Biography:
Born Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland on October 22, 1917, in Tokyo, Japan, in what was known as the International Settlement. Her father was a British patent attorney with a lucrative practice in Japan, but due to Joan and older sister Olivia de Havilland's recurring ailments the family moved to Calif...
Write biography:
Denny Jackson
Spouse:
'Alfred Wright, Jr.' (27 January 1964 - 1969) (divorced)
Collier Young (12 November 1952 - 3 January 1961) (divorced)
Brian Aherne (I) (20 August 1939 - 14 June 1945) (divorced)
William Dozier (I) (2 May 1946 - 25 January 1951) (divorced); 1 child
Trivia:
Younger sister of actress Olivia de Havilland
Daughter of film and stage actress Lillian Fontaine
Joked that the musical comedy A Damsel in Distress (1937) set hercareer back four years. At the premiere, a woman sitting behind herloudly exclaimed, "Isn't she awful!" during Fontaine's onscreen attemptat dancing.
Attended Oak Street School in Saratoga, California.
Daughter, with William Dozier (I), Debbie Dozier (DeborahLeslie Dozier - born 11/5/1948).
Other Work:
In 1960, she hosted a pilot for a romantic TV series called "The Waysof Love". It was produced by her then husband, Collier Young.
Appeared on NBC's discussion program "Kup's Show" on July 17, 1971.Guests included playwright Tennessee Williams, George Keathley,director of Williams' new play "Out Cry"; actress Hildegarde Knef,discussing her autobiography "The Gift Horse", Edwin Guthman author ofthe Robert Kennedy book "We Band of Brothers"; New York Times businesswriter Isadore Barmash ("Welcome to Our Conglomerate - You're Fired");Edward Hannibal author of "Chocolate Days, Popsicle Weeks"; andMargaret Harris orchestra conductor for the New York company of "Hair".[90-minutes]
Biography print:
Marsha Lynn Beeman. _Joan Fontaine: A Bio-Bibliography._ Westport, CT:Greenwood Publishing Group, 1994.ISBN 0313284091
Charles Higham. _Sisters: The Story of Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine._Putnam Publishing Group, 1984.ISBN 0440178665
Joan Fontaine. _No Bed of Roses._ New York: William Morrow, 1978.ISBN 068803344X
Tommy Lightfoot Garrett. _Letters From A Known Woman: Joan Fontaine._Wasteland Press: Shelbyville, KY, 2005.ISBN 1933265574
Personal quotes:
Marriage, as an institution, is as dead as the dodo bird.
If you keep marrying as I do, you learn everybody's hobby.
I married first, won the Oscar before Olivia [sisterOlivia de Havilland] did, and if I die first, she'll undoubtedlybe livid because I beat her to it!
[Before the failure of her first marriage] Too many Hollywood marriageshave smashed up because husbands were Mr. Joan Fontaine. That willnever happen in our marriage because I am 100% Mrs.Brian Aherne (I).
[on working with Orson Welles on Jane Eyre (1943)] You cannot battle an elephant. Orson was such a big man in every way that noone could stand up to him. On the first day at 4 o'clock, he strode infollowed by his agent, a dwarf, his valet and a whole entourage.Approaching us, he proclaimed, "All right, everybody turn to pageeight." And we did it, though he was not the director.
Interview:
"Vanity Fair" (USA), 12 March 2008, Iss. 571, pg. 444, by: Proust Interview, p. 444, "Joan Fontaine"
Article:
"The Independent" (UK), 15 May 2008, by: Rupert Cornwell, "Sibling Rivalry: Hollywood's Oldest Feud"
"Films of the Golden Age" (USA), 20 October 2000, Vol. 22, Iss. Fall 2000, pg. 18-28, by: Neil Doyle, "Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine: Oscar-Winning Sisters"
"Photoplay Magazine" (USA), July 1940, "How Joan Fontaine and Brian Aherne Live"
"Photoplay Magazine" (USA), November 1939, "How Olivia de Havilland Sees Her Sister's Romance"
Cover Photo:
"Mon Film" (France), 16 July 1947, Iss. 51
"Look" (USA), 10 March 1942
Filmography:
Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948) Music
Born to Be Bad (1950) Film-Noir
Rebecca (1940) Mystery
Locked in the Tower: The Men Behind 'Jane Eyre' (2007) (V) Documentary
The American Film Institute Salute to Alfred Hitchcock (1979) (TV) Documentary
Premio Donostia a Willem Dafoe (2005) (TV)
The Women (1939) Comedy
"Ciclo Alfred Hitchcock" (2005) {Sobre 'Frenesí' (#1.9)}
"Cinema mil" (2005) {(#1.5)}
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956) Film-Noir
