Olivia de Havilland

Olivia Mary de Havilland DBE (born July 1, 1916) was a British and American actress. She appeared in 49 feature films and is one of the leading actresses of her time. The major works of her cinematic career spanned from 1935 to 1988. She made her breakthrough in Captain Blood (1935), appearing with Errol Flynn in eight films. She is perhaps best known for her role as Melanie Hamilton in Gone with the Wind for which she received her first Oscar nomination. De Havilland departed from ingenue roles in the 1940s, receiving accolades for her performances in Hold Back the Dawn (1941), To Each His Own (1946), The Snake Pit (1948), and The Heiress (1949), winning Oscars for To Each His Own and The Heiress. She moved to Paris in the 1950s and continued her career in film, television and stage. De Havilland received honours such as the National Medal of the Arts, the Légion d'honneur, and the appointment to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Her younger sister was fellow actress Joan Fontaine, with whom she had a noted rivalry. She was also known for her legal victory over Warner Bros. – which was called the "de Havilland Law" – after she sued the studio for adding time to her contract without her approval. She died on July 26, 2020 at the age of 104 in Paris.