Today is actress Olivia de Havilland’s 100th birtday. CBS News reports:
Friday marks quite the milestone for Olivia de Havilland. The famed “Gone with the Wind” star — and the last living member of its sprawling cast — will turn 100 years old.
De Havilland was born July 1, 1916 in Tokyo to British parents. The family moved to California three years later, and she made her screen debut in 1935 in Max Reinhardt’s production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Four years later, she would appear as Melanie Hamilton Wilkes alongside Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable and Hattie McDaniel in “Gone with the Wind.” Her other notable screen roles included “The Adventures of Robin Hood,” “Hold Back the Dawn,” “The Heiress,” “The Snake Pit” and “To Each his Own.”
Not only is she the last surviving member of the cast of Gone With the Wind and the oldest living Academy Award winner for an on-screen role, she’s the last surviving bankable star of the Golden Age of Hollywood.
The picture above of Olivia de Havilland was taken on June 28, 2016. She looks pretty darned good for 100.
Update
I realized I was remiss in not mentioning the de Havilland law, an outcome of her successful lawsuit against Warner Bros. IMO every Hollywood actor or musician should go down on his or her knees every night and thank God for Olivia de Havilland.
Dave, you might be interested to know that earlier this week I was in the orchestra for a live performance of the 1917 Mary Pickford movie “Poor Little Rich Girl,” playing a new score by Philip Carli.
Too bad I was too busy playing the music to watch the movie!
Poor Little Rich Girl is a great movie. Interesting. I wasn’t aware that the Pickford Foundation was commissioning scores.
What do you play?
I am a cellist.
The movie was originally released at a slightly higher frame rate than it was actually filmed, and the new score matches the original speed both in tone and in timing. The timing difference is on the order of ten minutes of movie viewing time, I believe, so if you want to see the slower version online, look for the versions that are closer to 75 minutes in length than 65.
I saw that she turned 100 and thought, “And she played the frail one!” Acting!
She looks wonderful and engaged in life! That’s quite a feat when one turns a century old.