Joan Fontaine (Tokyo, Japan, October 22, 1917 - Carmel, California, USA, December 15, 2013)
This American actress was born in Tokyo to British parents, Lillian Ruse, a trained actress, and Walter de Havilland, a lawyer. She was fifteen months younger than her sister Olivia. After her parents divorced, She moved with her sister and mother to Northern California. Their mother later remarried to George Fontaine, so Joan later used that last name. In her first movies she was credited as Joan St. John and Joan Burfield. Her sister kept her father’s last name, and also became a famous actress, Olivia de Havilland. Their lasting private and professional rivalry peaked after their mother died of cancer in 1975, after which they completely stopped communicating. Joan’s debut on film happened at the age of eighteen in George Cukor’s No More Ladies (1935). Her next bigger project was the musical A Damsel in Distress (1935) directed by George Stevens and starring Fred Astaire, but she only had one dance number. Her first leading role was in the romantic comedy Maid’s Night (1938) directed by Ben Holmes, and she then starred in the popular adventure film Gunga Din (1939) directed by George Stevens. She and George Cukor cooperated again in his comedy The Women (1939). Her great success came in starring opposite Laurence Olivier in the Alfred Hitchcock thriller Rebecca (1940) for which she received an Oscar nomination as Best Actress. Satisfied with their cooperation, Hitchcock hired her for his next movie, Suspicion (1941), opposite Cary Grant. She won an Oscar as Best Actress in 1941, beating her sister who was nominated in the same category for Hold Back the Dawn (1941). During World War II she worked for the Red Cross and received her third Oscar nomination for The Constant Nymph (1943), directed by Edmund Goulding. She starred in Jane Eyre (1943) opposite Orson Welles in the successful movie adaptation of Charlotte Brönte’s novel directed by Robert Stevenson. Among other notable movies from this period are the leading role in Ivy (1947) directed by Sam Wood, and the musical The Emperor Waltz (1948) directed by Billy Wilder, in which she starred opposite Bing Crosby. Her last great role is considered to be the one in Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948) directed by Max Ophüls. In mid-1950’s she started to act in TV films and series. Before that she starred as the main villain in the noted movie Born to be Bad (1950) directed by Nicholas Ray, as Rowena in the historical adventure Ivanhoe (1952) directed by Richard Thorpe, and in the drama The Bigamist (1953) directed by Ida Lupino who also acted in the movie, in the crime drama Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956) directed by Fritz Lang, and had a noted role in the romantic drama Until They Sail (1957) directed by Robert Wise. In the romantic drama Island in the Sun (1957) directed by Robert Rossen, she acted out an interracial love affair with the actor Harry Belafonte, and because of threats made by the Ku Klux Klan, several Southern cities banned the screening of this film. She was awarded her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 8, 1960. During the 1960’s she mostly acted in TV shows, with the exception of the adventure film Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961) directed by Irwin Allen, the romantic drama Until They Sail (1957) directed by Roberta Wise and the drama Tender Is the Night (1962) directed by Henry King. Her last feature film role was in the 1966 horror film The Witches directed by Cyril Frankel. In 1980, she was nominated for an Emmy for a cameo role in the TV show Ryan’s Hope, and two years later she was the Jury’s president at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Besides that she also acted in theatre plays. In 1954, she appeared on Broadway in the play Tea and Sympathy and in 1968 in the comedy Forty Carats. In 1978, she published her autobiography “No Bed of Roses”. She officially retired in 1994, after a role in the TV movie Good King Wenceslas. She died in her sleep at the age of 96 in her home in California.
Filmography:
Good King Wenceslas (1994) (TV)
Dark Mansions (1986) (TV)
Hotel (1986) (TV series, 1 episode)
Crossings (1986) (mini TV series)
Bare Essence (1983) (TV series, 2 episodes)
The Love Boat (1981) (TV series, 1 episode)
Aloha Paradise (1981) (TV series, 2 episodes)
Ryan's Hope (1980) (TV series, 5 episode)
The Users (1978) (TV)
Cannon (1975) (TV series, 1 episode)
The Witches (1966)
The Bing Crosby Show (1965) (TV series, 1 episode)
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1963) (TV series, 1 episode)
Wagon Train (1963) (TV series, 1 episode)
Kraft Mystery Theater (1962) (TV series, 1 episode)
The Dick Powell Show (1962) (TV series, 1 episode)
Tender Is the Night (1962)
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961)
Checkmate (1961) (TV series, 1 episode)
The Light That Failed (1961) (TV)
General Electric Theater (1956-1961) (TV series, 5 episodes)
Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond (1960) (TV series, 1 episode)
Startime (1960) (TV series, 1 episode)
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse (1959) (TV series, 1 episode)
A Certain Smile (1958)
Until They Sail (1957)
On Trial (1956-1957) (TV series, 2 episodes)
Island in the Sun (1957)
The 20th Century-Fox Hour (1956) (TV series, 1 episode)
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956)
Star Stage (1956) (TV series, 1 episode)
Serenade (1956)
The Ford Television Theatre (1956) (TV series, 1 episode)
Four Star Playhouse (1953-1955) (TV series, 2 episodes)
Casanova's Big Night (1954)
The Bigamist (1953)
Flight to Tangier (1953)
Decameron Nights (1953)
Ivanhoe (1952)
The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice (1952) (uncredited)
Something to Live For (1952)
Darling, How Could You! (1951)
Born to Be Bad (1950)
September Affair (1950)
Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (1948)
You Gotta Stay Happy (1948)
The Emperor Waltz (1948)
Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)
Ivy (1947)
From This Day Forward (1946)
The Affairs of Susan (1945)
Frenchman's Creek (1944)
Jane Eyre (1943)
The Constant Nymph (1943)
This Above All (1942)
Suspicion (1941)
Rebecca (1940)
The Women (1939)
Man of Conquest (1939)
Gunga Din (1939)
The Duke of West Point (1938)
Sky Giant (1938)
Blond Cheat (1938)
Maid's Night Out (1938)
A Damsel in Distress (1937)
Music for Madame (1937)
You Can't Beat Love (1937)
The Man Who Found Himself (1937)
Quality Street (1937) (uncredited)
A Million to One (1937)
No More Ladies (1935)
