Official Oldie Olivia de Havilland!
Friday, February 5, 2016 at 5:00PM David here with a bit of golden Hollywood news you may have missed and definitely need to know about.
Two-time Best Actress winner and third-oldest Oscar nominee still living, Olivia de Havilland is understandably rarely seen in public. So we must send our precious thanks to satirical British magazine The Oldie, who honoured Olivia in their annual awards as one of their 'Oldies of the Year' and managed to elicit both a photograph, signed letter and a recorded thank you from the star, which was played at their ceremony this Tuesday and can be heard over on the BBC website.
The Illustration she's holding is by Gary Smith who has been featured on the site before.
In the letter, she made note of her early withdrawl from public life:
I must admit that I have not had much time recently to reflect on what it means to be old. I was fortunate to have been able to enjoy a retirement experience somewhat earlier than most.
Olivia turns 100 in July and what a joy it is to get a rare glimpse of her and how well she looks! TFE will certainly be marking her centenary in some way come the summer - is there anything you'd like to see?
Reader Comments (15)
For one of the film societies I help facilitate, I managed to set up a 100th birthday tribute screening of THE SNAKE PIT for late June, to honour her birthday (and gratitudes owed to TFE for highlighting the Living Oscar nominees each year, so i knew it was upcoming):
http://reelmccoy.org.au/
What great timing! I just saw "The Snake Pit" this week, and it was wonderful. Travis, it's too bad you're not in Atlanta. "The Heiress" is pretty good too, but that's more the Ralph Richardson Show than hers (even though she won the Oscar). While we're on the subject, anyone know a good (and preferably cheap) way to see "Hold Back the Dawn"?
In This Our Life (1942), featuring de Havilland and Bette Davis as two sisters named Roy and Stanley, must be discussed. Directed by John Huston (his second feature) and based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Ellen Glasgow, this movie is and has everything: in addition to those stars and that director, you got Billie Burke, Dennis Morgan, Charles Coburn, George Brent and Hattie McDaniel and a plot dealing with racial discrimination. At the time, the Office of Censorship did not approve the movie for foreign release because it was considered too honest in its depiction of the theme.
PS. Zero awards attention, although Warner Bros. was named to the Honor Roll of Race Relations of 1942.
Since her birthday is July 1st it seems to just invite declaring July Olivia de Havilland month on TFE with an overview of her career. Because she was stuck in the Warner Brothers meat grinder many of her films are program fodder but she managed to play in her fair share of enjoyable films aside from GWTW, It's Love I'm After, Four's a Crowd, Dodge City, The Strawberry Blonde, the aforementioned In This Our Life, To Each His Own and My Cousin Rachel among others.
Yes YES to In This Our Life! This juicy dish of southern-fried hokum is simply delicious. Bette Davis has to be seen to be believed. Her last scene with Charles Coburn is a classic. Huston and Livvie's affair is recorded forever in every lingering, rosy closeup she has in the picture.
"Entertainment Weekly" did a fantastic interview with her a few years ago.
Olivia de Havilland and James Cagney have always been my favourites from the Golden Era of Hollywood thanks to frequent showings of their films on television in the Eighties. I have to say that 99/100 years of age has rarely looked so good! I remember reading a quote from her when she turned 90 and was asked about reaching that milestone. She was very positive about it and said that she views each birthday as a victory. What a great way to look at something that so many people dread!
Her films at Warner Bros may not have offered her much to do as an actress, but many of the films have stood the test of time better than the superior roles of her contemporaries. The majority of the Flynn films are still great fun to watch, and even some of the other titles like It's Love I'm After, In This Our Life, and especially The Strawberry Blonde are still very entertaining and were strong roles for her.
Other films worth checking out are her Oscar nominated / winning performances, plus My Cousin Rachel, The Proud Rebel, The Dark Mirror, and Light in the Piazza. She and Mary Astor also give the outstanding performances in Hush ... Hush, Sweet Charlotte. I think her (usually) understated style has aged better than the acting of some of her fellow actresses of that era.
Thanks for posting the pic and story - I might not have seen it otherwise!
I'm delighted she is still in reasonably good health, and look at those 2 Oscars proudly displayed.
Surely both Oscar winning performances are compulsory...
They shld do a movie on her & Joan Fontaine!!
Inside Out easily tops this list. The best Pixar script to lose the Oscar since Ratatouille.
In love with this picture of her. Oscar should bring more "legacy players" like her out to be presenters.
What a beautiful endearing picture of a true legend and, by most accounts, a wonderful human being (most, of course, but not all, because of Joan Fontaine, hehe). She just radiates kindness and warmth, it is so rare in this age of flash in the pan celebrity at all costs that it feels like delicacy, a treat! :)
May she remain with us and in great health for many many years more, God bless her.
We should watch The Snake Pit, To Each His Own and Robin Hood to celebrate.
I would like "to Each His Own" to be played more often than it has been.... Great Movie... Olivia you look great....I hope you continue on....for a long time... Happy Birthday... 100 in July... Best Wishes...
Olivia was a fab actress with a body of work that was second to none. If you want to know more about her listen to my podcast Classic Hollywood MTC about the lives and careers of the Hollywood movie stars of 30s, 40s and 50s. The latest episode is on Olivia. Others cover Doris Days 30 year legal battle with her crooked lawyer and the roller coaster lives of Sammy Davis Junior and Dorothy Dandridge. Stars to follow include Hattie McDaniel and Tony Curtis. The podcast can be found on ITunes, Stitcher and Tunein. It can also be accessed via the following RSS link: http://classichollywoodmtc.libsyn.com/rss. Hope you listen and enjoy and that the memory of Olivias great films live on for another 100 years.