HOLLYWOOD GREAT DIES
Gone With The Wind actress and Hollywood great Dame Olivia de Havilland has died aged 104. The Oscar-award winning actress died peacefully at home in Paris, her representatives confirmed. She was described as an “international treasure”.
GONE WITH The Wind actress Dame Olivia de Havilland has been described as a “true classic Hollywood icon” after her death at the age of 104.
The actress, one of the last surviving figures of Hollywood’s Golden Age, died at home in Paris, her representatives confirmed. A statement said: “Last night, the world lost an international treasure, and I lost a dear friend and beloved client. She died peacefully in Paris.”
Dame Olivia won two best actress Oscars for her roles in 1946’s To Each His Own and 1949’s The Heiress.
However, she is best remembered for her turn as Melanie Wilkes in the 1939 film
Gone With The Wind.
Dame Olivia was born to British parents in Tokyo on July 1, 1916 – the first day of the Battle of the Somme – but moved to California when she was young.
Her younger sister was the actress Joan Fontaine.
She first appeared on the big screen in 1935 as Dolly Stevens in
Alibi Ike.
Soon she became known for her on-screen partnership with Hollywood heart-throb Errol Flynn on films including The
Charge Of The Light Brigade
(1936) and The Adventures Of
Robin Hood (1938).
After leaving Hollywood in the 1950s, the actress moved to Paris with her second husband.
She made a number of television appearances and often worked on several movie titles a year until her last TV movie role as Aunt Bessie Merryman in
The Woman He Loved in 1988. In 2017, she was made a Dame for services to drama.
Dame Olivia was also responsible for the so-called “De Havilland Law”, a landmark 1944 ruling that ended the tight grip studios had on contract actors. The estate of Humphrey Bogart described Dame Olivia as a “true classic Hollywood icon”.
An estate spokesperson said: “The two-time Oscar winner and Gone With the Wind star successfully fought the studio system in the 1940s.”