Olivia de Havilland - ©Theda Bara

The name I bring to you in this post is that of the Japanese-American-French actress Olivia de Havilland, who won the Oscar for best actress twice: 1947 and 1950. In 1947 for her performance in the film: “To Each His Own” (1946), in the role of “Jody Norris” and in 1950, for her performance in the film: “The Heiress” (1949), in the role of “Catherine Sloper”, an extremely sweet but unattractive young woman. One day, the girl who is controlled by her rich father, “Dr. Austin Sloper”, played by actor: Ralph Richardson (1902-1983) falls in love with a poor boy she meets at a party.

The actress also won two Golden Globe Awards: for Best Actress in a Dramatic Film 1950, for: “The Heiress” (1949) and for Best Supporting Actress on Television 1987, for: “Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna” (1986).

Coming from a family of great artists, there was a great rivalry behind the scenes in Hollywood between sisters Olivia de Havilland (the eldest) and Joan Fontaine (1917-2013), an Anglo-American actress, born in Japan. Olivia always considered herself a actress better than her sister and is one of the few to have received the Oscar for Best Actress on more than one occasion. This rivalry gave rise to the biography: “Sisters: The Story of Olivia de Havilland e Joan Fontaine” (1984), by the English writer, editor and poet Charles Higham (1931-2012).

The actress has her star on the Los Angeles Walk of Fame, at 1500 Vine Street, in the Cinema category.

Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland, born July 1, 1916, Tokyo, Japan, died July 26, 2020, Paris, France, aged 104.

Olivia de Havilland has been married twice. Her first marriage was to American screenwriter and novelist Marcus Aurelius Goodrich (1897-1991) from 1946 to 1953. The couple had one son, United States Navy veteran and journalist Benjamin Briggs “Ben” Goodrich (1949-1991). “Ben” died 19 days before his father, on October 1, 1991, Marcus Goodrich. Olivia divorced Goodrich to marry French writer Pierre Galante (1909-1998) two years later, from 1955 to 1979. The couple had one daughter, former French actress Gisèle Galante Chulack (1956-), currently 67 years old years.