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Joan Fontaine is a Actor British born on 22 october 1917 at Tokyo (Japon)

Joan Fontaine

Joan Fontaine
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Birth name Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland
Nationality United-kingdom
Birth 22 october 1917 at Tokyo (Japon)
Death 15 december 2013 (at 96 years) at Carmel-by-the-Sea (USA)
Awards Academy Award for Best Actress

Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland (October 22, 1917 – December 15, 2013), known professionally as Joan Fontaine, was a British-American actress. Fontaine began her career on the stage in 1935 and signed a contract with RKO Pictures that same year.

In 1941, she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for her role in Rebecca, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The following year, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Hitchcock's Suspicion (1941), making Fontaine the only actor to ever win an Academy Award in a film directed by Hitchcock. Fontaine and her elder sister Olivia de Havilland are the only set of siblings to have won lead acting Academy Awards. During the 1940s to the 1990s, Fontaine continued her career in roles on the stage and in radio, television and film. She released her autobiography, No Bed of Roses, in 1978. After a career spanning over fifty years, Fontaine made her last on-screen appearance in 1994.

Born in Japan to British parents, the sisters moved to California in 1919. Fontaine lived in Carmel Highlands, California, where she owned a home, Villa Fontana. It was there that she died of natural causes at the age of 96 in 2013.

Biography

Fontaine held dual citizenship; she was British by birthright (both her parents were British) and became an American citizen in April 1943.


Marriages and children
Fontaine was married and divorced four times. Her first marriage was to actor Brian Aherne, in 1939 in Del Monte, California; they divorced in April 1945. In May 1946, she married actor/producer William Dozier in Mexico City. They had a daughter, Deborah Leslie, in 1948 and separated in 1949. The following year, Fontaine filed for divorce, charging Dozier with desertion. Their divorce was finalized in January 1951. Fontaine's third marriage was to producer and writer Collier Young on November 12, 1952. They separated in May 1960, and Fontaine filed for divorce in November 1960. Their divorce was finalized in January 1961. Fontaine's fourth and final marriage was to Sports Illustrated golf editor Alfred Wright, Jr, on January 23, 1964 in Elkton, Maryland; they divorced in 1969.

While in South America for a film festival in 1951, Fontaine met a 4-year-old Peruvian girl named Martita, and informally adopted her. Fontaine met Martita while visiting Incan ruins where Martita's father worked as a caretaker. Martita's parents allowed Fontaine to become Martita's legal guardian in order to give the child a better life. Fontaine promised Martita's parents she would send the girl back to Peru to visit when Martita was 16 years old. When Martita turned 16, Fontaine bought her a round-trip ticket to Peru, but Martita refused to go and opted to run away. Fontaine and Martita became estranged following the incident. While promoting her autobiography in 1978, Fontaine addressed the issue stating, "Until my adopted daughter goes back to see her parents, she's not welcome. I promised her parents. I do not forgive somebody who makes me break my word."


Sibling rivalry

Fontaine and her sister, Olivia de Havilland, are the only set of siblings to have won lead acting Academy Awards. Olivia was the first to become an actress; when Fontaine tried to follow her lead, their mother, who allegedly favored Olivia, refused to let Joan use the family name. Subsequently, Fontaine had to invent a name, taking first Joan Burfield, and later Joan Fontaine. Biographer Charles Higham records that the sisters had an uneasy relationship from early childhood, when Olivia would rip up the clothes Joan had to wear as hand-me-downs, forcing Joan to sew them back together. A large part of the friction between the sisters allegedly stemmed from Fontaine's belief that Olivia was their mother's favorite child.



De Havilland and Fontaine were both nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1942. Fontaine won for her role in Alfred Hitchcock's Suspicion over de Havilland's performance in Hold Back the Dawn. Higham states that Fontaine "felt guilty about winning given her lack of obsessive career drive...". Higham has described the events of the awards ceremony, stating that as Fontaine stepped forward to collect her award, she pointedly rejected de Havilland's attempts at congratulating her and that de Havilland was both offended and embarrassed by her behavior. Fontaine, however, tells a different story in her autobiography, explaining that she was paralyzed with surprise when she won the Academy Award, and that de Havilland insisted she get up to accept it. "Olivia took the situation very graciously," Fontaine wrote. "I was appalled that I'd won over my sister." Several years later, however, de Havilland apparently remembered what she perceived as a slight and exacted her own revenge by brushing past Fontaine, who was waiting with her hand extended, because de Havilland allegedly took offense at a comment Fontaine had made about de Havilland's husband.

Contrary to press reports, the sisters continued their relationship after the 1940s. After Fontaine's separation from her husband in 1952, de Havilland came to her apartment in New York often, and at least once spent Christmas together there, in 1961. They were photographed laughing together at a party for Marlene Dietrich in 1967. Joan also went to visit Olivia in Paris in 1969.

The sisters reportedly did not completely stop speaking to each other until 1975, after their mother's funeral, to which Joan, who was out of the country, was not invited.

Both sisters largely refused to comment publicly about their relationship. In a 1978 interview, however, Fontaine said of the sibling rivalry, "I married first, won the Oscar before Olivia did, and if I die first, she'll undoubtedly be livid because I beat her to it!" The following year, in a 1979 interview, Fontaine claimed the reason she and her sister stopped speaking to each other was that de Havilland wanted their mother (who was suffering from cancer) to be treated surgically at the advanced age of 88, which Fontaine apparently did not think was a good idea. Fontaine claims that after their mother died, de Haviland did not bother to try to find out where Fontaine could be reached (Fontaine was on tour in a play). Instead, de Havilland sent a telegram, which did not arrive until two weeks later at Fontaine's next stop. According to Fontaine, de Havilland did not invite her to a memorial service for their mother. De Havilland claims she informed Fontaine, but Fontaine brushed her off, claiming she was too busy to attend. Higham records that Fontaine had an estranged relationship with her own daughters as well, possibly because she discovered that they were secretly maintaining a relationship with de Havilland.

Best films

Ivanhoe (1952)
(Actress)
Rebecca (1940)
(Actress)
Suspicion (1941)
(Actress)
The Emperor Waltz (1948)
(Actress)
Frenchman's Creek (1944)
(Actress)
This Above All (1942)
(Actress)

Usually with

Bess Flowers
Bess Flowers
(8 films)
George Barnes
George Barnes
(6 films)
Edith Head
Edith Head
(7 films)
Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Joan Fontaine (50 films)

Display filmography as detailed form
YearNameJobRoles
1986Dark MansionsActressMargaret Drake
1978The UsersActressGrace St. George
1966The WitchesActressGwen Mayfield
1963Hollywood Without Make-UpActressSelf (archive footage)
1962Tender Is the NightActressBaby Warren
1961Voyage to the Bottom of the SeaActressDr. Susan Hiller
1960The Sinister UrgeActress
1958A Certain SmileActressFrançoise Ferrand
1958South PacificActressPolynesian Woman
1957Until They SailActressAnne Leslie
1957Island in the SunActressMavis Norman
1956Beyond a Reasonable DoubtActressSusan Spencer
1956SerenadeActressKendall Hale
1954Casanova's Big NightActressFrancesca Bruni
1953The BigamistActressEve Graham
1953Decameron NightsActressFiametta / Bartolomea / Ginevra / Isabella
1953Flight to TangierActressSusan Lane
1952IvanhoeActressRowena
1952Something to Live ForActressJenny Carey
1951Darling, How Could You!ActressAlice Grey
1951OthelloActressPage
1950Born to Be BadActressChristabel Caine Carey
1950September AffairActressManina Stuart
1948Letter from an Unknown WomanActressLisa Berndle
1948The Emperor WaltzActressJohanna Augusta Franziska
1948Kiss the Blood Off My HandsActressJane Wharton
1948You Gotta Stay HappyActressDee Dee Dillwood
1947IvyActressIvy
1946From This Day ForwardActressSusan
1945The Affairs of SusanActressSusan Darell
1944Frenchman's CreekActressDona St. Columb
1943Jane EyreActressJane Eyre
1943The Constant NymphActressTessa Sanger
1942This Above AllActressPrudence Cathaway
1941SuspicionActressLina McLaidlaw Aysgarth
1940RebeccaActressMrs. de Winter
1939The WomenActressPeggy Day
1939Gunga DinActressEmmaline "Emmy" Stebbins
1939Man of ConquestActressEliza Allen
1938Blond CheatActressJulie Evans
1938Maid's Night OutActressSheila Harrison
1938Sky GiantActressMeg Lawrence
1938The Duke of West PointActressAnn Porter
1937A Damsel in DistressActressAlyce Marshmorton
1937The Man Who Found HimselfActressDoris King
1937Quality StreetActressCharlotte Parratt
1937You Can't Beat LoveActressTrudy Olson
1937Music for MadameActressJean Clemens
1936A Million to OneActressJoan Stevens
1935No More LadiesActressCaroline Rumsey