Olivia Mary de Havilland was born on July 1, 1916, in Tokyo, Japan, to British parents. Her sister Joan, later to become famous as Joan Fontaine, was born the following year. Her parents divorced when Olivia was just three years old, and she moved with her mother and sister to Saratoga, California.
After graduating from high school, Olivia enrolled in Mills College, where she participated in the school play "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and was spotted by Max Reinhardt. She was signed to a seven-year contract with Warner Bros. and appeared in several films, including "Captain Blood" with Errol Flynn, with whom she would star in eight films.
Olivia received her first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in "Gone with the Wind" (1939) but lost to Hattie McDaniel. She continued to appear in films, including "Hold Back the Dawn" (1941),which resulted in her second Oscar nomination, and "The Heiress" (1949),which won her the Academy Award for Best Actress.
In 1948, Olivia turned in a strong showing in "The Snake Pit" as Virginia Cunningham, a woman suffering a mental breakdown, earning her another Oscar nomination. After a three-year hiatus, she returned to star in "My Cousin Rachel" (1952).
Olivia's turbulent relationship with her sister Joan was press fodder for many decades. The two were reported as having been permanently estranged since their mother's death in 1975, when Joan claimed that she had not been invited to the memorial service. However, late in life, Fontaine gave an interview in which she denied any and all claims of an estrangement from her sister.
Olivia enjoyed a quiet retirement in Paris, France, where she resided for many decades, and where she died on July 26, 2020, at the age of 104. She was the last surviving major cast member of some of cinema's most beloved pre-war and wartime film classics, and one of the longest-lived major stars in film history.
