bronxblue

July 26th, 2020 at 3:10 PM ^

She had a great career and making it to 104 is pretty impressive, but why aren't they giving us a cause of death?  What is the media hiding from us!?!?!!?

/s

Go Blue Eyes

July 26th, 2020 at 3:15 PM ^

Always loved her movies.  Starred with Errol Flynn in several classics including Captain Blood made nearly 80 years ago in 1935!  That number alone is amazing.  

Sam1863

July 27th, 2020 at 4:43 AM ^

I knew she and Flynn were nuts about each other off-screen, but their feelings were never "consummated" (a great antiquated term for "they never did it.") Flynn was still married and that was a line Olivia wouldn't cross.

What I didn't know was that she and James Stewart had a two-year relationship that ended just before WWII. In 1946 she was offered the role of Mary Bailey in "It's A Wonderful Life," but that would have meant working opposite Stewart. She felt that would have been too awkward, so she turned it down.

dearbornpeds

July 26th, 2020 at 3:34 PM ^

Didn't know until I read more about her that her greatest achievement may have been suing her studio to change the terms of her contract.  Her victory opened it up for all of the actors of her time as well as the ones that followed.

She basically pulled a Curt Flood.

shoes

July 26th, 2020 at 8:31 PM ^

Great actress and a truly lovely woman in every sense by all accounts. Her sister, Joan Fontaine was also an actress of some note.

Zoltanrules

July 27th, 2020 at 12:53 AM ^

The De Havilland law challenging of the Warner Brothers studios and won young artists the right to have freedoms from their young typecast careers as deemed by the studio who owned their rights. Johnny Carson won major concessions from NBC, when threatened to work for ABC under this law.

As with Ted Lindsay and Curt Flood, many of the modern entertainers/athletes owe in part their financial and work freedoms to these worker's rights pioneers.

uminks

July 27th, 2020 at 1:00 AM ^

She played Melanie in Gone with the Wind. Several other classic movies as well. 104 is a very long life for being a smoker, though I think she quit later in life. 

shoes

July 27th, 2020 at 7:54 AM ^

Think she quit smoking too, not sure. Still some people just have amazing constitutions. My favorite woman of all time to whom I was not related lived to the age of 97. I visited her 6 days before she died at a senior living facility. When she wasn't in her room, I checked outside in the courtyard, sure enough she was outside, having a smoke, and this was after dark and it was about 25 degrees out.