Olivia de Havilland's 93rd Birthday!
A reposting... because I'm a fan! Wednesday, Miss de Havilland celebrated her 93rd birthday. As my own personal way of wishing her a happy birthday, I thought I would repost a blog I wrote two years ago.
Today, July 1, Olivia de Havilland turns 91. While most people know her as either Melanie Hamilton Wilkes from Gone with the Wind or Maid Marian from The Adventures of Robin Hood, this two-time Academy Award winner (back when that truly meant something) made almost sixty films spanning from the early 1930s to the late 1980s. She is in retirment now, living near her grandchildren and great grandchildren and teaching Sunday School in Paris, France.
Olivia de Havilland also happens to be my all-time favorite actress. I've been planning on doing a series of blogs about my favorite films so I thought I would start with my TOP TEN FAVORITE OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND films. These are the films I recommend to people who ask me why I love and adore this woman.
10. Hush, Hush... Sweet Charlotte. Okay, yes, it could be argued that this is nothing more than a second-rate attempt to cash in on the wild success of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane. And it probably is. But, this is one of only a handful of films where Olivia plays a not-so-nice character and one of two films she did with her lifelong friend, the phenomenal Bette Davis. (Side note: the other being, of course, The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, in which Olivia plays another not-so-nice character, Lady Penelope Gray.)
Check out this scene from the film and tell me that Olivia doesn't kick ass! Come on! She's bitch-slapping Bette Davis!
9. Airport 77. Yes, a cheesy sequel to the cheesy "airplane disaster" films that were so wonderfully spoofed by the team of Abraham & Zucker. But, Olivia is in this one as Emily Livingston, she reteams with Hush, Hush costar Joseph Cotton, she gets to play poker, and, legend has it that during the filming of the flooding sequence, a certain other actress in the film complained about the harsh conditions of the filming and later blamed the film for her contracting pneumonia. Whereas Miss de Havilland "complained" that all she lost in that scene was an eyelash.
8. Lady in a Cage. This is an intense pyschological drama with Olivia in the title role. She is an upper middle class dame who has an elevator installed in her house due to an illness. One day, she is followed home by some thugs (the leader played by James Caan in his first film role) and they spend the next two hours in a battle of wits and will. I won't tell you the outcome but I wouldn't be recommending it if it wasn't in her favor. Be warned: it's a bit icky!
7. The Strawberry Blonde. This film stars James Cagney and Rita Hayworth; Olivia has a "supporting" role in the film but she's hilarious in it. James Cagney fancies himself in love with the titular character, Rita Hayworth, but is also drawn to the modern, plucky Olivia. She flirts with him, outrageously, and is everything that Rita Hayworth is not: down-to-earth, dependable, fun. Just a cute film.
6. Princess O'Rourke. I actually saw this for the first time a couple of months ago. Audrey Hepburn's Roman Holiday is actually a remake of this film. Olivia plays a princess whose family fled Europe during WWII. While her advisors are trying to find a suitable marriage for her, she ends up falling in love with an American pilot, causing quite the comedic scandal. Another cute film, something to watch on a lazy afternoon.
5. To Each His Own. This film brought Olivia her first Academy Award for Best Actress. Yes, I am bragging. She plays Jody Norris, a young woman who falls in love with a test pilot during WWI. They have an affair, he dies, and she is left carrying his child. To avert any more of a scandal, she allows a family friend to adopt her son and goes through the agony of watching another woman raise her child. This film is great not only because of its daring subject matter but also because Olivia has to play not only the wide-eyed innocent youth that Jody begins the film as but also the mature businesswoman she becomes. It's a great performance and a great film.
4. The Snake Pit. This film was first recommended to me by my 8th Grade English teacher, Mrs. Rathbun. I had mentioned that I was a fan of Olivia's and Mrs. Rathbun asked me if I had seen this particular film. This film is phenomenal not only because of Olivia's Academy Award nominated performance, but also because it gives an open, honest look at the mental healthcare community of the 1940s. Olivia plays Virginia Cunningham, a woman who seems to have everything going for her: good job, loving husband, and a blossoming career as a writer. But, events from her past resurface and she has a nervous breakdown. Sit down and watch this film; watch this phenomenal actress at work as she journeys through Virginia's mental collapse and recovery. Wow!
3. Captain Blood. One of the nine films Olivia de Havilland made with Errol Flynn. This is what a pirate film should be. Bold, brash, adventurous and having the delicious Basil Rathbone in it doesn't hurt! She plays Arabella Bishop, a young colonist in Jamaica who "buys" the criminal Peter Blood to save him from the silver mines. So, of course, they fall in love. Ha-Ha. No, this film is a great pirate film and the chemistry between Olivia and Errol is palpable. She also elevates Arabella from the standard "damsel in distress" archetype. And it was filmed in glorious black and white!
2. The Adventures of Robin Hood. I could go on and on about this film. It is on my all-time favorite film list. It is this film by which I compare all other Robin Hood films and, in that comparison, all others come in sorely lacking. Yeah, that Costner disaster had Alan Rickman and Sean Connery but this film had Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Alan Hale, Sr., the lovely Basil Rathbone, Melville Cooper, Una O'Connor, and Claude Rains as Prince John. Gloriously cast, costumed in rich colors for Technicolor, and gloriously scored by Erich Wolfgang Korngold... I think I can safely say that this film is without flaw. Olivia's Maid Marian Fitzwalter is all the things Olivia is: beautiful, noble, plucky, defiant, determined, and courageous. Gosh, I love this film!
and my Number One favorite Olivia de Havilland film of all time is
1. The Heiress. If watching any of these other films has not convinced you, see this film. Dulling herself down to play the plain Catherine Sloper, Olivia allows Cathy to blossom in character rather than looks. Scorned by a father embittered by his wife's death who constantly points out to his daughter all the qualities she lacks in comparison to that idealized mother and preyed upon by the opportunistic, fortune-seeking Morris Townsend (played with sweet conviction by the beautiful Montgomery Clift), Catherine evolves from a creature thinking herself unworthy of love to a dreamer willing to defy all for love before evolving into a woman with clear understanding of how much one can hurt another with love. This film brought Olivia her second Academy Award and it remains one of the best performances of all time. Bette Davis said, and I agree, that this was Olivia's finest hour on film.
So, Happy Birthday Miss de Havilland. And thank you.
Today, July 1, Olivia de Havilland turns 91. While most people know her as either Melanie Hamilton Wilkes from Gone with the Wind or Maid Marian from The Adventures of Robin Hood, this two-time Academy Award winner (back when that truly meant something) made almost sixty films spanning from the early 1930s to the late 1980s. She is in retirment now, living near her grandchildren and great grandchildren and teaching Sunday School in Paris, France.
Olivia de Havilland also happens to be my all-time favorite actress. I've been planning on doing a series of blogs about my favorite films so I thought I would start with my TOP TEN FAVORITE OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND films. These are the films I recommend to people who ask me why I love and adore this woman.
10. Hush, Hush... Sweet Charlotte. Okay, yes, it could be argued that this is nothing more than a second-rate attempt to cash in on the wild success of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane. And it probably is. But, this is one of only a handful of films where Olivia plays a not-so-nice character and one of two films she did with her lifelong friend, the phenomenal Bette Davis. (Side note: the other being, of course, The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, in which Olivia plays another not-so-nice character, Lady Penelope Gray.)
Check out this scene from the film and tell me that Olivia doesn't kick ass! Come on! She's bitch-slapping Bette Davis!
9. Airport 77. Yes, a cheesy sequel to the cheesy "airplane disaster" films that were so wonderfully spoofed by the team of Abraham & Zucker. But, Olivia is in this one as Emily Livingston, she reteams with Hush, Hush costar Joseph Cotton, she gets to play poker, and, legend has it that during the filming of the flooding sequence, a certain other actress in the film complained about the harsh conditions of the filming and later blamed the film for her contracting pneumonia. Whereas Miss de Havilland "complained" that all she lost in that scene was an eyelash.
8. Lady in a Cage. This is an intense pyschological drama with Olivia in the title role. She is an upper middle class dame who has an elevator installed in her house due to an illness. One day, she is followed home by some thugs (the leader played by James Caan in his first film role) and they spend the next two hours in a battle of wits and will. I won't tell you the outcome but I wouldn't be recommending it if it wasn't in her favor. Be warned: it's a bit icky!
7. The Strawberry Blonde. This film stars James Cagney and Rita Hayworth; Olivia has a "supporting" role in the film but she's hilarious in it. James Cagney fancies himself in love with the titular character, Rita Hayworth, but is also drawn to the modern, plucky Olivia. She flirts with him, outrageously, and is everything that Rita Hayworth is not: down-to-earth, dependable, fun. Just a cute film.
6. Princess O'Rourke. I actually saw this for the first time a couple of months ago. Audrey Hepburn's Roman Holiday is actually a remake of this film. Olivia plays a princess whose family fled Europe during WWII. While her advisors are trying to find a suitable marriage for her, she ends up falling in love with an American pilot, causing quite the comedic scandal. Another cute film, something to watch on a lazy afternoon.
5. To Each His Own. This film brought Olivia her first Academy Award for Best Actress. Yes, I am bragging. She plays Jody Norris, a young woman who falls in love with a test pilot during WWI. They have an affair, he dies, and she is left carrying his child. To avert any more of a scandal, she allows a family friend to adopt her son and goes through the agony of watching another woman raise her child. This film is great not only because of its daring subject matter but also because Olivia has to play not only the wide-eyed innocent youth that Jody begins the film as but also the mature businesswoman she becomes. It's a great performance and a great film.
4. The Snake Pit. This film was first recommended to me by my 8th Grade English teacher, Mrs. Rathbun. I had mentioned that I was a fan of Olivia's and Mrs. Rathbun asked me if I had seen this particular film. This film is phenomenal not only because of Olivia's Academy Award nominated performance, but also because it gives an open, honest look at the mental healthcare community of the 1940s. Olivia plays Virginia Cunningham, a woman who seems to have everything going for her: good job, loving husband, and a blossoming career as a writer. But, events from her past resurface and she has a nervous breakdown. Sit down and watch this film; watch this phenomenal actress at work as she journeys through Virginia's mental collapse and recovery. Wow!
3. Captain Blood. One of the nine films Olivia de Havilland made with Errol Flynn. This is what a pirate film should be. Bold, brash, adventurous and having the delicious Basil Rathbone in it doesn't hurt! She plays Arabella Bishop, a young colonist in Jamaica who "buys" the criminal Peter Blood to save him from the silver mines. So, of course, they fall in love. Ha-Ha. No, this film is a great pirate film and the chemistry between Olivia and Errol is palpable. She also elevates Arabella from the standard "damsel in distress" archetype. And it was filmed in glorious black and white!
2. The Adventures of Robin Hood. I could go on and on about this film. It is on my all-time favorite film list. It is this film by which I compare all other Robin Hood films and, in that comparison, all others come in sorely lacking. Yeah, that Costner disaster had Alan Rickman and Sean Connery but this film had Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Alan Hale, Sr., the lovely Basil Rathbone, Melville Cooper, Una O'Connor, and Claude Rains as Prince John. Gloriously cast, costumed in rich colors for Technicolor, and gloriously scored by Erich Wolfgang Korngold... I think I can safely say that this film is without flaw. Olivia's Maid Marian Fitzwalter is all the things Olivia is: beautiful, noble, plucky, defiant, determined, and courageous. Gosh, I love this film!
and my Number One favorite Olivia de Havilland film of all time is
1. The Heiress. If watching any of these other films has not convinced you, see this film. Dulling herself down to play the plain Catherine Sloper, Olivia allows Cathy to blossom in character rather than looks. Scorned by a father embittered by his wife's death who constantly points out to his daughter all the qualities she lacks in comparison to that idealized mother and preyed upon by the opportunistic, fortune-seeking Morris Townsend (played with sweet conviction by the beautiful Montgomery Clift), Catherine evolves from a creature thinking herself unworthy of love to a dreamer willing to defy all for love before evolving into a woman with clear understanding of how much one can hurt another with love. This film brought Olivia her second Academy Award and it remains one of the best performances of all time. Bette Davis said, and I agree, that this was Olivia's finest hour on film.
So, Happy Birthday Miss de Havilland. And thank you.
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