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Olivia de Havilland (1916-2020)

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 3:43 pm
by Dylan

Re: Passages

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 3:46 pm
by Big Ben
What a loss! How many more people from the Golden Age of Hollywood are left?

Re: Passages

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 3:51 pm
by ando
Indeed.

Re: Passages

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 3:52 pm
by 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

Re: Passages

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 3:57 pm
by domino harvey
Big Ben wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 3:46 pm 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

Re: Passages

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 4:02 pm
by Dylan
Big Ben wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 3:46 pm What a loss! How many more people from the Golden Age of Hollywood are left?
Marsha Hunt is still with us at 102.

Re: Olivia de Havilland (1916-2020)

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 4:03 pm
by ando
Image

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

Re: Olivia de Havilland (1916-2020)

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 4:16 pm
by bamwc2
I just watched the MoC edition of Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte yesterday. She was terrific in it.

Re: Passages

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 4:18 pm
by FrauBlucher
Dylan wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 4:02 pm
Big Ben wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 3:46 pm 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.

Re: Passages

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 4:35 pm
by Never Cursed
domino harvey wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 3:57 pm
Big Ben wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 3:46 pm 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

Re: Olivia de Havilland (1916-2020)

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 4:44 pm
by Rayon Vert
Hopefully Olivia and Joan can make up on the other side...

Re: Passages

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 4:45 pm
by willoneill
domino harvey wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 3:57 pm 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.

Re: Passages

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 4:48 pm
by domino harvey
Never Cursed wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 4:35 pm
domino harvey wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 3:57 pm
Big Ben wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 3:46 pm 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)

Re: Olivia de Havilland (1916-2020)

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 4:55 pm
by 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

Re: Olivia de Havilland (1916-2020)

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 4:58 pm
by 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.

Re: Passages

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 5:02 pm
by domino harvey
FrauBlucher wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 4:18 pm
Dylan wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 4:02 pm
Big Ben wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 3:46 pm 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)

Re: Olivia de Havilland (1916-2020)

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 5:11 pm
by therewillbeblus
domino harvey wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 4:55 pm 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

Re: Olivia de Havilland (1916-2020)

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 5:20 pm
by 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.

Re: Olivia de Havilland (1916-2020)

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 5:28 pm
by 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.

Re: Olivia de Havilland (1916-2020)

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 6:08 pm
by 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.

Re: Olivia de Havilland (1916-2020)

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 6:29 pm
by 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.

Re: Olivia de Havilland (1916-2020)

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 6:53 pm
by 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

Re: Olivia de Havilland (1916-2020)

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 6:56 pm
by 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?

Re: Passages

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 6:58 pm
by Toland's Mitchell
Big Ben wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 3:46 pm 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

Re: Olivia de Havilland (1916-2020)

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 7:17 pm
by Richard
Swift wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 6:56 pm 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.”