Olivia de Havilland Biography

Fast Facts

• Born in Tokyo to British subjects; moved to California at 3 years old
• As a teen, she frequented a soda shop called Kirk and Bill's, where the proprietors would extend credit
• Upon returning to the establishment after 18 years, she was presented with an outstanding bill of $1
• 81, which she promptly paid
• Won a scholarship to Mills College in Oakland, but never attended due to her budding acting career
• Discovered by famed theatrical producer Max Reinhardt while appearing in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream
• While under contract to Warner Bros
• , she starred in nine movies with Errol Flynn
• Became an American citizen in 1941
• Tired of being suspended by Warner Bros
• for refusing roles in bad movies, she sued the studio in the 1940s and won a landmark ruling regarding actors' contracts; it's still known in law books as "the de Havilland decision
• " Was involved in a bitter, well-publicized feud with her sister, Joan Fontaine, that reportedly began when they were children and escalated after they were both nominated for an Oscar in 1941 (Fontaine won)
• Published her memoir, Every Frenchman Has One, in 1962
• Made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2017, making her the oldest woman to be made a dame