Olivia de Havilland

📷 Wikimedia Commons — domaine public — 1948

1916 — 2020

États-Unis, France, Royaume-Uni

Performing Arts20th CenturyHollywood's Golden Age, World War II, and the rise of the American star system in the 20th century

A British actress born in 1916 in Tokyo, Olivia de Havilland was one of Hollywood's greatest stars of the 1930s and 1940s. She won two Academy Awards for Best Actress and successfully fought against the Hollywood studio system, paving the way for actors' contractual freedom.

Famous Quotes

« I did not want to be a slave to the studio. I wanted to be a free artist. »

Key Facts

1916: Born in Tokyo to British parents
1939: Role of Melanie Wilkes in Gone with the Wind
1943: Legal victory against Warner Bros. (California law limiting exclusive contracts to 7 years)
1946 and 1949: Two Academy Awards for Best Actress (To Each His Own, The Heiress)
2020: Died in Paris at the age of 104

Works & Achievements

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935)

An adaptation of Shakespeare's masterpiece, this film marks Olivia de Havilland's true Hollywood debut. She plays Hermia alongside a prestigious cast.

Gone with the Wind (1939)

An epic saga set against the American Civil War, this film remains one of the greatest box-office successes in cinema history. Olivia de Havilland plays Melanie Hamilton, a figure of gentleness and courage, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

To Each His Own (1946)

A sentimental drama in which she plays a woman forced to give up her son. The role earned her her first Academy Award for Best Actress.

The Snake Pit (1948)

A socially conscious film about conditions in American psychiatric hospitals. Her intense and nuanced performance raised public awareness and contributed to reforms in several states.

The Heiress (1949)

An adaptation of Henry James's novel, in which she plays a naive woman manipulated by a charming suitor. The role earned her her second Academy Award for Best Actress.

De Havilland v. Warner Bros. Pictures (lawsuit) (1944)

Olivia de Havilland's landmark legal victory against her studio permanently transformed contractual relations in Hollywood and freed actors from perpetual contracts.

Anecdotes

In 1943, Olivia de Havilland sued Warner Bros., which was attempting to extend her seven-year contract by an additional six months to compensate for her suspensions. She won the case in 1944: the ruling, known as the 'de Havilland Law,' prohibited studios from adding suspension penalties to the length of contracts, thereby freeing thousands of actors from the studio system.

On the set of Gone with the Wind (1939), Olivia de Havilland had to fight to secure the role of Melanie Hamilton against Warner Bros.'s wishes. She convinced David O. Selznick directly to loan her out for the film. The movie won ten Academy Awards and remains one of the greatest box office successes in cinema history.

Olivia de Havilland and her sister Joan Fontaine, also a celebrated actress, maintained a legendary rivalry throughout their lives. In 1942, at the Academy Awards ceremony, Joan won the Best Actress award while Olivia was nominated; according to witnesses, Olivia refused to shake her hand when Joan tried to congratulate her. Their feud lasted for decades.

When France awarded her the Légion d'honneur in 2010, Olivia de Havilland, who had been living in Paris since 1955, declared that France had become her true homeland. She lived in the French capital until her death in 2020, at the age of 104, making her one of the last surviving stars of Hollywood's Golden Age.

Primary Sources

Every Frenchman Has One — Memoirs of Olivia de Havilland (1962)

I had been in Paris long enough to know that every Frenchman has one — one idea, one conviction, one passion which he holds above all others and to which he remains faithful throughout his life.

California Court of Appeal Ruling — De Havilland v. Warner Bros. Pictures (1944)

The court held that the seven-year limitation on personal service contracts under California Labor Code section 2855 did not permit extensions beyond the seven-year period for suspensions or other time not worked.

Interview in The New York Times — Olivia de Havilland on the Studio System (1945)

I was determined that actors should have the right to choose their own roles and not be treated as property. The studios owned us body and soul, and that had to change.

AFI Life Achievement Award Acceptance Speech (2003)

Hollywood gave me everything — opportunity, recognition, a life I could not have imagined. But it also tried to take away something essential: the freedom to choose who I would become as an artist.

Key Places

Tokyo, Japan

Birthplace of Olivia de Havilland in 1916. Her British parents were living there for professional reasons; she left Japan as a child to settle in California.

Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank (California)

The Hollywood studio where Olivia de Havilland was under contract from 1935 to 1943. It was here that she made her greatest films and waged her legal battle against the studio contract system.

Selznick International Pictures, Culver City (California)

Producer David O. Selznick's studio where Gone with the Wind was filmed in 1939. Olivia de Havilland secured the role of Melanie Hamilton there through sheer determination.

California Court of Appeal, Los Angeles

The court where the landmark 1944 ruling De Havilland v. Warner Bros. was handed down, putting an end to the abusive extension of actors' contracts by Hollywood studios.

Paris, France (16th arrondissement)

The city where Olivia de Havilland settled in 1955 and lived until her death in 2020. She led a quiet life there, far from Hollywood, and was honored by the French Republic.