Olivia de Havilland

An icon of Hollywood's golden age, Olivia de Havilland was born in Tokyo July 1, 1916. Her parents divorced when she was 3, and her mother moved Olivia and her sister (Joan Fontaine) to California, where stage director Max Reinhardt discovered de Havilland and cast her in his 1935 film A Midsummer Night's Dream. She scored another hit that year as Errol Flynn's ladylove in Captain Blood.

On loan to MGM in 1939, de Havilland played Melanie Hamilton in Gone with the Wind, resulting in a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nod -- and her most enduring performance. She was nominated for Best Actress for Hold Back the Dawn (1941) and The Snake Pit (1948) and won the Oscar for To Each His Own (1946) and The Heiress (1949).

De Havilland's later appearances, although more sporadic, include a notable turn in the miniseries North and South: Book II. Her last screen role was in 1979's The Fifth Musketeer.

Filmography