Olivia de Havilland and Joan
Fontaine share a few similarities,
particularly in the looks department. Their doe-like eyes and a
seemingly meek disposition connect the two, but the resemblance ends
there. In actual fact, the two sisters couldn't be more
different.
Olivia was the feisty, older
sister, unwilling to take anyone's guff. She made history by taking
on her studio, Warner Brothers, when she refused to accept the roles that
Jack Warner was thrusting upon her. After one too many
refusals, he suspended her for six months and extended her contract for
seven more years. De Havilland fought back, this time in court, and
much to her surprise, she won. The judge handed down what would go
on record as The de Havilland Decision, which gave actors a say in
the roles that they played. The decision would be the first step
toward the destruction of the studio system, that would change Hollywood
forever.
Joan, meanwhile, was unwittingly
becoming a victim of the very thing that Olivia was rallying
against. After her win for Best Actress, Joan's name meant more
money for the studios, but she didn't see a penny of it. Instead,
she played the game and did as she was told, accepting roles as they were
offered. The studio also insisted that she behave like the star that
she was, which meant buying expensive property, and living beyond her
means.
The film roles that the women
chose seemed to fit their real life traits. Melanie in Gone With the
Wind, seemed sweet and virginal, and was typical role for Olivia to
play. While Melanie takes a lot of guff from Scarlett, she is no
wimp, and she holds her own when she has to. In romance, Olivia's
characters are sought after, and she accepts her men for their failings,
but she doesn't sacrifice herself in the process.
Sister Joan, meanwhile, took on
roles of meek and mousy women, who were often tormented by the love
interest. It was rumored that Alfred Hitchcock treated Joan like
hell, in an effort to bring out the terrified character he was looking
for. Whether she is courting Laurence Olivier in Rebecca, or Cary
Grant in Suspicion, the men have a dark mystery about them that sister
Olivia might be tempted to simply pass on. Joan accepts these men,
and considers herself to be the inferior one, even in the end when the
truth about the men erupts into a violent climax.
Olivia de Havilland found herself
nominated for another Oscar in 1946, for her role in the weepy, To Each
His Own. In it, she plays a woman who is reunited with the child
that she gave up, after having him out of wedlock. This time around,
she hired the same man that had helped the 1945 Best Actress winner, Joan
Crawford, to glory, Henry Rogers. Three times proved to be the charm
for Olivia, as she came up the winner in a very competitive year.
As was the tradition at the time,
former winner, Joan Crawford was scheduled to present the Best Actress
Oscar to the 1946 winner, but she backed out at the last minute, feigning
stage fright, just as she did when she won for Mildred Pierce. The
Academy found a last minute replacement in the form of that other Joan -
Joan Fontaine.
When Joan called her sister's
name, Olivia stepped up to the podium. Joan extended her hand to
congratulate her sister, and in a move that was captured by the press,
Olivia snubbed her. Henry Rogers said later, "The girls haven't
spoken to each other for four months. This goes back for years and
years, ever since they were children. They just don't have a great
deal in common."
