Before she passed away in 2020, actress Olivia de Havilland was largely regarded as the last big star from Hollywood’s Golden Age of film. In spite of her accomplishments, she was unable to earn the title of grandma since her children did not go on to have children of their own.
The title of “final star of Hollywood’s Golden Age” is often given to Olivia de Havilland. The actress is remembered not just for the parts she portrayed in successful films such as “Gone With the Wind” and “The Heiress,” but also as a pioneer whose drive and courageous attitude altered the direction of Hollywood. This is one of the reasons why she is regarded so fondly today.
She was born in Tokyo to parents who were from the United Kingdom, although she spent the most of her childhood in Northern California. Her parents gave her early exposure to the arts by enrolling her in ballet classes when she was four and piano classes when she was five years old.
For the purpose of improving her diction, her mother, who sometimes gave lessons in music, theatre, and elocution, had her repeat passages from Shakespeare.
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After landing her first role in an elaborate production of the William Shakespeare comedy “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” directed by Austrian filmmaker Max Reinhardt when she was just 18 years old, she went on to play further roles in the films “Captain Blood” and “Anthony Adverse.”
As a result of her growing celebrity, she became more selective about the parts she would do. Jack L. Warner, the tyrannical production boss of Warner Bros. Pictures, would place her on indefinite suspension without pay if she declined a role.
She had finally reached her breaking point, so she filed a lawsuit against the studios. This action brought an end to the indentured servitude system that the studios had adopted, and it paved the way for the modern age of movie stars as independent mini-moguls with control over their own artistic and financial fortunes.
She obtained contracts with Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox after her dispute with Warner Bros., and she won two Academy Awards in a short length of time for her parts in “To Each His Own” and “The Heiress.”
Later on, she would come clean and say that she was glad to have worked in the film industry at the time period that she did since the business is not what it used to be. According to what the Daily Mail reports she said:
“If I were an aspiring young actress in this day and age, I would not enter the industry. The only line of work that may possibly pique my attention is the one that Meryl Streep does. But nobody else in this day and age has a job like that?”
Havilland had a difficult time finding love and happiness even when she was young. During the height of her Hollywood career, she had romantic relationships with a number of the industry’s most famous actors and directors, including Howard Hughes and John Huston.
She also recalls being madly in love with Errol Flynn, the actor who co-starred with her in eight films. Together, the two of them had a successful acting career. The couple admitted that they had formerly been romantically involved with one another but denied that they had ever completed their relationship. Havilland admitted the following:
“I am at a loss for words to adequately express how I feel about Errol Flynn.”
The actress who appeared in “The Proud Rebel” also said that she passed up the opportunity to play George Bailey’s wife in “It’s a Wonderful Life” because she did not feel comfortable starring beside Jimmy Stewart, her ex-lover.
Eventually, in 1946, she tied the knot with Marcus Goodrich, a writer and novelist who had served in the Navy. Their marriage lasted for seven years until they went their separate ways in 1953. In 1955, she wed Pierre Galante, who would later become her second husband, although the couple divorced peacefully in 1962.
Aside from her successful career in Hollywood, Havilland was also a mother to two children. Marcus, her first husband, was the father of her first child, Benjamin Goodrich, whom she had with him. Her second child was a girl named Gisele Galante Chulack, and she had her with her second husband, Pierre. Gisele Galante Chulack was her only child.
Havilland was a devoted mother, and even after she and Pierre divorced in 1962, they continued to co-parent their daughter by living together for another six years. This allowed them to provide their daughter the best possible upbringing.
Sadly, the decade of the 1990s marked the beginning of a difficult time for the actress from “The Dark Mirror.” Years passed during which her daughter battled with depression. She ultimately got well thanks to her mother’s encouragement and support when she was going through it.
She then wed Edward Broida, an art collector who was 20 years her older and moved to Malibu after the wedding. She remarried shortly after the dissolution of her previous marriage to Andrew Chulack, to whom she is still happily married today. They did not have any children together.
Benjamin did not have a very nice finish to his story, unfortunately. Following a diagnosis of Hodgkin’s lymphoma when he was a teenager, he endured excruciating pain for many years as a result of the treatments, which tragically led to a wide range of additional health problems, including coronary artery disease.
Unfortunately, his therapies left him in a terrible state of weakness for the final five years of his life, and he passed away at the tragically young age of 41 in Paris in September 1991. Marcus, his father, passed away only three weeks after he did. The passing of Havilland’s son left her inconsolable, and she subsequently spoke about the following things she recalled about him:
“He had a terrific sense of humor and was able to impersonate people with remarkable precision and wit.”
Despite the fact that she had two children, Havilland was never given the opportunity to become a grandma. Her son Benjamin had not yet found a wife at the time of his passing, while her daughter, although being married, does not have any children of her own.
She is, on the other hand, a grand-aunt to the grandchild of her sister. Her sister Joan Fonte, an award-winning actress, had a daughter with William Dozier whose name was Debbie Dozier Potter, as well as a grandson. Her relationship with Joan Fonte was fraught, and the two of them competed very publicly against one another.
Havilland had a fruitful life and outlived many of her contemporaries in the Golden Age film industry; she will be 104 years old when she celebrates her birthday on July 1, 2020. Havilland was able to keep up a level of enthusiasm that was unmatched by persons even half her age, despite the fact that she was far into her senior years.
Mia Farrow, who was also an actor, saw the actress on her last birthday as she rode a bicycle through the streets of Paris. In a message on Twitter, Farrow greeted the Hollywood legend a happy birthday and included a picture of the celebrity sitting on a bicycle with the caption:
Olivia de Havilland, who is 104 today and is supposedly still riding her bike, deserves our best wishes on her special day. Happy Birthday!
People who have always looked up to and liked Havilland gave their comments in the comment area of the article. They admitted that it was remarkable for someone of her age to still be so enthusiastic.
Unfortunately, three weeks later, the actress from “The Adventurers” passed suddenly at home while she was sleeping quietly. She was laid to rest in Paris, France, which is also the city in which she had resided with her son. Havilland left behind a legacy that will be remembered for many years to come thanks to a career that spanned 53 years and resulted in the production of 49 full-length motion pictures.
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