Public attention spiked: 12,934 Wikipedia readers in one day, 5.7× the usual 2,274, with 16 article edits. Editors noted: 1953–1962: New life in Paris
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #attention
- #spike
- #pageviews
Figure timeline
Olivia de Havilland
Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland was a British, American, and French actress. She appeared in 49 feature films throughout her career, with the major works of her cinematic career spanning from 1935 to 1988. Before her death in 2020 at the age of 104, she was the oldest living and earliest surviving Academy Award winner and was one of the last surviving major stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood cin…
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
entertainment · British actress (1916–2020) · television actor · stage actor · film actor · screenwriter · actor · also Olivia de Havilland, Olivia Mary de Havilland, Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland, Olivia De Havilland, Havilland
Born 1 July 1916 · Died 26 July 2020 · Q95068
75 published statements · 0 followers
See & hear
Photos & media
14 photos
Media from Wikimedia Commons, hotlinked at the source under its own licence — see each file for author and terms.
Live now
In the news
Pulling headlines from trusted outlets — this usually takes a few seconds
Checking the wires…
Feed scan
These are live links, not archived citations — they only join the timeline once a collect run verifies and archives them.
Live pulse
Recent highlights
Most recent outstanding titles, awards, and quotes
- Award
- Award
2026· 1 entry
2021· 1 entry
The Olivia de Havilland Theater was inaugurated at the American University of Paris
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2020· 7 entries
The Guardian: Olivia de Havilland: Hollywood’s queen of radiant calm | Peter Bradshaw
- #news
- #headline
The Guardian: Dame Olivia de Havilland obituary
- #news
- #headline
The Guardian: Olivia de Havilland: what it's like working for a Hollywood legend | Hannah Partos
- #news
- #headline
The Guardian: Olivia de Havilland: a life in pictures
- #news
- #headline
The Guardian: Olivia de Havilland, star of Gone with the Wind, dies at 104
- #news
- #headline
Died 2020-07-26.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #death
At the age of 104, she was the oldest living and earliest surviving Academy Award winner and was one of the last surviving major stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2018· 2 entries
The Guardian: Olivia de Havilland's Feud lawsuit thrown out on first amendment grounds
- #news
- #headline
The Guardian: Olivia de Havilland, 101, on suing Feud: TV show 'put false words in my mouth'
- #news
- #headline
2017· 3 entries
Awarded Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (2017).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
The Guardian: Frankly, my dear: why Hollywood legend Olivia De Havilland won’t feud over Feud
- #news
- #headline
Filed suit against FX Networks and producer Ryan Murphy for inaccurately portraying her and using her likeness without permission
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2016· 1 entry
The Guardian: The life lessons that Olivia de Havilland can teach us | Vanessa Thorpe
- #news
- #headline
2012· 1 entry
De Havilland recalled, "Cornell's touring with these plays seemed so glamourous to me that I dreamed of one day doing the same
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2010· 3 entries
De Havilland was appointed a Chevalier (knight) of the Légion d'honneur, the highest decoration in France, awarded by President Nicolas Sarkozy, who told the actress, "You honor France for having chosen us
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Awarded Knight of the Legion of Honour presented by Nicolas Sarkozy (2010).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
De Havilland almost made her return to the big screen after a 22-year hiatus with James Ivory's planned adaptation of The Aspern Papers, but the film was never made
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2008· 2 entries
At the age of 92, de Havilland received the National Medal of Arts, the highest honor conferred to an individual artist on behalf of the people of the United States
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Won National Medal of Arts presented by George W. Bush (2008).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
2006· 1 entry
Was inducted into the Online Film & Television Association Award Film Hall of Fame
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2004· 1 entry
Turner Classic Movies produced a retrospective piece called Melanie Remembers in which she was interviewed for the 65th anniversary of the original release of Gone with the Wind
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2003· 1 entry
Appeared as a presenter at the 75th Academy Awards, earning an extended standing ovation upon her entrance
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1998· 2 entries
Awarded honorary doctor of the University of Hertfordshire (1998).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Travelled to New York City to help promote a special showing of Gone with the Wind
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1991· 1 entry
In Paris at the age of 42 of heart disease brought on by treatments for Hodgkin's disease, three weeks before the death of his father
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1988· 1 entry
De Havilland appeared in the HTV romantic television drama The Woman He Loved; it was her final screen performance
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1979· 1 entry
Appeared in the ABC miniseries Roots: The Next Generations in the role of Mrs
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1975· 1 entry
Over disagreements regarding their mother's cancer treatment; de Havilland wanted to consult other doctors and supported exploratory surgery but Fontaine disagreed
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1972· 1 entry
Starred in her first television film, The Screaming Woman, about a wealthy woman recovering from a nervous breakdown
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1965· 1 entry
Served as the president of the jury of the 18th Cannes Film Festival, the first woman to do so
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1964· 1 entry
Both of which were psychological thrillers
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1962· 2 entries
And was well received, with a Hollywood Reporter reviewer calling it "an uncommon love story
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
For undisclosed reasons but continued to live in the same house for another six years to raise their daughter together
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1960· 1 entry
Awarded star on Hollywood Walk of Fame (1960).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1958· 1 entry
Was secretly called before the House Un-American Activities Committee and recounted her experiences with the Independent Citizens' Committee
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1955· 2 entries
In the village of Yvoy-le-Marron, and settled together in a three-storey house near the Bois de Boulogne park in Paris' 16th Arrondissement
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
De Havilland married Pierre Galante, an executive editor for the magazine Paris Match
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1952· 1 entry
Writing in her suit that Goodrich had "pursued a course of cruel treatment" and had "wrongfully inflicted upon her grievous physical and mental suffering, all without provocation or any excuse whatsoever
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1951· 5 entries
At the Westport Country Playhouse, which was celebrating its 20th anniversary season
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
With a total of 45 performances in New York
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Running two weeks at Detroit's Cass Theatre
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
“I did two tours with the play, and broke seven house records. . . .You know Katharine Cornell did Candida five times, but I chalked up 332 performances against her 316.”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #quote
De Havilland was 35 and her co-star Ron Randall was not quite 40
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1950· 2 entries
Won Golden Globe for best actress for The Heiress (1950).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
Awarded Academy Award for Best Actress for The Heiress (1950).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1949· 2 entries
De Havilland took time off from making films to be with her infant son
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Won Volpi Cup for Best Actress for The Snake Pit (1949).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
1947· 1 entry
Awarded Academy Award for Best Actress for To Each His Own (1947).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1946· 2 entries
Were married the same day she opened in What Every Woman Knows
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
When Fontaine made negative comments to an interviewer about de Havilland's new husband Marcus Goodrich
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1943· 2 entries
Acting on the advice of her lawyer Martin Gang, de Havilland filed suit against Warner Bros
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
De Havilland was informed that the contract had been extended by six months to allow for the times that she had been suspended
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1942· 2 entries
De Havilland appeared with Henry Fonda in Elliott Nugent's romantic comedy The Male Animal, about an idealistic professor fighting for academic freedom, while trying to hold onto his job and his wife Ellen, portrayed by
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
De Havilland and Fontaine were both nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress—de Havilland for Hold Back the Dawn and Fontaine for Suspicion
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1941· 3 entries
And while some reviewers criticized the film's historical inaccuracies, most applauded the action sequences, cinematography, and acting
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Beginning with Raoul Walsh's romantic comedy The Strawberry Blonde with James Cagney
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Their relationship ended in late 1941 when de Havilland began a romantic relationship with film director John Huston while making In This Our Life. "John was a very great love of mine", she later said, "He was a man I wanted to marry."
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #life
- #relationships
1940· 3 entries
At the Lensic Theater in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which was attended by cast members, reporters, the governor, and over 60,000 fans, Santa Fe Trail became one of the top-grossing films of 1940
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
But she felt that he was not ready to settle down
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
According to de Havilland, Stewart proposed marriage to her in 1940, but she felt that he was not ready to settle down.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #life
- #relationships
1938· 1 entry
The Adventures of Robin Hood was an immediate critical and commercial success, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1937· 1 entry
At the coronation ball for King George VI at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, where they slow danced together to "Sweet Leilani" at the hotel's Coconut Grove nightclub
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1936· 1 entry
With a starting weekly salary of $500 (equivalent to $11,600 in 2025)
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1935· 1 entry
And received good reviews and wide public appeal
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1934· 5 entries
With a starting salary of $200 a week (equivalent to $4,800 in 2025), marking the beginning of a professional acting career that would span more than 50 years
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
De Havilland was offered a scholarship to Mills College in Oakland to pursue her chosen career as an English teacher
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Studied at Mills College at Northeastern University (1934).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #education
When she toured in Max Reinhardt's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Reinhardt suggested that de Havilland one day play Juliet and she promised to do so
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Studied at Los Gatos High School (1934).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #education
1933· 1 entry
A teenaged de Havilland made her amateur theater debut in Alice in Wonderland, a production of the Saratoga Community Players based on the novel by Lewis Carroll
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1923· 1 entry
And the family resided there until the early 1930s
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1916· 1 entry
Born 1916-07-01.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #birth
1913· 1 entry
And married the following year; it was not a happy marriage, owing in part to Walter's infidelities
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event