Tuesday
Jul012014
Happy Olivia de Havilland Day!
Tuesday, July 1, 2014 at 10:30AM A very happy 98th birthday to the woman who collected Oscars and cats as if she were personally flirting with me before I was born.
Thank you for Maid Marian, cousin Melanie Hamilton, heiress Catherine Sloper, identical twins Terry & Ruth, Miriam who hushed sweet Charlotte, Virginia in that snake pit... and many more.
Your summer Centennial party is just around the corner in 2016!
Reader Comments (8)
It was great to see her again in Hush. I found her performance odd but fun, and my god, even in her (comparatively) later years, was she blindingly beautiful or what?
Also fiercely intelligent and able to spin in an instant from meek to intimidatingly magnetic etc etc - but then we knew that already
Legend! It made me so happy to see that picture with the cats. All the best and classiest people love cats!
Not forgetting the incredible performances Miss De Havilland has given us. I have The Snake Pit and The Heiress at home, but haven't seen them, yet, so should really get round to watching them soon.
Viva Miss De Havilland!
A legend deserving of the title!
What a treat must it be for her, at 98yo, to look around and realize the historical and cultural importance of many of the movie's she's been a part of, and the reverence her legacy inspires!
One of the things I love the most about her is the fact that even at her late age, she has never lost that childlike sparkle in her eyes. I saw a picture of her, she was probably 92 or 93, and she still had the kindled eyes of a little kid who's done some mischief!
Happy Birthday Miss de Havilland!
Even in films that she later, and probably at the time, stated she didn't want to make she is always delightful. While I love her later in life acquired habit of courtly speaking, akin to cellos playing in the corner when she was young she could be quite saucy.
My top twelve of her film more or less in order:
1. The Heiress
2. Gone With the Wind
3. Dodge City
4. To Each His Own
5. The Strawberry Blonde
6. Light in the Piazza
7. In This Our Life
8. The Adventures of Robin Hood
9. My Cousin Rachel
10. The Dark Mirror
11. Hush...Hush Sweet Charlotte
12. The Snake Pit
I'm also fond of her in a slightly atypical role in TV's Murder is Easy. I've seen most of her films but somehow Hold Back the Dawn has always eluded me, frustrating since it's one of her nominated performances.
The first sentence of this is unbeatable.
From what I've read, she really did not want to do Charlotte, but agreed as a favor to Bette, since Joan's faked illness was pushing the production dangerously into overbudget. I saw Olivia as a guest on talk show honoring Bette, and they both seemed awfully fond of each other. I absolutely loved their costarrer In This Our Life. Great performances in a terrific, underrated melodrama that John Huston masterfully helmed.
Miss De Havilland showed me what acting was with The Snake Pit.
The Adventures Of Robin Hood was the first movie I ever saw. I still don't think I've recovered. Love her.