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  • Olivia de Havilland Mourns The Loss Of Her Sister, Joan Fontaine

    Olivia de Havilland and her sister, Joan Fontaine, were both incredibly popular and well-received actresses during their time in the era of classic Hollywood. However, the two of them had a lifelong feud and were very competitive with one another.

    Their lifelong feud as acting sisters ended over the weekend, when Joan Fontaine passed away in her home in Carmel, California. She died of natural casuses at the age of 96.

    As sisters, they were nominated against one another during Academy Award ceremonies, and were bitter rivals with one another throughout their career. This happened most notably when Joan Fontaine beat out de Havilland for the Oscar for Best Actress in 1941 for her role in Alfred Hitchcock’s Suspicion.

    While a bitter rival with her sister since their childhood, and as they grew up to star in motion pictures, Olivia de Havilland is very saddened by the loss of her sister. The 97-year-old actress released a statement saying that she was “shocked and saddened by the news, and that she was grateful for the many kind expressions of sympathies.”

    Post by Olivia de Havilland Fan Club.

    Both actresses won Oscars throughout their long film careers, and Olivia de Havilland may be remembered most for her role as Melanie in Gone With The Wind. She also won Oscars for To Each His Own and The Heiress.

    The loss of Joan Fontaine is significant for fans of classic Hollywood, and in addition to de Havilland, she was one of the last remaining links to the classic period of films. She had not been seen on the big screen since 1966 in The Witches, but she was in select episodes of several television series and TV movies.

    Olivia de Havilland is a longtime resident of Paris, and over the years she has often declined to talk about her sister. De Havilland also spoke of her feud with her sister when saying “Imagine what we could have done if we had gotten together. We could have selected the right scripts, the right directors, the right producers—we could have built our own empire. But it was not to be.”

    While Joan Fontaine had disappeared off of the Hollywood grid for several years, de Havilland appeared at the 75th Annual Academy Awards, where she received a standing ovation. She took the stage to present 59 of her fellow past winners who had gathered for the landmark show.

    Despite the troubled relationship between the two sisters throughout their lives, Olivia de Havilland is deeply hurt and shocked by the death of her sister.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Joan Fontaine, Film Actress, Dies At Age 96

    Joan Fontaine, Film Actress, Dies At Age 96

    Well, it was a rough weekend for classic Hollywood. People tend to say that things happen in 3’s, and over the weekend, three members of the Hollywood community died, with Joan Fontaine being the latest to pass away.

    Joan Fontaine was an actress who acted during the classic Hollywood period, and had starring roles in multiple Hitchcock films, which earned her recognition at the Academy Awards.

    The news of her death was confirmed by Fontaine’s assistant, Susan Pfeiffer, stating that she died of natural causes on Sunday at her home in Carmel, California. She was born on October 22, 1917 in Tokyo, Japan.

    She was one of the last remaining links to the Golden Age of film in the 1930s’ and 1940’s, and won a best actress Oscar for her role in Suspicion. She was also nominated for an Oscar for Rebecca, and was seen in several other films including Ivanhoe, Something To Live For, and Letter From An Unknown Woman.

    Joan Fontaine has not been seen on the big screen since 1966 in The Witches, but she was in select episodes of several television series and TV movies.

    She has been described as having an on-stage presence that could seem radiantly shy, believably insecure, gazing into the middle distance with a hesitancy that drew you immediately to her side.

    In addition to Joan Fontaine, Peter O’Toole, known for his role in Lawrence Of Arabia, also passed away over the weekend. Billy Jack star Tom Laughlin died as well. The actors were 81, and 82, respectively.

    Throughout her life, she was married and divorced four times, the first being to actor Brian Aheme. She is also the younger sister of Olivia De Havilland, a well-known actress of the same time period, who won Oscars for both The Heiress and To Each His Own.

    Both Fontaine and her sister were born in Tokyo, although were brought to California at a young age after their mother removed them due to their father’s affair with the Japanese maid.

    Throughout their film careers, the sisters remained bitter rivals with one another, and were even nominated against each other in the case when Joan Fontaine won the award for Suspicion. In 1978, she published her autobiography, No Bed of Roses, which detailed also detailed the long-running feud that she had with de Havilland.

    In an eventful weekend for classic Hollywood’s actors, Joan Fontaine has passed away, and will be remembered as one of the shining stars of her time.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons