Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
The grand Dame of Hollywood
How Gone With The Wind actress Olivia de Havilland rose to top
My paralysis was total.” Olivia, who was 15 months older, hadn’t taken it well when her baby sister arrived and competed for her parents’ attention. She is said to have rattled the baby’s cot and even cut up her hand-medown clothes so young Joan would have to sew them back together. And when Olivia was the first to make it big in Hollywood, Joan acted as her chauffeur and was discouraged by their mother from seeking roles at Warner Bros as Olivia thrived there. There is even a famous photo of the sisters at the 1946 Oscars ceremony where Olivia had just won the Best Actress gong. Joan is seen to be going to congratulate her sister, only to be given the cold shoulder. Olivia said at the time: “Our relations had been strained for quite some time. I couldn’t change my attitude.” The siblings’ relationship was broken beyond repair when their mother died in 1975. Joan claimed Olivia did not inform her while she was away touring with a play. In fact, Olivia sent a telegram which took two weeks to arrive. But the sisters were never to speak again. Three years later, Joan said: “Olivia has always said I was first at everything. I got married first, got an Academy Award first, had a child first. “If I die, she’ll be furious because again I’ll have got there first!” Joan passed away, aged 96, in 2013, and Olivia released a statement saying she was shocked and saddened. While Joan may have been the first
I feel like a survivor from an age that people no longer understand OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND REFLECTING ON HER LIFE
of the pair to marry, Olivia was never short of admirers. Despite, her love for Flynn, she dated tycoon Howard Hughes, actor James Stewart, director John Houston, and rejected the advances of John F Kennedy. She married her first husband Marcus Goodrich in 1946. The couple had a son Benjamin who was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma at the age of 19 and died of a heart attack at 41, brought on by treatments for the disease. Olivia and Goodrich divorced in 1953 and she went on to marry Pierre Galante, an executive editor for the French magazine Paris Match. At the age of 40, Olivia gave birth to their daughter Gisele. The couple separated in 1962 but continued to share a house for six years to bring up their child, and Olivia cared for him when he was dying of cancer in 1998. She still lives in Paris and says her honour from the Queen is the best 101st birthday gift she could wish for. Olivia was put forward for the honour by critic and biographer Roger Lewis. She told him: “I feel like a survivor from an age that people no longer understand. “Anyone who has ever heard my name has the distinct impression I was put under the sod years ago.”