Olivia De Havilland as the name says was a British-American actress. She was born Dame Olivia Mary De Havilland DBE. DBE is the most excellent order of the British empire. July 1st, 1916 was the date when she came to the world. She was born in Tokyo while it was the Empire of Japan.
Since her childhood, she has loved participating in various plays and drama clubs. For the same reason, she made her debut in Alice in Wonderland when she was a teenager.
Her father came to know about her winning the lead role of Elizabeth Bennet, which was for Pride and Prejudice. Thereafter, her father told her to either leave the production or leave the home. She chose to leave her home and moved in with a family friend.
Early Career of Olivia De Havilland
Her career started in her early childhood days as she acted in many plays. Even in college, she was offered many plays. When she was performing at Saratoga, Max Reinhardt’s assistant saw her and was impressed with per performance. She was offered a 4-week tour and then got the role of Hermia. After working for a while, Max and Henry Blanke asked to sign a contract of 5 years. The contract was to be signed with Warner Bros.
She then signed the contract which was the beginning of her journey. She even worked in theatre and there were several television series where she was an actress. She was featured in 49 feature films.
Olivia won many awards during her career. She was also one of the oldest living and earliest surviving Academy Award winners. Not just limited to her, even her sister Joan Fontaine was an award-winning actress. In fact, Havilland and her sister were the only siblings to win major acting academy awards.
Havilland was the lead star in the golden age of Hollywood. Some of her well-known films include “Gone with the Wind”, “To Each His Own”, and “The Heiress”. She also starred in The Snake Pit which was one of the first films to address mental issues. Here, the role of Havilland was a troubled human who was sent to the insane asylum. This touched the lives of many people.
She even had a legal battle with the studio for working for the extra gigs.
Personal Life and Last Days
During her life, she had two children. She first married Marcus Goodrich who was a US Navy Veteran which led to divorce in 9 years. They had one child together. Havilland then married Pierre Galan who was executive editor of Paris Match following which she shifted to Paris. She even toured military hospitals during World War II.
She continued to work till the last days of her life in 2009. Sweet Charlotte was the notable last stage role that she did.
On July 26, 2020, she died due to a natural cause. Havilland lived 104 years and was in the film industry from 1933 to 2009 which was a lot more than many other actors.
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