Posterized: Happy Olivia de Havilland Centennial !
Friday, July 1, 2016 at 1:39PM 
Photo shot last week in Paris, via People magazineHappy 100th birthday Olivia de Havilland! She's our oldest living Oscar winner and oldest living bonafide movie star (Kirk Douglas, also still with us, is five months younger) and her list of classics is long. She may not have gotten along with her movie star sister Joan Fontaine -- their contentious relationship stretches back to childhood (it didn't start when they were Oscar-nominated against each other and Joan won) wherein she supposedly made a will at nine years old stating:
I bequeath all my beauty to my younger sister Joan, since she has none"
...but that infamous feud aside she was beloved by many. The list includes legends like Erroll Flynn (8 pictures together) and Bette Davis (several pictures and a friend) and actors everywhere owe her for the freedom she wrangled in the 'de Havilland decision' in the 1940s which Tim discussed in his write-up of The Heiress. I hope she feels the love in France today where she lives. She recently told Vanity Fair that she plans to live to be 110.
We still have two more pieces coming up on individual performances (why cut the bday festivities short?) but let's look at the whole filmography in poster form after the jump. How many have you seen?
Early Films. Contract Player (1935-1937)
Midsummer Night's Dream was the first film she shot at a starting salary of $200 a week for a 5 year contract. Further Reading: It's Love I'm After (1937)
Warner Bros Stardom. (1938-1943)
Olivia becomes a major star with her Erroll Flynn pairings but even loan outs to other studios for classic roles don't lead her to the kind of leading roles she wants. She receives two Oscar nominations during this time frame for Gone With the Wind (1939) and Hold Back the Dawn (1941) but is frequently unhappy with her contract.
Further Reading: Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) and Gone With the Wind (1939)
Post Warner Bros Career Peak (1946-1955)
After winning her court battle with Warner Bros (after which the studios had shorter contracts with their stars) she won two Best Actress Oscars (To Each His Own and The Heiress) and did some of her best work in The Snake Pit.
Further Reading: The Dark Mirror (1946) and The Heiress (1949)
1955-1979 Final Films
Having moved to France in the early 50s she makes fewer and fewer films, eventually entering the horror and all star disaster genres where the Old Hollywood stars were frequently wanted. She retired from film in 1979. Only a handful more TV guest roles followed before she quit acting in 1988.
Further Reading: The Light in the Piazza (1962) and Airport '77 (1977)
Reader Comments (24)
Aw this might be my favorite Posterized ever.
I've seen 11, which surprises me - coulda sworn I'd seen twice that. Ah, well. More Olivia to look forward to!
My second-favourite of her films is the underrated, gleamingly beautiful Dodge City, Robin Hood third. (Favourite is GWTW - duh.)
The Heiress is probably my favourite of the performances I've seen, though that's partly since The Snake Pit has eluded me.
Nathaniel, THIS IS INCREDIBLE! What a mammoth undertaking. I am just wallowing in all this classic Hollywood nostalgia. Happy Birthday, Olivia, you are eternal.
I've seen all but two of these. The Well-Groomed Bride which she did for Paramount who are notorious for their indifference to their older catalog of films and Call It a Day which TCM is showing this month during her tribute days as Star of the Month. Now if I could just find the WGB I'd be a very happy boy!
Like all great stars she made more average films than outstanding ones. Even some that were supposed to be prestige pictures like That Lady, a confused, stodgy mess, didn't turn out as planned but she has her share of stone cold classics.
So glad she's still with us and achieved this milestone.
Shamefully I've seen none of her filmography. Gone with the Wind is first on my post-bar exam movie list. I have two months between the exam and the start of my job in New York, so I'm definitely going to knock a few of her films off my list of shame then!
HAPPY 100TH OLIVIA! I'm so happy she's still with us to celebrate her centennial, and she looks very healthy for age, I'm sure she'll reach 110 easily.
So far I've seen 29 of her films (I actually made a list on Letterboxd of them for anyone curious: http://letterboxd.com/cinemacities/list/100-years-of-olivia-de-havilland/). I can't wait to see more of her on TCM this month.
I enjoy a lot of her movies (including the five she was nominated for), but I think my favorite above all is The Adventures of Robin Hood. A couple others I adore are It's Love I'm After and The Strawberry Blonde. The Great Garrick is also an underrated gem.
OMG weren't movie posters so beautiful and colorful back then!!! :)
Now we have full floating heads and text.
I've only seen 27. I'm so ashamed... ;-)
Favorites:
In This Our Life, The Heiress, The Dark Mirror, Captain Blood, It's Love I'm After, The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Snake Pit, The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, Devotion, Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte, Lady in a Cage, Gone with the Wind
Hadn't heard of "My Cousin Rachel" but really want to track it down now. Also, I feel like "Lady in a Cage" is underrated (or under-remembered, at least).
Only 20, but they were mostly very good. She slays me in The Heiress every time.
I've seen just 14 of these, what a legend. Great work to put this together.
Here's my little shout out to Ms. de Hundreth!
http://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2016/06/all-about-olivia-10-fascinating-facts.html
Happy Centennial Miss Olivia!
Wow being a high-functioning bitch at nine is an achievement all on its own.
Interestingly enough, I always think that Joan is the more beautiful one of the sisters.
It's William Wyler's birthday, too...who directed Olivia to her second Oscar in "The Heiress."
I've seen ten
Came across this revealing little interview which Olivia has gifted us with on her 100th! She discusses her relationship or lack thereof with sister Joan in it!!
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/db5918b0dc21407f85119bb0835ada4e/ap-interview-de-havilland-breaks-silence-sibling-feud-0
The collar bone story in the Vanity Fair piece reads as a template for the sister queen drama in Alice through the Lioking Glass. Who knew they had such a classic sibling rivalry on their mind... (And will Olivia have to go back in time and/or admit that she spilled the crumbs I mean broke the collar bone?)
She's still alive. Damn!!!!! Way to go!
I didn't answer the question. I've seen 12. And I have to say, she's never made my Top 20. But as a kid I adored her. And I'm fairly sure I saw a few more Errol costarrers that I forgot since I was very young. I think she's an icon.
Always been on Joan's side so I've only seen five (I have fleeting recollections of my dad watching The Strawberry Blonde when I was younger) but I do have The Dark Mirror, Lady in a Cage and My Cousin Rachel lined up for viewing. Love The Snake Pit. Applause, applause for Olivia on her centennial!
@Dave S. -.My Cousin Rachel is playing Friday July, 22 2016 at 08:00 PM on TCM.
@ brookesboy
She *might* make my top 20 (actresses whose careers started before 1940), but certainly not my top 10, off the top of my head: Davis, Hepburn, Garland, Stanwyck, Crawford, Dietrich, Garbo, Dunne, Leigh, Hayworth...
Paul, my list for actresses of the 30s is similar. My Top Ten from this decade: Davis, Garson, Garbo, Loy, Dunne, de Havilland, Lombard, Russell, Garland, Jones (under her real name, Phylis Isley)
Paul, I'll play! My top 10 actresses of the 30's would be Ida Lupino, Margaret Sullavan, Judy Garland, Rosalind Russell, Bette Davis, Priscilla Lane, Barbara Stanwyck, Claire Trevor, Jean Harlow and Edna May Oliver.
Hovering just below would be Joan Crawford, Olivia, Fay Bainter, Myrna Loy, Katharine Hepburn, Carole Lombard, Gladys George, Joan Blondell, Alice Faye and Garbo.
I've seen only 5 of these films - but she was great in all of them.