Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland was born on October 22, 1917 in the Japanese capital. She obviously inherited her acting talent from her mother, a professional actress. After the divorce of her parents (Joan’s father is a British lawyer Walter Augustus de Havilland), Joan, along with her mother and older sister Olivia moved to the United States, California – it was important for Joan’s poor health.
Her sister was educated at Los Gatos College, and then at a Catholic convent. When Joan was fifteen,
more
Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland was born on October 22, 1917 in the Japanese capital. She obviously inherited her acting talent from her mother, a professional actress. After the divorce of her parents (Joan’s father is a British lawyer Walter Augustus de Havilland), Joan, along with her mother and older sister Olivia moved to the United States, California – it was important for Joan’s poor health.
Her sister was educated at Los Gatos College, and then at a Catholic convent. When Joan was fifteen, she returned to Tokyo and lived with her father for two years.
In 1935, Joan made his debut on the theatrical stage (the play “Name this day”). The young actress drew the attention of representatives of the film company RKO. Sister Joanne also became an actress, she is known as Olivia de Havilland, and therefore, at the insistence of her mother, Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland took the pseudonym - first Barfield, and then - Fontaine (this was the theatrical name of her mother). The debut of the girl in the movie was the film “Only without ladies”.
After that, for several years Joan Fontaine experienced a series of failures. The films she starred in did not give her anything in terms of her career. Marriage with British actor Brian Ahern, too, did not bring anything good. Following her sister, in 1943, Fontaine took American citizenship.
Luck returned to the actress at a dinner party attended by Hollywood producer David O. Selznick. He invited Joan Fontaine to audition for
Rebekah The script was discussed at the table. As a result, the actress got the role of the second Mrs. de Winter. The film turned out to be “Oscar-winning” – 11 nominations for the cherished award, including “For Best Actress” for Joan. This debut film by Alfred Hitchcock brought the actress great luck, and soon she starred with this director in the new film “Suspicion”, eventually receiving her “Oscar”.
Olivia de Havilland’s career was also extremely successful, but the sisters, instead of rejoicing at each other’s successes, began to compete, compete and eventually stopped communicating.
The forty years of the 20th century were the peak of Fontaine's career - roles in romantic melodramas gave her international fame. Joan married again, in 1948 she had a daughter Deborah, another girl, Miriam, the actress adopted. Fontaine began to decline in demand in the 50s, and in 1966 she last appeared on the big screen as a teacher in the horror film The Witches. Then the actress actively worked on television, and decided to retire, settled in the Californian town of Carmel, where she lives secluded and is engaged in gardening.
Joan Fontaine is on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. /