Olivia de Havilland (1916-2020)

[Dylan]

Olivia de Havilland

[Big Ben]

What a loss! How many more people from the Golden Age of Hollywood are left?

[ando]

Indeed.

[domino harvey]

Damn, she really held out as long as she could, didn’t she? And like Kirk Douglas and the still alive Norman Lloyd, she was apparently always just as sharp into her waning years

[domino harvey]

What a loss! How many more people from the Golden Age of Hollywood are left?

We have a thread for the really old ones here, but there’s more than a few left that aren’t pushing quite so high numbers: Eva Marie Saint, Kim Novak, Shirley MacLaine off the top of my head

[Dylan]

What a loss! How many more people from the Golden Age of Hollywood are left?

Marsha Hunt is still with us at 102.

[ando]

“Mellie” out lived ‘em all. (GWTW people)

[bamwc2]

I just watched the MoC edition of Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte yesterday. She was terrific in it.

[FrauBlucher]

What a loss! How many more people from the Golden Age of Hollywood are left?

Marsha Hunt is still with us at 102.

Angela Landsbury. Not 100 yet but getting close

I always got Olivia de Havilland, Joan Fontaine and Anne Baxter confused, at least two of three were sisters.

[Never Cursed]

What a loss! How many more people from the Golden Age of Hollywood are left?

We have a thread for the really old ones here, but there’s more than a few left that aren’t pushing quite so high numbers: Eva Marie Saint, Kim Novak, Shirley MacLaine off the top of my head

Four of the five stars of West Side Story, too (though admittedly they were all young enough to play teenagers in that film). They had the opposite luck of the Rebel Without A Cause principal cast, certainly

[Rayon Vert]

Hopefully Olivia and Joan can make up on the other side...

[willoneill]

We have a thread for the really old ones here, but there’s more than a few left that aren’t pushing quite so high numbers: Eva Marie Saint, Kim Novak, Shirley MacLaine off the top of my head

In addition to those Hitchcock actresses, Tippi Hedren and Vera Miles are both still alive at 90.

[domino harvey]

What a loss! How many more people from the Golden Age of Hollywood are left?

We have a thread for the really old ones here, but there’s more than a few left that aren’t pushing quite so high numbers: Eva Marie Saint, Kim Novak, Shirley MacLaine off the top of my head

Four of the five stars of West Side Story, too (though admittedly they were all young enough to play teenagers in that film). They had the opposite luck of the Rebel Without A Cause principal cast, certainly

I didn’t even realize George Chakiris was still with us!

Couple more: Paula Prentiss, who is relatively young at 82, and Terry Moore, who recently cameoed in the first True Detective season (no subreddit devoted solely to her scene, though)

[domino harvey]

Anyway, to bring it back to de Havilland, I’ll put in a strong rec for the Snake Pit as her best work, successfully combining all her usual acting approaches and star parts into one role. If you don’t have the Indicator already, get on that, especially since Disney can’t wait to lock it up in advance of a remake starring Vanessa Hudgens

[Ribs]

Not quite a legend but significant as a leading costar of Marilyn Monroe is Don Murray, who of course appeared as Bushnell Mullins on Twin Peaks: The Return.

[domino harvey]

What a loss! How many more people from the Golden Age of Hollywood are left?

Marsha Hunt is still with us at 102.

Angela Landsbury. Not 100 yet but getting close

I always got Olivia de Havilland, Joan Fontaine and Anne Baxter confused, at least two of three were sisters.

One point of differentiation is that Anne Baxter died 35+ years before the sisters did, stroking out in the street in NYC, which always struck me as a particularly unpleasant and public way to go (though Wiki tells me she actually died several days later in a hospital, which I didn’t realize and makes me feel a bit better)

[therewillbeblus]

Anyway, to bring it back to de Havilland, I’ll put in a strong rec for the Snake Pit as her best work, successfully combining all her usual acting approaches and star parts into one role. If you don’t have the Indicator already, get on that, especially since Disney can’t wait to lock it up in advance of a remake starring Vanessa Hudgens

Agreed, it’s really the one-two punch of this and The Heiress that dig into how versatile she can be, often in the smallest shifts in performance. The Dark Mirror, though, is one of those films that should be awful but I actually love almost solely due to her dual perfs

[Richard]

She played here first film roles in 1935. Can't think of a single star living today with a similar stature who's career started as early as that. I want to compare her to Shirley MacLaine but she only played her first film role in 1955.

[HinkyDinkyTruesmith]

RIP. To Each His Own is, in my belief, her most powerful and beautiful performance. I don't think any young actor has aged up more successfully and seamlessly in a film.

[senseabove]

Peter Labuza posted a bit of the transcript from the De Haviland (sic) vs Warner Bros. trial, where she talks about her own growth as an actress and why she began pushing back on assignments and asking for others.

[Feego]

Other Golden Age stars still with us: Rhonda Fleming, Leslie Caron, Barbara Rush, Sidney Poitier, Sophia Loren, Mitzi Gaynor, Nancy Olson, Stella Stevens, Shirley Jones, Gina Lollobrigida, Yvette Mimieux.

[swo17]

I just saw her in Peckinpah's Noon Wine, where she gives a nice understated performance. And she's in It's Love I'm After, one of the best screwballs

[Swift]

An obituary I read said that the roles dried up for her after moving to France in the 50s. How come she never worked with any of the New Wave directors who I assume would've loved to have her in their films? She just wasn't interested? Or she wasn't comfortable acting in French?

[Toland's Mitchell]

What a loss! How many more people from the Golden Age of Hollywood are left?

A few. But of the same caliber and age range as de Havilland, nobody I can think of.

I'll echo the previous comments on The Snake Pit and The Heiress. Terrific performances in both, arguably the finest of de Havilland's career. I'm also a fan of Captain Blood and The Adventures of Robin Hood opposite Errol Flynn. Those films may not have showcased her acting range, but were good fun nonetheless.

Anyway, 104 years old and sharp until the end. RIP

[Richard]

An obituary I read said that the roles dried up for her after moving to France in the 50s. How come she never worked with any of the New Wave directors who I assume would've loved to have her in their films? She just wasn't interested? Or she wasn't comfortable acting in French?

This quote from an article of The Guardian gives an idea:

In later life, she insisted, acting had largely lost its allure. “Life is too full of events of great importance,” she told one interviewer. “That is more absorbing and enriching than a fantasy life. I don’t need a fantasy life as once I did. That is the life of the imagination and I had a great need for it. Films were the perfect means of satisfying that need.”