I’m going to be honest.  I thought that today’s featured person was dead!  What a shock to realize that her birthday is today, and she is 97!  That’s right, on this date in 1916, Olivia de Havilland was born.  Her parents were from the UK, and they were living in Tokyo, Japan at the time.  Her mother had been an actress and returned to stage as Lillian Fontaine in the 1940’s.  Her younger sister was actress Joan Fontaine.  Her parents had a very unhappy marriage, and eventually it led to her father’s abandonment (lived in Japan with his mistress and eventual second wife) and the rest of the family (mother, younger sister, and Olivia) living in California.

I remember her best as Melanie Hamilton from Gone With the Wind.  But I have seen her in a couple other things here and there.  She and her sister never quite got along, and there was a rivalry that seemed to be fueled by their mother.   They are the only siblings to have both received an Academy Award for Best Actress.

So where is she now?  She has lived in Paris, France since the 1950’s.  She basically lives a life of seclusion, and she rarely makes public appearances.  President George W. Bush presented her with a National Medal of Arts in November of 2008 (she was 92), and at the age of 94, she was appointed chevalier (or knight) of the Légion d’honneur (highest honor in France).

For more information:

http://www.famousbirthdays.com/people/olivia-dehavilland.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivia_de_Havilland

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000014/

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000014/bio

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