Olivia de Havilland: World’s Oldest Ever Dame At 100
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Olivia de Havilland, at age 100, has finally been given a 'damehood' for her services to drama!
Photo credit: Getty Images
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The "Gone With The Wind" actress – who starred alongside some of the biggest names in Hollywood – is the oldest woman ever to receive the honor. Her performance as "Melanie Hamilton" opposite Vivien Leigh's "Scarlett O’Hara" earned her her first Academy Award nomination at the age of 23. Her career spanned 49 feature films over six decades winning two Oscars for Best Actress – first in 1946 for "To Each His Own" and again in 1949 for "The Heiress."
Photo credit: Getty Images
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Early roles saw her work with Errol Flynn on films "The Charge Of The Light Brigade" and "The Adventures Of Robin Hood" – and admitted to falling for the legendary leading man! "We did fall in love… but his circumstances prevented the relationship going further," she recalled. Behind the camera, she was romanced by the likes of John F Kennedy, Howard Hughes, John Huston and Jimmy Stewart!
Photo credit: Getty Images
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The actress married first husband Marcus Goodrich in 1946, having a son then divorcing six years later. After moving to Paris, she married Pierre Galante and gave birth to a daughter before divorcing in 1979.
Photo credit: Getty Images
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Dame Olivia is also known for her famous feud with her younger sister Joan Fontaine – a fellow Oscar winner for her role the Alfred Hitchcock-directed "Suspicion."To this day, they are the only siblings to have won major Academy Awards. It is believed the sisters – who were less then two years apart in age – regularly clashed through the years over film roles, awards and even men!
Photo credit: Getty Images
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The rivalry had been encouraged by their mother, who made sure her girls had perfect upper-class English accents making them much sought after in Hollywood.Their feud came to a head in 1975 when Fontaine accused Olivia of not inviting her to a memorial service for their mother after her death from cancer. They refused to speak for 38 years up to Joan's death in 2013 at age 96!
Photo credit: Getty Images
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Dame Olivia sued Warner Brothers in 1940 when the studio extended her seven-year contract to account for time she had spent "on suspension" for rejecting roles that its executives wanted her to play. The result was the "De Havilland Law" – a landmark ruling in 1944 that ended the power studios had over contracted actors and was the beginning of the end for the old Hollywood studio system.
Photo credit: Getty Images
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Just two weeks shy of turning 101, the actress said the honor is, "the most gratifying of birthday presents."
Photo credit: Getty Images
Olivia de Havilland, at age 100, has finally been given a 'damehood' for her services to drama!
Photo credit: Getty Images
The "Gone With The Wind" actress – who starred alongside some of the biggest names in Hollywood – is the oldest woman ever to receive the honor. Her performance as "Melanie Hamilton" opposite Vivien Leigh's "Scarlett O’Hara" earned her her first Academy Award nomination at the age of 23. Her career spanned 49 feature films over six decades winning two Oscars for Best Actress – first in 1946 for "To Each His Own" and again in 1949 for "The Heiress."
Photo credit: Getty Images
Early roles saw her work with Errol Flynn on films "The Charge Of The Light Brigade" and "The Adventures Of Robin Hood" – and admitted to falling for the legendary leading man! "We did fall in love… but his circumstances prevented the relationship going further," she recalled. Behind the camera, she was romanced by the likes of John F Kennedy, Howard Hughes, John Huston and Jimmy Stewart!
Photo credit: Getty Images
The actress married first husband Marcus Goodrich in 1946, having a son then divorcing six years later. After moving to Paris, she married Pierre Galante and gave birth to a daughter before divorcing in 1979.
Photo credit: Getty Images
Dame Olivia is also known for her famous feud with her younger sister Joan Fontaine – a fellow Oscar winner for her role the Alfred Hitchcock-directed "Suspicion."To this day, they are the only siblings to have won major Academy Awards. It is believed the sisters – who were less then two years apart in age – regularly clashed through the years over film roles, awards and even men!
Photo credit: Getty Images
The rivalry had been encouraged by their mother, who made sure her girls had perfect upper-class English accents making them much sought after in Hollywood.Their feud came to a head in 1975 when Fontaine accused Olivia of not inviting her to a memorial service for their mother after her death from cancer. They refused to speak for 38 years up to Joan's death in 2013 at age 96!
Photo credit: Getty Images
Dame Olivia sued Warner Brothers in 1940 when the studio extended her seven-year contract to account for time she had spent "on suspension" for rejecting roles that its executives wanted her to play. The result was the "De Havilland Law" – a landmark ruling in 1944 that ended the power studios had over contracted actors and was the beginning of the end for the old Hollywood studio system.
Photo credit: Getty Images
Just two weeks shy of turning 101, the actress said the honor is, "the most gratifying of birthday presents."
Photo credit: Getty Images
