Olivia de Havilland

Prior to getting married, Olivia de Havilland had dated several men like Howard Hughes, James Stewart, and John Huston. Her first marriage was to Marcus Goodrich, a Navy veteran, screenwriter and novelist, in 1946. They had one son and divorced in 1953.

She tied the knot for the second time in 1955. Her second husband, Pierre Galante, was an executive editor for the French journal ‘Paris Match.’ The couple had one daughter. This marriage too ended in divorce in 1979, but the two remained close until Galante’s death in 1998.

Olivia Mary de Havilland was born on July 1, 1916, in Tokyo, Japan, to English parents. Her father, Walter Augustus de Havilland, was an English professor at the Imperial University in Tokyo, who later became a patent attorney. Her mother, Lillian Augusta, was a former stage actress. She had one younger sister Joan, who went on to become a prominent actress in future.

Her parents’ marriage was an unhappy one as her father was not loyal to her mother. The couple separated when the girls were young and Olivia moved to the United States with her mother and younger sister.

Olivia received ballet lessons and piano training as a young girl. She went to the Los Gatos High School where she performed well in studies and also excelled in oratory and field hockey along with participating in school plays.

She made her debut in amateur theatre in ‘Alice in Wonderland’ in 1933. Even though she had a deep interest in dramatics, she aspired to be a schoolteacher. Following her graduation from high school in 1934, she was offered a scholarship to Mills College in Oakland to pursue a career as an English teacher.

At around the same time, she also got the chance to play Hermia in a stage production of William Shakespeare's ‘A Midsummer Night's Dream’ which led to a movie contract. Forced to choose between a teaching career and an acting one, she signed a five-year contract with Warner Bros. in 1934.

Olivia de Havilland made her debut in the film adaptation of ‘A Midsummer Night's Dream’ in 1935. While the film was not successful, she got noticed for her beauty and acting skills.

Pretty with delicate features and innocent eyes, she was offered many roles which required her to play the ingénue—a sweet, innocent, and wholesome young woman.

In the mid-1930s, she was first paired with Errol Flynn in the action-adventure tale ‘Captain Blood’ (1935). The pairing was a successful one and the duo went on to become one of the most popular on-screen romantic couples in Hollywood. They acted together in a total of eight films.

In 1939, she played Melanie Hamilton, a gentle and kind woman whose personality is a stark contrast to that of Scarlett O’Hara, an aggressive character portrayed by Vivien Leigh. She earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Melanie.

The talented actress soon got bored of being typecast as a sweet young girl and wanted to break out of the mold. In the 1941 comedy drama, ‘The Strawberry Blonde,’ she played an outspoken advocate for women's rights, a role that was much appreciated by the film critics.

Olivia de Havilland won her first Academy Award for her portrayal of a young unwed mother in the romantic comedy film ‘To Each His Own.’ Her poignant performance was much appreciated and the film was both a critical and commercial success.

Her role as Catherine Sloper—a rich heiress who struggles with an indifferent father and falls in love with a fortune hunter—in the drama film ‘The Heiress’ gained her much acclaim. She won several awards for her performance including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a New York Film Critics Circle Award.