Olivia de Havilland (1916-2020)
Considered the last surviving actress of Hollywood's Golden Age, Olivia de Havilland passed away at age 104 on July 26, 2020. Most famously, she is best known for her role as Melanie Hamilton Wilkes in "Gone with the Wind", the biggest box-office hit of all time when adjusted for inflation.
De Havilland's film career began in 1935 when director Max Reinhardt had seen her in a stage production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in California before casting Olivia in his 1935 film interpretation. Later, she entered a seven-year contract with Warner Bros and became Errol Flynn's romantic partner in movies like "Captain Blood", "The Charge of the Light Brigade", "The Adventures of Robin Hood", etc. In 1939, Olivia got borrowed from Warners to play the sympathetic sister-in-law to the selfish main heroine in "Gone with the Wind", for which Olivia received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress that she lost to her co-star Hattie McDaniel. McDaniel was the first African-American actress to win the award. In the late 1940s, she has become one of the top actresses to grace the silver screen. In 1943, Olivia sued Warner Bros for trying to extend her seven-year contract, which had already expired. During that time, actors faced the threat of unpaid suspension from their contracts with the major studios if they turned down roles that didn't suit them.
Her victory at the court proved that celebrities have more dominance than any major studios when that power gets shifted to them. To this day, it is known as the Havilland Law. Olivia won two Oscars for Best Actress, the first for "To Each His Own" in 1946 and the second for "The Heiress" in 1949. Her other roles include "The Snake Pit", "My Cousin Rachel", "Light in the Piazza", and "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte" with Bette Davis.
De Havilland retired from acting in the late 1980s but continued to make public appearances and receive honours for her long-term career, like the National Media of Arts in 2008 and France's Legion of Honor in 2010.
She was the sister of another famous actress, Joan Fontaine, and they both had a rivalry regarding their achievements.
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