Fontaine/de Haviland at Dollar General

They probably both invested in real estate in the early days of Hollywood.

Just a guess...

She died at a mere 96.

I think Fontaine had to pay one of her first husband's alimony, actually, as she was making more money than he was.

It might have been Brian Aherne.

I met Joan Fontaine. She was the neighbor of some friends of mine in the Carmel Highlands

MY FRIEND met her for cocktails at her home in Carmel (I think circa 1980?) He said she wore a lovely blue silk dress with a short jacket.

Which is nice. If a movie star invites you over, you do want them to dress up just a touch.

[quote]r4 I met Joan Fontaine. She was the neighbor of some friends of mine in the Carmel Highlands

What were your impressions?

What about Luise Rainer - she stopped working in 1943 and lived in retirement until her death in 2014. She must have been filthy rich since she resided in Belgravia.

They both probably invested well. Olivia was married to Paris Match editor Pierre Galante for many years before divorcing him in 1979, so perhaps she was collecting alimony.

Joan was an accomplished interior designer and chef who made a bit of money here and there decorating for friends and acquaintances and cooking for their dinner parties.

B movie actors like Stuart Whitman got very rich investing in real estate. It wasn't that hard to do if you were frugal rather than spendthrift.

I waved to Joan as she lay comatose in a deckchair on the QE2 when it was docked in Kingston Harbour.

I tell myself that she recognised me but was too ill to wave back.

R6 - she was graceful. She didn't strike me as haughty or anything. Her Oscar was discretely displayed in an area with other Hollywood mementos, but not in a major living area. The home was lovely, on a hge piece of property (for Carmel Highlands) with an incredible ocean view.

[quote] What about Luise Rainer - she stopped working in 1943 and lived in retirement until her death in 2014.

We know ALL about her here on DL. She’s like a warm, old (very old) friend.

People who had savings during the 80s and invested well had a lot for retirement. I had a relative who worked as a shop teacher and died a millionaire.

Joan had 40 million at her death but her memoir (which I didn’t think particularly interesting) claimed her life was “No Bed Of Roses”.

Olivia was also a bestselling author at one point.

Joan wasn't 99. She was 96. Both of her parents lived long lives.

I found her book to be quite boringly written...like she accepted a check to do it, then just rattled it off to some secretary over lunch.

It's rather impersonal.

A lot of these old time Hollywood actors and actresses invested wisely in real estate back in the day. As the property increased in value, so did their income. It was actually fairly common and did allow some faded Hollywood stars to live in a bit of comfort long after their last roles. The practice was even alluded to in “Sunset Boulevard” when Norma addressed a similar question from Joe about being able to maintain her lifestyle, she answers something about real estate and strip malls.

Olivia's daughter married a billionaire. That helped.

[quote] she answers something about real estate and strip malls.

Oil wells too. “Pumping, pumping, pumping”.

Olivia supports herself by giving blowjobs for 10 euros.

That's better than the 5 euros that SOME people used to get...

R17 Joan’s memoirs were a real disappointment.

She could have given us the inside goss of being kissed by the two most beautiful men of the screen Tyrone and Larry.

She could revealed some of the techniques of Welles, Wilder and that Max Ophuls.

What did Joan do to make Livy pissed off for decades?

It seems like the one decent thing DeHaviland did was have the tony department store Bullocks Wilshire deliver a bunch of sample clothes the night of the Oscars, when Fontaine said she wasn't going because 1.) she was tired from shooting all day, and 2.) had nothing to wear.

But, WHAT was wedged up her ASS so FIRMLY??

That silly feud was just PR.

Look at the picture of Joan’s twisted smile in R17. She was having a joke at our expense.

the 60's what? or did you just mean the 60s?

Stars are by their nature very selfcentered...it's almost impossible to get recognition unless you're obsessively pushing yourself in front of all competitors.

It would be weird to have a sibling in the race alongside you. Especially when the two were quite similar, and sometimes up for the same roles.

Still, it strikes me Livy was the one with the real grudge.

Joan’s first husband, Brian Aherne, said her bio should have been titled, “No Shred of Truth.”

He should have written his own g-damn book...if anyone would buy it.

Alfred Hitchcock irked Fontaine by asking if she couldn't have "done a bit better" when he heard about the Aherne wedding.

(It's true.)

I was an apprentice at a summer stock theater many years ago (1970!) and Joan came through for a week in a silly bedroom farce. We were all warned that if she didn't like the set or if it clashed with her costumes we'd be up all night repainting it.

But she was quite lovely and very gracious to everyone. And winked at me each night as I stood backstage and she made her first entrance. I've been a fan ever since.

R29, great pic. That might be their mother. Lillian Fontaine, on the right. O. had been in a film with Aherne a few years earlier "The Great Garrick."

Brian Aherne was gorgeous as a young leading man. The elder Aherne appears opposite the other Joan, Miss Crawford, in The Best of Everything.

I always thought Aherne was an uninteresting supporting actor but it seems he was almost pretty back in the 30s if he was groomed and photographed carefully.

Joan's book was kind of a bitch fest which made it interesting in its own way. She claimed that she was not invited to her own mother's funeral and put the scathing blame on Olivia.

By the way, I didn't know that you had to be invited to your mother's funeral. I thought you just went, period.

Olivia's excuse (I think) was that her sister was traveling in Europe, and she didn't know how to reach her.

As if where movie stars are in the world is untraceable....! Especially when you're a star, yourself.

[quote] He should have written his own g-damn book...if anyone would buy it.

He did, R29, two of them: his autobiography, "A Proper Job" (1969), & a biography of his friend George Sanders, "A Dreadful Man" (1979). I got them both from the library but they're worth buying if not otherwise available. He seemed like a nice man -- he had little good to say about Joan Fontaine, but did appreciate George Sanders.

[quote]That silly feud was just PR.

Oh yeah, then why did I see the two of them fighting like broke-ass hungry bitches over a Pound Cake in the plastics aisle at Dollar General one time.

Joan had Olivia in a head lock. Olivia's skirt was bunched up around her waist and everyone was staring at her huge Granny panties .

I saw that on YouTube before it was taken down. It was awesome!

Joan was very slender, but she packed a helluva punch!

In her book Joan stated that she had to let Cary Grant know that SHE was the star of the movie and NOT him, concerning their classic movie, Suspicion. She definitely had ego/bitch problems.

R37, that's silly. They were rehearsing for O's fight scene with James Caan in "Lady in a Cage." That mean movie should be on a double bill with "Beyond the Forest."

A triple bill...

Joan wasn't expecting an invitation to her mother's funeral. But Olivia didn't tell her where and when it was happening.

What I can't remember is where Joan was at the time of the death that left her so uninformed. Was their mother's death sudden and unexpected and Joan was traveling on the continent? Maybe that's it.

R43, Joan was on tour with "Cactus Flower." But all it takes is a phone call to her manager or agent to find out where she'd be and send a telegram.

[quote]Joan F lived to 99 and her sister is still with us. What were/are they living on? Their last movie roles were in the 60's. Were they alimony babies?

Doris Day (a Carmel neighbour and acquaintance of Fontaine's) is another one. She supposedly was heavily in debt by the time her film career ended due her husband's mismanagement of her money. Everything was wiped out. That's why she reluctantly did the that eponymous TV show that she didn't even know he'd signed her up for.

But she can't have made much from that. It was only a modest hit for five seasons and hasn't done well in syndication. That was sixty years ago, so what's she living off now?

Olivia also has a penchant for champagne.

BTW, can we get a M&G style J&O going for these sisters. It just seems right.

Doris had enough to also invest in a great dog-friendly hotel in Carmel. It's very nice.

Yes, Doris does a lot for animals.

Just avoid the 'chicken' chow mein she serves at her inn.

That wasn’t chicken. Did Ryan Murphy settle that FEUD issue with Olivia?

I guess the lawsuit rules out a O and J season of FEUD. Though given how awful that show was it should be cancelled right away.

Do's son Terry helped her get her finances in order, along with working on the TV series. Plus, she did win a settlement against her long-time chisler attorney in the late 70s.

I'm betting that if you're Doris Day, people just give you a lot of things for free.

Carmel Grocer: "Ma'am, your card has been declined."

Doris: *lowers glasses* "Que sera, sera..."

Carmel Grocer: "Sorry, Ms Day."

I’m surprised no idiot-millennial hasn’t entered this thread complaining that the slur ‘monkey-face’ was used in one of her films.

Thanks for giving someone the idea.

It was Cary Grant in "Suspicion." He could call me that any old time.

If she had to work as an interior designer / cook for friends she can't have been too well off.

And this happened

I googled about their feud and in one thing I found the elderly Joan said that there was no feud, and that the sisters were in touch, and the whole thing was manufactured by the press. But that doesn’t explain why her book, and other interviews, she says she was bitter for being left out of their mother’s healthcare decisions and funeral arrangements. In Ryan Myrphy’s schlocky ‘Feud’ the youthful (!) CZJ plays O and says that the feud was a press invention too. But then in another scene infers her sister is more suited to bitch roles.

Feud is hardly a reliable source. Lots of fiction there.

"Then, in 1946, not long after Olivia wed the author Marcus Goodrich, the first of her two husbands, who had previously been married four times, Joan apparently cracked, "It's too bad that Olivia's husband has had so many wives and only one book."

This unnecessarily mean remark, at the outset of Olivia's marriage, got back to Olivia and elevated an already fractious relationship to an out-and-out cold war."

"Joan F lived to 99 and her sister is still with us. What were/are they living on? Their last movie roles were in the 60's. Were they alimony babies?"

Joan, who was a real smart woman, knew how to make money...

“I am my own secretary, cook and bookkeeper, even handle my own taxes – and investments, which include orchards, oilwells and property.” (1975)

(She was asked if she would marry again.) "I just haven’t time. On two separate occasions recently men offered me $1 million if I would marry them. So I said, 'Suppose I already have $1 million? Now what will you give me?' They couldn’t offer anything, not love, not a life together, not adventure—just the dough. I don’t need that. I’m very good with money. " (1978)

June Allyson wrote in her auto-bio that her husband Dick Powell's favorite party guest was Joan F. because "she was a sharp businesswoman who invested in a diversity of things, just as Richard did -- cattle, real estate, oil, even the stock market."

Was Joan a alimony baby? I would say, no.

”Alimony is unfair to men. They should help support their children but that’s all!" (1967)

Doris Day has a net worth of over 200 million dollars.....which totally makes sense. If she took the 20 million she sued for in the 70s and invested it...which she did...its possible.