Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland (October 22, 1917 – December 15, 2013), known professionally as Joan Fontaine, was an English-American actress who is best known for her starring roles in Hollywood films during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Fontaine appeared in more than 45 films in a career that spanned five decades. She was the younger sister of actress Olivia de Havilland. Their rivalry was well-documented in the media at the height of Fontaine's career.
She began her film career in 1935, signing a contract with RKO Pictures. Fontaine received her first major role in The Man Who Found Himself (1937) and in Gunga Din (1939). Her career prospects improved greatly after her starring role in Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940), for which she received her first of three nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress. The following year, she won that award for her role in Hitchcock's Suspicion (1941). A third nomination came with The Constant Nymph (1943). She appeared mostly in drama films through the 1940s, including Letter from an Unknown Woman and the comedy You Gotta Stay Happy (both 1948), which she co-produced with her second husband William Dozier through their film production company Rampart Productions. In the next decade, after her role in Ivanhoe (1952), her film career began to decline and she moved into stage, radio and television roles. She appeared in fewer films in the 1960s, which included Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961), and her final film role in The Witches (1966), also known as The Devil's Own.
She released an autobiography, No Bed of Roses, in 1978, and continued to act until 1994. Having won an Academy Award for her role in Suspicion, Fontaine is the only actress to have won an Academy Award for acting in a Hitchcock film. She and her sister remain the only siblings to have won lead-acting Academy Awards.
Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland (October 22, 1917 – December 15, 2013), known professionally as JoanFontaine, was an English-American actress who is best...
Augusta Fontaine (née Ruse, formerly de Havilland; 11 June 1886 – 20 February 1975) was an English actress and mother of Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine...
Age of Hollywood cinema. Her younger sister was Oscar-winning actress JoanFontaine. De Havilland first came to prominence with Errol Flynn as a screen...
high level. He was the father of film stars Olivia de Havilland and JoanFontaine. De Havilland was born in Lewisham, south London on 31 August 1872,...
whilst under contract to Rank included Decameron Nights (1953) with JoanFontaine; England's first X certificate drama, Cosh Boy (1953), directed by Lewis...
was presented on the radio program Academy Award on December 4, 1946. JoanFontaine starred in the adaptation. Lux Radio Theatre presented an hour-long...
television writer and then moved into production. With his second wife JoanFontaine, he co-founded Rampart Productions, responsible for Letter from an Unknown...
as a child violinist, in The Emperor Waltz, starring Bing Crosby and JoanFontaine. Her mother and father were missionaries in Africa, after which her...
Pidgeon and Robert Sterling. The supporting cast includes Peter Lorre, JoanFontaine, Barbara Eden, Michael Ansara, and Frankie Avalon. The film's storyline...
Victor McLaglen, Sam Jaffe, JoanFontaine. Cary Grant, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Victor McLaglen, Sam Jaffe, JoanFontaine. Fox, Killian (October 18, 2010)...
was the psychological thriller Rebecca, starring Laurence Olivier and JoanFontaine. He received his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Director...
JoanFontaine The Second Mrs. de Winter Rebecca Katharine Hepburn Tracy Lord The Philadelphia Story Martha Scott Emily Webb Our Town 1941 (14th) Joan...
Hitchcock with the use of humour. The film, starring Laurence Olivier and JoanFontaine, concerns an unnamed naïve young woman who marries a widowed aristocrat...
between sibling rivals JoanFontaine, for Alfred Hitchcock’s Suspicion, and Olivia de Havilland, for Hold Back the Dawn. Fontaine won, becoming the only...
to actress and director, Ida Lupino, from 1948 to 1951, to actress JoanFontaine from 1952 to 1961 and businesswoman and former model, Marjory Ann "Meg"...
brother of Geoffrey de Havilland. Actresses Olivia de Havilland and JoanFontaine were his cousins. He had a son Peter Adam de Havilland (m. Barabara...
musical film directed by Billy Wilder, and starring Bing Crosby and JoanFontaine. Written by Wilder and Charles Brackett, the film is about a brash American...
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