a-kind romance was turned into a successful Broadway musical in 2005, but still remains somewhat obscure to the general public.

De Havilland gives her best post-40s performance as a protective mother touring in Italy whose mentally retarded daughter (Yvette Mimieux) falls in love with an Italian heartthrob (George Hamilton) who pursues her. At first wary of her daughter’s chances at happiness, she has a change of heart and allows the romance to move ahead at its own pace.

Location filming in Forence and Rome enhance the film’s many pleasures and Rossano Brazzi provides his usual charm as Hamilton’s father.