Doyenne of Hollywood Olivia de Havilland becomes oldest dame at 100
OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND has become the oldest recipient of a damehood at the age of 100, in the centenary of the honour itself.
The actress, who is approaching her 101st birthday, said she was “extremely proud” to be made a dame for her services to drama, in recognition of her glittering Hollywood career.
The Gone With the Wind star, a double Oscar winner, who will celebrate her birthday in July, is 11 months older than the Order of the British Empire itself, which was founded in 1917 by George V. “I am extremely proud that the Queen has appointed me a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire,” Dame Olivia said yesterday. “To receive this honour as my 101st birthday approaches is the most gratifying of birthday presents.” She joins an illustrious group of older recipients, with Dame Vera Lynn last year made a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour at the age of 99.
Dame Olivia is known for her onscreen collaborations with Errol Flynn, on films including The Charge Of The Light Brigade (1936, inset) and The Adventures Of Robin Hood (1938). She was born to British parents in Tokyo, but moved to California when she was young. She won Oscars for To Each His Own (1946) and The Heiress (1949).
Who does not brush away a tear in thinking of the George Medals awarded to Bernard Kenny, who tried to save the murdered MP Jo Cox, and posthumously to Pc Keith Palmer, who died protecting the gates of Parliament? These and Dominic Troulan, awarded the George Cross for saving lives at the Kenyan shopping mall attacked by terrorists in 2013, embody gallantry. Like the twin masks of drama, another side of the birthday honours is richly entertaining. Among new Companions of Honour, J K Rowling, Delia Smith and Paul Mccartney will enliven the Queen’s lunch table. Olivia de Havilland, now a Dame at 100, had been renowned for rivalry with her sister, the late Joan Fontaine, who once remarked: “If I die first, she’ll undoubtedly be livid because I beat her to it.” A damehood is a strange kind of consolation prize.