OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:
 
Olivia de Havilland was born Olivia Mary De Havilland in Tokyo, Japan on July 1st, 1916.  Her father Walter de Havilland was a lawyer and her mother, Lilian Augusta Ruse was an actress.  Olivia was the eldest daughter and her youngest sister Joan Fontaine was also an actress. 
 
At the age of two her family moved from Tokyo to Saratoga, California. Havilland attended high school at Los Gatos High and later on finished her schooling at Notre Dame Convent Catholic Girls' School in Belmont, California.  Her university education was received from, Mills College in Oakland, California
 
Havilland played Hermia in a high school production of, "Mid Summer Nights Dream" and was spotted by a famous director, Max Reinhardt.  Reinhardt chose to cast her in his Hollywood Bowl production of the same play and from there, Warner Brothers did a film adaptation of, "Mid Summer Nights Dream" (1935) starring Ian Hunter, James Cagney, Frank McHugh, Mickey Rooney, Joe E. Brown, Victor Jory, Dick Powell and Billy Barty and Havilland was then signed to a long term contract with the company.
 
Havilland received a co star role in, "Alibi Ike" (1935) starring Joe E. Brown and Roscoe Karns and more films began to follow.  It did seem like the majority of character roles she was portraying were always of a, 'damsel in distress' but this was also partly due to the limitations of an actress with Warner Brothers.  She tried many times to refuse many of the roles she was offered, but was told that in Hollywood, if you do not cooperate, your career would rumble.
 
Some of the films she starred in throughout the 30's were, "Captain Blood" (1935) starring Errol Flynn, Lionel Atwood, Basil Rathbone, Guy Kibbee, Ross Alexander and J. Carrol Naish, "The Charge of the Light Brigade" (1936) starring with Nigel Bruce, Patric Knowles, David Niven, J. Carrol Naish, Spring Byington and Donald Crisp and "The Adventures of Robin Hood" (1938) starring with Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone, Claude Rains.  Havilland was loaned out to David O. Selznick for a role in, "Gone With the Wind" (1939) starring alongside Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Thomas Mitchell, Leslie Howard, Rand Brooks, George Reeves and Hattie McDaniel, which earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

The 40's however produced some highly successful films such as, "They Died With Their Boots On" (1941) co-starring Errol Flynn as General George Armstrong Custer and Havilland also earned two Best Actress Oscars for, "To Each his Own" (1946), "Snake Pit" (1948) in which she received a lot of praise for her Oscar nomination and "The Heiress De Havilland" (1949), her second Oscar win.  She did receive an Oscar nomination for her role in, "Hold Back The Dawn" (1941), however she lost to her own sister Joan.  After the completion of the film, "The Heiress De Havilland", she spent several years on Broadway, cutting down her subsequent film appearances to approximately one per year.

Olivia de Havilland married Marcus Goodrich, a novelist, in 1946, but the pair divorced in 1953.  They had a son, Benjamin, who died in 1991 from a heart disease brought on by Hodgkin's disease.  Havilland popularity was also publicized when she sued Warner Brothers for extending her seven year contract by tacking on months she had been on suspension for refusing to take a certain part.  She did win her case and a law was actually named after her, "De Havilland Law" where a studio can not have the ability to force their Independent contract actors to unfairly extend their contract time. 

In 1955, Havilland relocated to France with her second husband, Pierre Galante, and in 1956 their daughter Giselle was born.  Havilland did take on some more roles, this time in some horror films such as, "Lady in a Cage" (1964), and "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte" (1965).

During the next decade, she appeared in a number of TV productions as well as more films, "Airport '77" (1977) and "The Swarm" (1978).  In 1979, she divorced her second husband Pierre.  

Her last feature to date was in, "The 5th Musketeer" (1979) followed by a Golden Globe Award and Emmy nomination for her portrayal of the Dowager Empress Maria in the NBC miniseries "Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna" (1986).  Then in 1988, her last screen appearance in the CBS movie, "The woman He Loved" followed by the 50th Anniversary of, "Gone With the Wind" (1989) Havilland again, revisited her popularity by being the only surviving original cast member. 
 
Havilland felt very content with the success she achieved with her career that she decided to move to Paris to spend the remainder of her life.  She continues to live in Paris. De Havilland received an honorary doctorate from the University of Hertfordshire in 1998 and she was a presenter at the 75th Annual Academy Awards in 2003 and was reportedly working on an autobiography, still the graceful, classy lady even into her ninth decade.

The Hollywood Walk of Fame honored Olivia de Havilland for her contribution to the Motion Picture Industry.
 
 
Filmography
 
1988   The Woman He Loved 
1979   The Fifth Musketeer 
1978   The Swarm 
1977   Airport '77 
1970   The Adventurers 
1965   Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte 
1963   Lady in a Cage 
1958   The Proud Rebel 
1956   The Ambassador's Daughter 
1955   Not As a Stranger 
1949   The Heiress
1948   The Snake Pit 
1946   The Dark Mirror  
1946   To Each His Own 
1943   Thank Your Lucky Stars 
1942   In This Our Life 
1942   The Male Animal
1941   The Strawberry Blonde 
1941   They Died With Their Boots On 
1940   Santa Fe Trail  
1939   Dodge City 
1939   Gone With the Wind 
1939   The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex 
1938   The Adventures of Robin Hood 
1936   Anthony Adverse 
1936   The Charge of the Light Brigade 
1935   Captain Blood 
1935   A Midsummer Night's Dream