"Why I'm Not Dead," by Olivia deHavilland

QUEEN of the DL

[quote] While discussing her day-to-day life at the hotel, for instance, she gets a mischievous twinkle in her eye as she describes the handsome fellows from room service. “How many women in this world are served breakfast in bed every morning by a gorgeous young man? I am,” she says.

I live for this

She was a nasty cunt who supported Japan in WWII because she was born there. I guess she though it was awesome when the yellow devils used babies for bayonet practice and marched our brave soldiers through jungles to their deaths.

She hasn't done a thing really since 1988 which is nearly 30 years ago. And she hadn't been relevant for years prior to that.

She used to rip up her clothes that her mother would give as hand me downs to her sister Joan Fontaine, and then laugh when the child had to sew them up to wear them.

After their mother died, de Havilland did not make an effort to notify Fontaine, who was touring with a play at the time. Instead, de Havilland sent a telegram, which did not reach her sister until two weeks later at Fontaine's next engagement.

de Havilland was a jealous little bitch.

Fontaine who died three years ago at age 96 said, "I married first, won the Oscar before Olivia did, and if I die first, she'll undoubtedly be livid because I beat her to it!"

When in doubt, blame the mother.

Famous feud

Her hairdo was personally designed by Gaudi.

This is narcissism done by a PROFESSIONAL, bitches:

[quote]Gentle and sincere, her performance earned de Havilland her first Oscar nomination, for Supporting Actress. But at the ceremony, the name called was Negress Hattie McDaniel, who played Mammy. De Havilland was crushed. “When I returned home on Oscar night, aged 23 and the loser of the award…. I was convinced there was no God,” she says via email. But when she considered the historical significance of McDaniel becoming the first African-American to win, her loss didn’t seem so dramatic. And she cheered herself up by interpreting the Academy’s decision as vindication that she belonged in the lead category all along. “About two weeks later, I woke up and thought, ‘Oh, how wonderful! I wasn’t a supporting actress, and Hattie was, and she won! Those blessed voters were not misled for one minute…. I’d rather live in a world where someone who is a supporting actress wins against someone who, instead, is a star playing a starring role!… There is a God, after all!’ “

How does she afford to live such a luxurious life in such an expensive city?

Amateur.

She was 22 when she made GWTW? Wow, I'm impressed. That was some mature acting from a young woman.

r8 Her marriage to second husband, Pierre Galante, an executive editor for the French journal Paris Match, left her well off even after they divorced in 1979.

R7, that might be one of the most fantastic things I've ever read. That right there is why she is still alive, bless her heart.

R7 how do you mean?

OP that article is from January 2015.

R3=Joan Fontaine

R7 does OdH honestly believe that Melanie was a leading role? I would say that the film only has one lead -- Scarlett. She's in practically every frame, and the story is told from her POV. Rhett, Melanie, Ashley, and Mammy are supporting her. Though Rhett would be considered the 'male lead' and Gable was nominated for Best Actor, he doesn't exist outside of Scarlett and there are stretches when he's MIA from the screen. The rest of the cast are peripheral.

[quote]Fontaine who died three years ago at age 96 said, "I married first, won the Oscar before Olivia did, and if I die first, she'll undoubtedly be livid because I beat her to it!"

Don't forget that Fontaine (SUSPICION) won the Oscar first AGAINST Olivia, who was nominated for HOLD BACK THE DAWN. Apparently, the sisters got into fisticuffs in the ladies room afterward.

Here's Olivia dissing Joan after winning her first Oscar. Joan went to congratulate her, and Olivia gave her the cold shoulder.

Does anyone know the real story as to why they hated each other so much? I mean did it start in Hollywood or did they always hate each other even as children? Have they ever been asked specifically when it started?

R5 are you implying that the feud was not real? Fontaine confirmed in several interviews and her memoir how horrible Olivia was to her as children and how they didn't get along as adults. Here's one:

And another:

DeHavilland had to be one tough bitch to be a lifelong friend of Bette Davis.

R18 watch the interviews at R19 and R20. Joan mentions Olivia being favored by their mother while Joan got mainly criticism growing up, Olivia purposely breaking her arm as a child, Joan winning the Oscar first (against Olivia), Olivia not notifying her when their mother died, etc.

I will certainly watch them, R22. Thanks.

I know I'm not saying something that hasn't been said before, but those two would've been perfect for "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" Certainly not taking anything away from Davis and Crawford, but being really blood-related and having that much hate for each other would've brought a whole new level.

The reason you are not dead Olivia is your genes and you know that.

I read somewhere at some time that Livy allegedly said: "i don't know why she did that, when she knows how I feel." That was said soon after that picture and the snub happened.

I saw Joan on a Merv show a long time ago and she could not have been more affected in her responses. Sooo dramatic and overwrought when answering a simple question from Merv. It was embarrassing. I think it says a lot that Joan's kids never stopped speaking to their Aunt Olivia and were barely civil to Joan herself.

On a side note, somehow posts signed by Olivia and Luise Rainer aren't the same for me. I miss Luise. R.I.P. cutie.

My deep, abiding hatred for my sister has sustained me all my life. It's as if I am filled with a swarm of killer bees! So tingly!

How many of us have siblings we loathe ? Ive got two ! I don't speak to either of them unless absolutely necessary , so why is she so vilified for not liking her sister either ? Every time I think that Melanie Hamilton is still alive it blows my mind !

[quote] How many of us have siblings we loathe ? Ive got two ! I don't speak to either of them unless absolutely necessary , so why is she so vilified for not liking her sister either

Well, I doubt anyone at DL is a FAAAAAANNN of either of your siblings. Joan Fontaine was a star. DLers are invested.

[quote] Though an expert raconteuse, she’s conscientious about facts—”I want to be a font of truth”—and will discuss the finer points of her career only in writing

[quote] will discuss the finer points of her career only in writing

Could this mean that someone's making up detailed answers for her?

R29 maybe she's dictating to someone. They mention in the article that her eyesight is now so poor that she can't watch movies or read anymore. I don't see how she can read the questions and type out the answers without some assistance.

R7 what was narcissistic about that?

R31, I'm not R7, but she's essentially saying that the reason she lost was because she convinced herself that the voters felt she was actually a leading actress and therefore, could not be considered supporting. She believes she lost not because Hattie was better, but because the voters couldn't give it to someone who was in fact a star of the movie, not supporting.

You don't think that's narcissism?

She was great in The Heiress. Totally deserved that Oscar.

What R32 said.

But I think her bigger narcissism is in thinking there is no God when she loses. And then only coming around to His existence when she realizes that everyone knows she was the STAR of Gone with the Wind.

The title of this thread...BLESS YOU, OP.

After watching the interviews linked above, Joan seems like she was a handful. Was she raised in England with that accent?

My impression is that she was very hurt by her less than maternal mother, but too proud to show it. Her independence and no long term romances = no one is ever going to hurt me.

Blame the mother and father. According to Joan's book both were cold and distant, there is no surprise that both sisters grew up to be vain looking for validation from audiences etc, a lot of stars are this way. It is how you are brought up, I truly believe this.

R36 both Joan (b. 1917) and Olivia (b. 1916) were born in Japan to British parents. When they were still tots, their parents divorced and the mother took the girls to the US, specifically California, because Joan was a sickly child and a doctor recommended sunshiny weather. I wonder if Joan being a sickly child had anything to do with the mother favoring Olivia?

Anyway, the girls grew up in California, but when she was 16 Joan lived for a time in Japan with her father. Then she returned to the US and followed Olivia into the movie business. Joan lived the rest of her life in CA, so I don't understand the faux British accent. Olivia, who's lived in France for over 60 years, still sounds American.

Joan is very affected, but I think she owns it. She said her mother said, "Joan seems much more like a real person in movies than in life" after seeing Rebecca.

There's a reason why many showbiz folks in Hollywood called Joan's autobiography, "No Bed of Roses," "No Shred of Truth."

R36 and R37 are spot on. I know because I'm very similar to Joan in how I was raised and how I am as an adult.

When you don't get the love and nurturing from your parents as a child, you become very independent and determined that no one will ever hurt you again. I'm somewhat vain because of my looks(the one good thing I got from them) and I reveled in the admiration from rich and powerful men. I'm also estranged from my sister, who was favored by my parents over me.

Nom, nom, bitch, bitch

"I know! Let's send another fake 'contractual agreement' offer from a studio to that bitch of a sister of yours!"

R41 why did your parents favor your sister?

R40 why?

R44 She's the one who isn't a prostitute.

R7 slyly added a particular word to that quote that is NOT in the original article. Why did you do that r7? You are beneath contempt.

Did anyone else find Joan kind of butch in her later years?

R47 which word?

[quote] That right there is why she is still alive,

Her sister lived to be 96, so I think good genes has a part to play in it.

R50 their mother lived to 88 (1886-1975) and their father to 95 (1872-1968).

Incidentally, why were their parents so old when they had them? Their mother was 30 and 31 and their father was 44 and 45. They were each other's first marriage, too. I thought people back then married straight out of high school..

Not if you were in the diplomatic corps. You waited until people started noticing you were gay then made a few kids with a frigid (lesbian) woman in the same boat (a sanpan)

R3 is obviously a lunatic.

My family had connections with hers (mother's side), and through the years I heard non-whitewashed tales of family experiences. Miss de Havilland's personal experience would have led her to be rather more harsh than supportive of the Japanese in any context, but she hardly would have espoused any ridiculous, unpatriotic and career-killing notions, in any case.

My sense was both she and Joan had their issues, but Joan was the bigger problem. Olivia just wanted to be left out of the drama and could cut people out cold, and did.

I always had a little crush on her son, Benji, and was sorry he died young, although he survived with lymphoma and had a good life to his early 40s.

R52 are you suggesting that the parents were gay?

R53 why does the daughter Gisele reside in the US and not near her mother? You would think she'd want to be with her soon-to-be centenarian mother. They don't have much time left together, sad to say.

R55 Sometimes, children do the darndest things to get away from you.

No, Joan was normal, Olivia was the bitch.

r53

Anyone who defends Olivia is a weirdo. Lower your antiretroviral dosage it's clouding up your brain.

[quote] slyly added a particular word to that quote that is NOT in the original article. Why did you do that [R7]? You are beneath contempt.

I caught that too. I'm sure their caftan shook from his fit giggles at that little "joke".

Olivia comes off as narcissistic and passive-aggressive in all her interviews. I can only imagine what she was like in real life.

[quote] I'm sure their caftan shook from his fit of giggles at that little "joke".

R58 what is the missing word? I re-read R7's post and the paragraph from the article, and they look identical to me.

Who the white hot fuck uses the word "Negress"?

Interesting how some missed that word. Do you use negress in general conversation or something?

So young.

Olivia belongs in the Satan thread, because obviously she made some sort of Faustian bargain.

Olivia is alive and enjoying her life in Paris. Joan is silently, thankfully, decomposing.

Didn't Joan cut ties with her daughter after she found out that she was communicating with Aunt Olivia?

No Olivia de Havilland thread is complete without a link to this clip. The most epic mothafucking scene ever filmed:

I prefer this

She was brilliant as Chauncey Frog on Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse.

It should be noted that the sisterly rivalry was certainly fueled by Joan's career suddenly forging ahead in 1940 when she was cast as the much-coveted lead in Rebecca by GWTW producer Selznick, who might have just as readily cast Olivia, who was also right for the role. Several audition tapes of famous actresses still exist as the2nd Mrs. DeWynter, including Loretta Young and even Vivien Leigh, so I wonder if Olivia was burned if she wasn't even considered?

And then Joan went on to star in Suspicion and Jane Eyre and Frenchman's Creek (3 more typical Olivia roles) while Olivia wiled away back at Warners after GWTW with inferior "girlfriend" roles and had to sue them to get out of her contract.

Olivia didn't really have any major post-GWTW success until 1946's To Each Their Own (is that what that pot-boiler is called?), which finally won her an Oscar 6 years after little sister's.

[quote]why did the parents favor the one daughter?

I WON'T FORGET. YOU BET I WON'T FORGET ! ! !

R71 Fontaine also beat Olivia for the Oscar in 1941. Fontaine was nominated for SUSPICION and Olivia for HOLD BACK THE DAWN. I'm sure that pissed of Olivia. Not only to lose the Oscar again, but to her own, lifelong rival.

[quote] I always had a little crush on her son, BenjI

God, he looks gorgeous at R53. Thank you for posting that.

Why doesn't someone make a Hollywood movie about the sibling rivalry between Joan and Olivia? Would be epic.

The role that Olivia played in Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte is the closest to her actual personality.

You can tell by the answer she gave about Hattie McDaniel that she is mean and narcissistic.

Joan lived next door to Doris Day in Carmel in her final years. I wonder if she was active in the Carmel community?

Olivia almost face-planted in front of billions of viewers during her last Oscar appearance. She was determined to walk unassisted to the podium, but the distance was probably longer than she anticipated.

First, she clutches on to the set next to her for dear life, steadies herself, and then does a death lunge towards the podium. If that podium had been placed just one inch further away, I don't think she would have made it. It's harrowing to watch.

With that much talent she's got to be nice too?

You ask for too much.

"Almost face-planted"? "Death lunge"? "Harrowing to watch"? You're so full of shit, your eyes are brown. You should get a job at AOL News where they thrive on making shit up.

R75, Olivia = Brie Larson

Joan = JLaw

R76

I saw her walking in Carmel. this was about 10 years ago. Didn't speak to her & my observation was confirmed by a shopkeeper. I wasn't sure til then but was told that on occasion FONTAINE could be seen in town. DAY on the other hand I was told really didn't any longer, particularly after her son died.

Walking Joan Fontaine in Nature.

That Oscar 75th Showcase of Winners was delightful to watch. So many there have passed away.

Miss warwitch @ R53 is suddenly related to the DeHavillands too? That ancient white poison fag is related to everyone. He claims to be black, bi-racial and white, and distantly related to everyone, depending on what POV he is trying do defend or who he is trying put down. I am way too young to know about bad actresses from the forties but do know a bit about the poster known as Miss Warwick, aka the SCAT troll. I also know the DeHavilland family. My daddy cleaned their floors.

R84, we're all sorry your mother didn't know who your father was, but if you got a job maybe you wouldn't feel like you need to say ridiculous things. It makes black people look dirty.

I have an idea. Let's bring Olivia de Havilland out of retirement to star in a sequel to *Gone With the Wind*. In this movie, it is revealed that Melanie Wilkes did not die, but faked her own death and disappeared due to emotional problems with her marriage and a certain ambiguity over Confederate ideology. As a centenarian, she reveals herself to a stunned Atlanta audience at the world premiere of *Gone With the Wind*, and tells her life story in a series of flashbacks that involve various events of the previous 80 years. The movie will be called *Melanie's Story*.

R86 You know, I just realized. Olivia will be 100 in less than two months (July 1). Melanie is about 16 when the book opens (c. 1861), which makes her DOB 1845. So if Melanie lived to Olivia's age, she would still be alive in 1945! Can you imagine someone living through the Civil War, the First World War, the 1920s, the Great Depression, and WWII? It's hard to believe, but there were many people. The last Civil War soldier (James Hard) lived to 1953, aged 111.

BTW: In just a few short years (2020s), WWII would be as far from us then as the Civil War was to people in the 1940s (80 years). Yikes!

I disliked Joan Fontaine in Rebecca. All that hand wringing.

[quote] Can you imagine someone living through the Civil War, the First World War, the 1920s, the Great Depression, and WWII? It's hard to believe, but there were many people.

Here's one:

IMO, her best performance was in THE HEiRESS.

[quote]...2nd Mrs. DeWynter

No.

It's "2nd Mrs de Winter".

How did they know the guy was telling the truth.

Did he keep his ticket stub and staple it to his Playbill?

And if it was a discount ticket was it a good seat or partial view?

Olivia was hit with a fugly stick. Her sister Joan Fontaine was so divinely beautiful. It is sad that Joan was such a cunt because Olivia seems so nice. I wonder how much of' Whatever Happened To Baby Jane" was based on their relationship?

If Olivia was hit with the fugly stick how come she got to appear so many times opposite Errol Flynn?

It would not have worked if she hadn't been so pretty.

R77, thanks for that clip. Yes, she did seem to try to balance herself to the podium. BUT... answer this... we then see her 3 minutes later sitting with the other Oscar winners on stage that she introduced. That means she had to make it from the podium to that seat in 3 minutes. So she had to be pretty spry to do that, right?

Edit: I watched the tape again, she introduced them at 2:20, then is at her seat at 4:08 (right after Geena Davis). That means she somehow made it from the podium to the seat in less than 2 minutes, and it looks kind of far.

Well this worked out quite well for her..

She looked pretty good for an old lady. Nowadays famous old women look like haunted house denizens. Faye Dunaway, Donatella Versace, Joan Rivers, Brigette Bardot. Olivia showed that keeping a little weight on you in old age is a good thing.