Biography of Olivia de Havilland
Interpret the delicacy
July 1, 1916Limpid beauty and delicate, intense and incisive acting with extreme elegance and sensitivity: this was Olivia de Havilland, one of the most important actresses of the golden age of Hollywood. Born in Tokyo, Japan, on July 1, 1916. His parents are British, his father is a prominent lawyer and his mother a stage actress, and after their divorce the young Olivia moves to America with his sister Joan, she too future movie star (with the stage name of Joan Fontaine). Fascinated by the craft's mother, Olivia manages to find work in any theatrical performance, and by the mid-30 's, when she's still attending college, receives an attractive proposal by the famous theatre director Max Reinhardt, who wants her as the protagonist of his production of Shakespeare's "a Midsummer night's dream" (A Midsummer Night's Dream).
When in 1935 the same Reinhardt and William Dieterle decide to make a film version, named Olivia de Havilland to fill the same role. In this way the actress signed with Warner Bros, which soon will make her a star of the first magnitude. His first successful film is the adventurous "Captain Blood" (Captain Blood, 1935) by Michael Curtiz, beside the handsome Errol Flynn, with which will be one lucky couple in several films: he, the indomitable hero without blemish, you, your sweet mesta and life partner. In 1939 her career undergoes a turning point.
The opportunity arises when Warner Bros agrees to cede it to MGM to play the role of sensitive and submissive Melanie Hamilton in "gone with the wind" (Gone With the Wind) by Victor Fleming, with Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable. In this role, Olivia de Havilland shows a remarkable dramatic talent, putting himself in light for a recitation mesta, tender and painful, which adds a soft and melancholy beauty. Thanks to the success of his performance (for which she was nominated for an Oscar), the actress is receiving many offers, especially in movies where it asks to hold positions of naïve girl and delicate, as "Strawberry blonde" (The Strawberry Blonde, 1941) by Raoul Walsh, and "In this our life" (In This Our Life, 1942) by John Huston, with Bette Davis.
Weary of the roles that are offered, does not hesitate to embark on a legal battle against the claims of Warner to extend his contract. Being able to finally choose demanding roles, the actress will live in the second half of the years ' 40 its maximum job satisfaction. Among its most successful interpretations of these years include that of single mother forced to adopt her baby and watch him grow away from her, in the tear-jerker "to each his own" (To Each His Own, 1946) by Mitchell Leisen (for which she won her first Academy Award); the female victim of a depressive amnesia that managed to defeat after the harsh reality of an asylum makes her return to mind episodes of adolescence that had upset in raw "the snake pit" (The Snake Pit, 1948) by Anatole Litvak; and nineteenth-century American heiress who's sad and timid is coping with the lure of a charming Fortune Hunter, in the intense "the heiress" (The Heiress, 1949) by William Wyler (for which he won another Oscar).
Since the early 50 's l'attrice will grant only in sporadic appearances in movies ever lower. In recent years we must remember his intense interpretation of the wicked and hypocritical cousin Bette Davis in truculent "plan ... floor, sweet Charlotte" (Hush ... Hush, Sweet Charlotte, 1965) by Robert Aldrich. After appearing in a few tv series and mediocre commercial films in the mid-80 's l'attrice leaves the screen, to retire to live a private life in France. Olivia De Havilland was married twice, first to the novelist Marcus Goodrich, and the second with the French journalist Pierre Galante, from each of which had a son.
Article contributed by the team of collaborators.