What Might Have Been...

...What's the Matter with Helen? starring Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine

...The Whales of August starring Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine

...The Mothers-in-Law starring Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine

And So it Goes

with Laurence Olivier in Rebecca (Selznick International, 1940)

with Cary Grant in Suspicion (1941, RKO)

with Tyrone Power in This Above All (1942, 20th Century Fox)

with Charles Boyer in The Constant Nymph (1943, Warner Bros.)

with Louis Jourdan in Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948, Universal)

with Gavin MacLeod in The Love Boat (1981)

Sibling Rivalry

A Certain Smile (1958, 20th Century Fox)

"I married first, won the Oscar before Olivia did, and if I die first, she'll undoubtedly be livid because I beat her to it!" - Joan Fontaine

Light in the Piazza (1962, MGM)

Thankfully for Livvy, there was more than enough Brazzi to go around.

Crazy Chapeaux

Boys' Night Out (1962, Columbia)

Madison Avenue (1962, Twentieth Century Fox)

Light in the Piazza (1962, MGM)

Tender is the Night (1962, Twentieth Century Fox)

As you know, here at SSUWAT, it's permanently 1962 -- but let's be honest --

wasn't it a strange year for hats?

Olivia and Joan

They never did see eye to eye.

Thinking of You

Aging Divas Never Die...

...their hair just gets pouffier. Like their fans.

The Ice Queen Cometh

Funny thing about Joan Fontaine... we couldn't really stand her; she seemed so snivelly and annoying in her earliest films. We couldn't wait for Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. to tell her off in Gunga Din (1939) and ride off into the sunset with Cary Grant; and her blubbering in The Women (also 1939) made us want to just smack her silly. We rooted for Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca (1940), and wished that glass of milk had been poisoned in Suspicion (1941). In short, we were not fans of Ms. Fontaine. But a funny thing happened on the way to the mid-century: Joan Fontaine suddenly became a bitch, and we suddenly became interested. Born to Be Bad (1950), Serenade (1956), A Certain Smile (1958) - they may not be classics on a par with Fontaine's first flush of successes, but her surprising switch to brittle, spit-polished glamour and hauteur was thrilling to behold.


In the years since, Fontaine's ice queen demeanor has not thawed one whit; some of her television interviews are so chilly, one needs scarf and gloves simply to watch. She and estranged sibling Olivia de Havilland have participated in the longest-running feud in Hollywood history, and neither grande dame seems particularly inclined to be the first to offer an olive branch. Joan Fontaine turns 92 today; sister Olivia is 93. One hopes that both are not too old to remember that time is short, even for Hollywood legends.

MISS JOAN FONTAINE
October 22, 1917

Edith Head Gave Good Costume

Joan Fontaine, September Song (1950)

Nina Foch, You're Never Too Young (1955)

Vera Miles, Beau James (1957)

Marilyn Maxwell, Off Limits (1953)

Marilyn Maxwell, Rock-a-Bye Your Baby (1958)

Lucille Ball, The Facts of Life (1960)

This Used to Be My Playground

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Miss Joan Fontaine, having a Kitten With a Whip moment.

THANKS