Olivia de Havilland

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Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland in The Adventures of Robin Hood

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Olivia de Havilland

American actress

Also known as: Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland

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Last Updated: May 24, 2025 • Article History

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In full:: Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland

Born:: July 1, 1916, Tokyo, Japan

Died:: July 26, 2020, Paris, France (aged 104)

Awards And Honors:: National Medal of Arts (2008); Academy Award (1950); Academy Award (1947); Academy Award (1950): Actress in a Leading Role; Academy Award (1947): Actress in a Leading Role; Golden Globe Award (1987): Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Limited Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television; Golden Globe Award (1950): Best Actress in a Leading Role

Notable Family Members:: sister Joan Fontaine

Married To:: Pierre Galante (1955–1979); Marcus Goodrich (1946–1953)

Movies/Tv Shows (Acted In):: "Light in the Piazza" (1962); "Alibi Ike" (1935); "The Love Boat" (1981); "Four's a Crowd" (1938); "Thank Your Lucky Stars" (1943); "Not as a Stranger" (1955); "Devotion" (1946); "Lady in a Cage" (1964); "Call It a Day" (1937); "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1935); "Raffles" (1939); "The Adventures of Robin Hood" (1938); "To Each His Own" (1946); "Wings of the Navy" (1939); "The Strawberry Blonde" (1941); "North and South, Book II" (1986); "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex" (1939); "Airport '77" (1977); "The Proud Rebel" (1958); "ABC Stage 67" (1966); "The Heiress" (1949); "That Lady" (1955); "Gone with the Wind" (1939); "The Ambassador's Daughter" (1956); "The Swarm" (1978); "The Fifth Musketeer" (1979); "Gold Is Where You Find It" (1938); "Government Girl" (1943); "The Adventurers" (1970); "Hold Back the Dawn" (1941); "They Died with Their Boots On" (1941); "Anthony Adverse" (1936); "Pope Joan" (1972); "Captain Blood" (1935); "The Snake Pit" (1948); "The Charge of the Light Brigade" (1936); "My Cousin Rachel" (1952); "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte" (1964); "Dodge City" (1939); "Princess O'Rourke" (1943); "Hard to Get" (1938); "The Male Animal" (1942); "The Dark Mirror" (1946); "The Well-Groomed Bride" (1946); "Santa Fe Trail" (1940); "The Irish in Us" (1935); "Roots: The Next Generations" (1979); "In This Our Life" (1942); "My Love Came Back" (1940); "The Great Garrick" (1937); "The Danny Thomas Hour" (1968); "Libel" (1959); "It's Love I'm After" (1937)

On the Web:: NPR - Olivia De Havilland, One Of Hollywood's Longest Living Legends, Dies At 104 (May 24, 2025)

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Olivia de Havilland (born July 1, 1916, Tokyo, Japan—died July 26, 2020, Paris, France) was an American motion-picture actress remembered for the lovely and gentle ingenues of her early career as well as for the later, more substantial roles she fought to secure.

Olivia de HavillandOlivia de Havilland in Hold Back the Dawn, a radio adaptation of the motion picture for the series Academy Award Theater; air date July 31, 1946.

The daughter of a British patent attorney, de Havilland and her younger sister, Joan Fontaine, moved to California in 1919 with their mother, an actress. While attending school, de Havilland was chosen from the cast of a local California production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream to play Hermia in a 1935 Warner Brothers film version of that play. As the sweet-tempered beauty to Errol Flynn’s gallant swain, she appeared in many costume adventure movies of the 1930s and ’40s, including Captain Blood (1935), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), and They Died with Their Boots On (1941). She also played romantic leading roles in Strawberry Blonde (1941), Hold Back the Dawn (1941), and The Male Animal (1942) and portrayed Melanie Wilkes in Gone with the Wind (1939).

*The Heiress*Montgomery Clift and Olivia de Havilland in *The Heiress* (1949).

In 1945 de Havilland won a precedent-setting case against Warner Brothers, which released her from a six-month penalty obligation appended by the studio to her seven-year contract. Free to take more-challenging roles, she gave Academy Award-winning performances in To Each His Own (1946) and The Heiress (1949). She also gave a superb performance in The Snake Pit (1948). De Havilland moved to France in 1955 and worked infrequently in films after that, most memorably in Light in the Piazza (1962), Lady in a Cage (1964), and Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964). She also appeared in a number of television plays.

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In 2017 de Havilland was portrayed in the FX television series Feud: Bette and Joan, about the rivalry between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, the former of whom was a close friend. Later that year she sued FX and the production company, alleging that they had misappropriated her “name, likeness and identity without her permission and used them falsely in order to exploit their own commercial interests.” A California appellate court dismissed the lawsuit in 2018, and she appealed that decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case.

De Havilland was the recipient of numerous honours. She received the American National Medal of Arts in 2008, and two years later she was made a chevalier of the Legion of Honour in France, where she lived. In 2017, shortly before her 101st birthday, she was made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE).

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