07/26/2020 - 14:16
- Clarín.com
- Shows
- Movie theater
Olivia de Havilland , the last Hollywood star of the golden years, died at 104 at her home in Paris , France. According to reports from her family, the artist died "in peace, while she slept . "
De Havilland was the sole survivor of the cast of Gone with the Wind , legendary and iconic 1939 film.
With 60 films, Olivia won two Oscars for Best Leading Actress for The Intimate Life of Julia Norris (1946) and The Heiress (1949) .
In addition, he witnessed the transformation of the film industry throughout the 20th century.
She also stood out as an active fighter for the rights of artists against the abuses of producers. Very far from all that, for 50 years he had lived in retirement in Paris .
Olivia De Havilland, big star.
Daughter of an actress and a British diplomat, for the work of her father she was born in Tokyo on July 1, 1916 .
Her sister, Joan Fontaine , a year younger, was also a recognized Hollywood actress, but the two were at odds for several decades .
In the 1920s, the family moved to California, United States. There, Olivia began to study ballet, piano and theater. And, from a very young age, she recited Shakespeare .
It was precisely his role in a play by the English playwright, A Midsummer Night's Dream , that opened the doors of the cinema. Olivia was discovered in the theater by Austrian director Max Reinhardt, who, at just 18 years old, proposed her for the same role in a Warner Bros. movie.
Thereafter he signed a contract to film with the star of the moment, Errol Flynn. As a romantic couple, they made seven adventure movies and achieved great success as a duo with very good chemistry .
In 1939 the role would come that would make her famous throughout the world, in the film Gone with the Wind .
For her Melanie character, she received an Oscar nomination, but was won by her cast partner, Hattie McDaniel , the first African-American actress to win it .
In 1941 she was nominated again for an Oscar, for Best Leading Actress, for her role in If It Didn't Dawn, but this time it was her sister, Joan Fontaine, who won it for her role in Alfred Hitchcock's The Suspicion.
Tired of being offered "low character" roles, Olivia complained to Warner's producers, who punished her, leaving her jobless for six months. The conflict deepened when Warner wanted to extend her contract for seven more years.
She sued them for denouncing abusive contracts and won it. From there , a law called "De Havilland" was created , which his colleagues always thanked him for, because it allowed him to end the strict control that the studios exercised over the actors.
(Note in development)