1946: Olivia & Joan's feud goes public
Wednesday, June 23, 2021 at 9:00AM Team Experience is revisiting 1946 in the lead up to this week's Smackdown.
by Baby Clyde
As she triumphantly left the stage of the Shrine Auditorium after winning a long awaited Best Actress Oscar for To Each His Own, Olivia De Havilland was approached by a very familiar figure offering congratulations.
I don’t know why she does that when she knows how I feel...”
...Olivia muttered as she turned away from her equally famous sister, the 1941 Best Actress winner Joan Fontaine. Unfortunately for all involved it was captured on camera, which lead to the infamous picture above. It's one of my favourite snapshots in Hollywood history. The look of genuine delight on Joan’s face, the look of pursed lipped distaste on Olivia’s. You could write a book about it; I’ll try and stick to a few hundred words...
Their acrimony went back decades. Almost from birth. They were born only 15 months apart in Tokyo, Japan (Olivia in 1916. Joan in 1917) to British émigré parents – an aspiring actress mother Lilian and philandering, uncaring father with an aristocratic heritage, Walter. Due to marital woes and both children’s ill health the family decamped to California in 1919 but Walter soon returned to Tokyo (and his mistress) leaving the women to fend for themselves. Olivia blossomed. A clever good natured child who charmed everyone around, she was popular at school and grew into a beautiful young woman. Joan on the other hand was a sickly, morose child, often away from school and taking up much of her mother’s attention which caused resentment from the older sister. They fought constantly and this wasn’t helped by Lilian's second marriage to the cold, authoritarian George Fontaine who often pitted the sisters against each other, causing further division. As they grew up it became apparent that the vivacious Olivia was her mothers’ favourite. Tired of constant battles with her stepfather, 16 year-old Joan returned to Tokyo to live with Walter. Whilst very much in Olivia’s shadow in America, she flourished in Japan.
Encouraged by an ambitious Lilian, who has herself graduated from London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts many years before, Olivia ventured into an acting career. It wasn’t long before she was spotted by talent scouts and landed a plumb part in Max Reinhardt’s prestigious 1934 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at The Hollywood Bowl. Warner Brother soon came calling and she was cast in the 1935 film version.
In the middle of all this, a much-changed Joan reappeared in America to general disinterest from her mother. Now far removed from the shy, retiring, wallflower who had departed two years previously, this strong willed, sophisticated young woman had acting ambitions of her own but found herself very much in her sister’s shadow once again. Living off a meagre allowance from Olivia and dissuaded from further education by her Lilian, who nearly married her off to a suitably bland man, Joan rebelled. After an introduction to the great Australian actress May Robson her own acting career took off, much to Olivia’s chagrin. A name change, to that of her stepfathers, at her mother and sister’s behest, followed. Their sibling rivalry had now expanded to a professional rivalry.
Despite a contract with RKO (insisting no mention was ever made of her sibling) Joan still lived at home and on occasion was forced to be Olivia’s chauffeur, taking her to work before arriving at her own studio for a day’s filming. Olivia’s career flourished but she found it unfulfilling. She took her vocation very seriously and longed for important roles in prestige productions. Her legendary partnership with Errol Flynn was extremely popular with audiences but after an initial infatuation with the dashing New Zealander she found her parts to be insubstantial and the other films she starred in were mostly B pictures. In The Private Lives of Elisabeth and Essex she suffered the indignity of having her usual leading man given to reigning studio queen Bette Davis whilst she played Bette’s lady-in-waiting and to make matters worse, was billed under the title.
Joan was also going nowhere fast. She’d starred in films with the likes of Joan Crawford, Katharine Hepburn and Fred Astaire but hadn’t distinguished herself in any of them. By 1939 both felt their careers were stagnating, but things were about to change on a few fronts that would only make their competition worse.
Early in the year. Olivia finally landed the big role she had been fighting for, Melanie Wilkes in the future blockbuster Gone With The Wind. This was a milestone in her career which finally place her on Hollywood’s A- list. Joan took great delight in shadily telling everyone that she had auditioned for the role first but was deemed too stylish by director George Cukor and had suggested her sister for the part instead. Joan also had a great year with roles in classics Gunga Din and The Women. Whilst sibling and professional rivalry had long been an issue for the sisters this was the year romantic rivalry can be added to the list. Olivia had been dating eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes for some time but turned down his proposal of marriage. When he proposed to Joan a few of weeks later she immediately made sure Olivia knew all about it. To make matters worse the reason was her own impending wedding to British star Brian Aherne, one of Olivia’s former beaus. Olivia was not pleased that her little sister wed before her.
But Olivia had a burgeoning career to take her mind off the betrayal. The extraordinary, Best Picture winning , success of Gone With The Wind, for which she’d been Oscar nominated as Best Supporting Actress, would surely lead to Warner Brothers treating her like the star she knew herself to be, but instead it was much of the same, packaged with Flynn for more routine actioners and some run-of-the-mill lightweight comedies. The only bright spot was her loan out to Paramount to make immigration drama Hold Back The Dawn, which eventually lead to her first Best Actress nomination. Joan’s career, on the other hand, was about to blossom. Cast as The second Mrs de Winter in Hitchcock’s 1940 classic Rebecca (A role Olivia had coveted) she went on to be nominated as Best Actress whilst the film won Best Picture. The following year made matters worse when both sisters were up for the award, Joan for another Hitchcock heroine in Suspicion. They were sat at the same table an Olivia had to watch as her little sister’s name was read by Ginger Rogers.
Joan later wrote…..
I froze. I stared across the table, where Olivia was sitting directly opposite me. ‘Get up there, get up there,’ she whispered commandingly. Now what had I done! All the animus we’d felt towards each other as children, the hair-pullings, the savage wrestling matches, the time Olivia fractured my collarbone, all came rushing back in Kaleidoscopic imagery. My paralysis was total. I felt Olivia would spring across the table and grab me by the hair. I felt age four, being confronted by my older sister. Damn it, I’d incurred her wrath again!
Joan was now at the pinnacle of her career with another Oscar nomination in 1943 for The Constant Nymph (A role Olivia had again longed for) and top notch productions like Jane Eyre under her belt. Olivia on the other hand was forced into one inferior role after another leading to constant suspensions for refusing scripts. In 1943 she sued for release from her contract and was off the screen for nearly 3 years (A story for another time). Whilst Olivia is certainly the better known actress today due to her involvement with Gone With The Wind, two Oscar wins, and her extreme longevity, there was a period in the early 40’s when Joan was definitely in the ascendance.
The sisters before Olivia's appendectomy in the early 40s
It’s easy to sympathise with Olivia during this period. Being usurped by your younger sister both personally and professionally must have stung.
Which bring us to that fateful night at the 19th Annual Academy Awards honoring the films of 1946. Back after winning her court case with the studio, she was able to choose her own scripts for the first time ever and made a splash with dramatic roles in Dark Mirror and To Each His Own both released in '46. She chose to push the latter for Oscar consideration as it was a more sympathetic portrayal. Coincidentally it was Joan who had presented the Best Actor trophy that evening, so she was waiting in the wings when her sister triumphed. That picture of the snubbing was printed in newspapers across America and their mutual dislike became public knowledge for the first time.
Olivia’s anger came from a remark the sharp-tongued Joan had made about her sister’s new husband, writer Marcus Goodrich, four months prior.
All I know about him is that he’s had four wives and written one book. Too bad it’s not the other way around."
Joan's remark sent Olivia into a cold fury that didn’t abate until after her divorce in 1953.
Olivia and Joan at A list parties in 1962 and 1967, respectively.
There were attempts over the years to make up as well as a few ceasefires, sometime at the behest of their children. They spent Christmas together in 1961 and attended some parties but they never fully bonded or made up. When their mother Lilian died in 1975, Joan felt Olivia had neglected to consult her about the funeral arrangements. Their relationship was severed for good then and the sisters never reconciled.
While promoting her 1978 autobiography, Joan told a journalist:
"Olivia has always said I was first at everything—I got married first, got an Academy Award first, had a child first. If I die, she'll be furious, because again I'll have got there first!"
The younger sister did die first at the ripe old age of 96. Olivia bettered her by dying last year at the age of 104.
Much has been written about the reasons for their feud over the years but lingering resentment from childhood and continuous rivalries in adulthood meant they were never likely close to begin with. There’s no guarantee that any siblings will have much in common and the simple truth is that they just didn’t like each other very much. To Each His Own.
FUN FACT: Not only are they the only siblings to win acting Oscar’s but mother Lilian returned to acting in the 1940’s once her daughters were stars. She had a small role as Jane Wyman’s mother in Billy Wilder’s classic The Lost Weekend. This means that the De Havilland/Fontaine ladies starred in the Best Picture winners of 1939, 1940 and 1945!
Reader Comments (38)
Love that last little factoid! I wasn't aware of it.
Terrific article about a relationship that is endlessly fascinating for its complexity and glamour. It's hard to say either woman was completely in the right or entirely in the wrong. It's a shame they couldn't get along but both being so strong-willed not that surprising.
This is almost as good as the new Sharon Stone/Meryl Streep feud that's unfurling this week :-)
Fascinating.
Great article. Just a small correction: they are the only siblings to win LEAD acting Academy Awards. Lionel and Ethel Barrymore both won Oscars as well but hers was in supporting.
And obviously, a few other pairs came close: Shirley Maclaine and Warren Beatty, Vanessa and Lynn Redgrave, Jane and Peter Fonda, etc.
Marielle, it's not a feud. It's Sharon Stone speaking the TRUTH.
Peggy Sue:
I am a Meryl fan. Whether Meryl thinks Sharon Stone is being insulting or not I cannot say, but Sharon is only stating the obvious and every word is true. She doesn't blame Meryl for the situation, it's just the way things have developed. If anyone is offended, I'd like to know why. And didn't Glenn Close say something similar recently?
I know it's off topic, but since others are discussing it here I'm 1000% with Sharon Stone's comments on pitting actresses against each other and Hollywood having room for only one Meryl Streep. Everyone she read her comments, they are dead-on!
Look- I think Streep would have agreed with Stone on the first part of her comment. She herself has said she is overrated. But the rest of the interview was a bit nasty imitating her and criticizing her involvement in the Me Too movement.
Stone tries to prove her point by pitting women against each other?!? I can play this role better than her… ?! Men do no do this and men still have iconography. This was a tremor to seek books- Stone had not had a hit in a decade. The attack seemed jealous and sad.
This is the same actress who in 2010 said Streep looked like an “unmade” bed
You know the real reason that Streep is a legend… she can open a movie at the box office.
That being said- Strepp does not get into feuds- she does not have to - she is above it
I don't know how you don't sympathize with Joan. Of course, I am the youngest sister in my family, so I am likely biased to some degree.
Sharon & Meryl is not a feud, Meryl would agree with her (as ineloquent as Sharon Stone is).
Olivia's first win is way better than the nothing burger of Fontaine's win. Watching Suspicion might be the mpst bored and let down I've been watching a Lead Actress Oscar winning role. And I had been anticipating watching it for so long.....sigh.
It must have been difficult for Joan because Olivia was perceived as being so "sweet" by the public, and she was at least a co-founder of the feud if not the main reason for it.
I mostly find it so fascinating that both of these women were picked and promoted by Hollywood at such a young age. I guess if you're young and beautiful and have a natural Britishy accent then there were a lot opportunities available at the time.
PS Sharon isn't wrong about Meryl, but she's not saying Meryl herself is the problem, she's saying that Hollywood only provides a place for one Meryl, when there should be many. Sharon just sounds like an actressexual to me. ;-)
Where can I read the whole interview?
I agree with Dave. Sharon Stone is a smart, articulate woman; she was criticizing the Hollywood establishment and the media, not Meryl. (Also, I find the idea of the real Jessica Lange having any interest in this at all hilarious.)
Back on topic: As far as real feuds go, OIivia and Jane have to be in the top 10. Great article!
@Jessica Lange,
try here:
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/sharon-stone-declares-other-actresses-153859576.html
Wow, what a great insightful read! They really could have the Feud FX series on their own.
Regarding, Sharon Vs Meryl. This is not the first time that has been mentioned, other actresses like Susan Sarandon, Bette Midler and Viola Davis have mentioned before that all roles go to Meryl first to choose. Looks like it’s gonna be an uphill battle for Meryl to win her forth Oscar when other actresses that Meryl tends to get the role over might never vote for her.
Bette Davis should have won 1n 1941 for her greatest performance, in The Little Foxes. If she had won, she could have saved a relationship -- or at least postponed the feud a few years.
Stone just tweeted:
@sharonstone
To be clear; Meryl Streep is one of the greatest actors of all times. Just not to the exclusion of others.
-Sharon Stone
Well damn now I want to see Sharon Stone as Miranda Priestly in THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
and Meryl Streep as Catherine Tramell in BASIC INSTINCT
*salivates*
Feuds aren't about hate. Feuds are about pain.
Who wants to see Meryl Streep giving head? Sick!
Meryl is and has been TOXIC
Good read. I always thought that it was a fake rivalry but those pictures are priceless. The tension is real.
I need to get caught up on whatever has gone down with Sharon Stone lol.
But as for the topic of this post, it's always seemed to be a pretty complicated dynamic which I suspect we know very little about other than Joan's version of some events in her autobiography. Olivia only fleetingly commented on it during her life, and it seems like it was understood by interviewers not to go there.
Joan also had fallings-out with her two children, and I read an interview with her daughter Deborah in which she suggested Joan may have been bi-polar. Deborah was actually pretty close with her Aunt Olivia.
Olivia seems to have been very concerned with presenting the perfect image and adopted an increasingly grand manner later in her career. She obviously could carry a grudge.
Whatever the truth was, they both had careers of note. I much prefer Olivia as an actress to Joan. But both clearly had strong personalities and maybe it was lucky they ended up living on opposite sides of the Atlantic.
Team Meryl!!!!! Plus, Meryl is too classy to give head to someone. Yet, if she was going to give someone head. She would've found a way to make it classy.
And for the record, I always thought Jeanne Tripplehorn was way more attractive than Sharon and still is more attractive than Sharon. Plus, I'm glad to know that in some porn site forums that there's some people that agree with this sentiment.
For being in favour of not pitting women against eachother, you really seem to enjoy commenting on Stone's comments.
LOL, Sharon Stone had to put out a clarifying statement. That's all you need to know.
I love that Sharon Stone hijacked this comment thread lol.
Like Sharon Stone could ever do Sophie's Choice! LMAO!
Stone is Iconic in Basic Instinct Oscar win worthy and Casino touching in The Mighty and camp as Christmas in Catwoman and is a way better villain.
Streep is Streep maybe to the detriment of equally talented ladies but Stone knows too she is no Meryl but Spacek,Lange,Weaver and the rest are her equals.
Stone cannot even get a decent role in a movie. She was in Streep movie The Laundomat for what.... 30 seconds????
Flynn was Australian not a New Zealander
@markgordonuk
Streep was a pretty excellent villain in DWP. Stone couldn't touch that role.
I'm howling at how many Streep/Stone comments made its way here.
Nathaniel-
We need an article on this story ASAP!
Would love to hear your thoughts.
I myself have always preferred Joan than Olivia as an actress, but they should have made a miniseries on this alone LMAO
And yeah Meryl is ABOVE this “feud”, but Sharon does say a little bit of truth.
TFE blog posts have always, weirdly, resonated with what's going on in my life. I JUST pulled out a note I received back from Joan Fontaine after I wrote her a fan letter just after reading her autobiography, No Bed of Roses. A long time ago, I think I was 18? And here's this post! Wow, just wow.
Thanks, Nathaniel and guest bloggers.
Late to this party, but this is an absolutely amazing post.
I guess maybe Olivia might be somewhat better known, but I feel like if you know one, you definitely know the other. Team Joan, myself, but they're dual (and dueling) legends for a reason.
Love that Sharon v Meryl has hijacked the comments. Oliva would be FURIOUS!!!
@Thomas - You're absolutely right. What a school boy error.
@Amy Camus - 100% agree. This is a prime example of when a makeup win has terrible repercussions dowe the line. If Joan had rightfully won for Rebecca in 1940 then either Barbra would have a much deserved Oscar or Bette would have rightfully won and with 3 wins already more of those 1950 may have gone to Gloria. This is the kind of stuff that keeps me up at night.
Totally #TeamJoan by the way.