olivia de Havland the black swan of

Hollywood’s golden age of the

1940s she was once the muse of cinema

the first woman brave enough to sue a

major studio and win and she lived to be

104 long enough to see her enemies fade

away one by one

but even at 104 before closing her eyes

for the last time she made sure

Hollywood witnessed her final triumph

naming the five people she hated

most one was her own

sister one was a screen prince but a

real life

nightmare one was a powerful queen who

always stole the

Obituary: Olivia de Havilland, star of Hollywood's Golden Age - BBC News

spotlight one was the mogul who held her

freedom captive for seven

years and one was a genius who used her

pain to create art these were the

deepest cuts in the journey of a

legend and perhaps it was the third

person who made her hate with no

end olivia De Havland was born in 1916

in Tokyo into an aristocratic but

fractured British family and she carried

that noble blood into Hollywood at just

19 years

old with her delicate regal beauty and

eyes like springtime that could speak

she was quickly paired with Errol Flynn

forming a golden duo in a series of

romantic adventure

films the Adventures of Robin Hood

1938 Captain Blood

Olivia de Havilland, la dernière légende de l'âge d'or d'Hollywood - Elle

1935 audiences were

entranced the box office

exploded but behind the camera Olivia

loathed Flynn he was crude foul-mouthed

and according to Olivia later he kissed

me like he was trying to get revenge for

something when she tried to break free

from her endless sweet girl roles warner

Brothers forced her into a 7-year slave

contract she refused roles they punished

her with unpaid suspension as

penants no roles no pay no career

but she didn’t stay

silent she sued Warner Brothers and in

1945 Olivia won an actress daring to

stand up to Hollywood’s giants and

change the rules

forever from that victory came the de

Havland law prohibiting studios from

holding actors under contract for more

Gone With The Wind' Star Olivia de Havilland Turns 103

than 7 years ending the era of silent

exploitation after the landmark lawsuit

Olivia’s career soared a new she won two

Academy Awards for best

actress to each his own 1946 The AIS

1949 but then The Bitter

Truth all of Hollywood stayed

silent no one congratulated her

she became the dangerous woman no one

wanted to work with her fearing she

might dare to rise

again olivia de Havland became a symbol

of victory and of isolation at the same

time in the 1960s Olivia left

Hollywood moved to Paris living in

seclusion like a ghost from the golden

era no social

media no

scandals no flashy

interviews only in 2020 when she passed

away at 104 did people

More than Melanie: de Havilland | Cary Grant Won't Eat You

realize oh my god Olivia was still

alive and before she died the storm

named Olivia De Havland still made

Hollywood tremble in awe of her final

triumph when she published a piece

naming the five actors she despised

until her last

breath the upcoming parts will leave you

stunned by this devastating

victory number one Joan Fontaine Blood

Sister Blood

Enemy think the Kardashian sisters have

drama

you haven’t heard of the psychological

war that lasted over 70 years between

Olivia de Havland and Joan

Fontaine it was the coldest most

venomous and haunting sibling rivalry in

Hollywood history where family bonds

La mort d'Olivia de Havilland : la fin d'un songe hollywoodien | Les Echos

were crushed by fame glory and pride

they grew up in a cold broken family

separated from their parents sent to

different boarding schools and from then

on became silent rivals and both career

and family

affection in 1942 both sisters were

nominated for best actress at the

Oscars the world anticipated a family

triumph moment but the

reality Joan won olivia

lost joan stepped on stage accepted her

award with proud eyes and brushed off

Olivia’s attempt at a hug the media

dubbed it the silent murder

smile from that day forward the sisters

didn’t face each other for over four

decades no weddings no graduations no

Three Great Olivia De Havilland Films

joint interviews

joan once said “I’ve had to endure

Olivia longer than anyone on earth.” And

Olivia when Joan died in 2013 she didn’t

attend the

funeral no

flowers not a single

farewell we stopped existing in each

other’s worlds a long time

ago olivia interview from

2016 were they sisters or destined

enemies hollywood once called them the

most beautiful pain on the red carpet

because their elegant appearances masked

eyes full of frozen

daggers if sisterhood were a film this

was a tear stained tragedy with two

leading ladies who never shared the same

 

frame number two Errol Flynn Screen

Prince behindthe-scenes

nightmare on screen they were the

perfect

couple robin Hood and Maid Marion the

most iconic love story of classic

Hollywood errol Flynn the dashing

leading man sparkling eyes irresistible

smile olivia de Havland innocent

graceful full of quiet

strength but only one of them knew the

truth behind the scenes and she despised

him for the rest of her

life flynn was praised as one of

Hollywood’s ultimate sex

symbols but to Olivia he was a rude

arrogant man who treated his co-stars

like

props during the romantic kiss scene in

Captain Blood Olivia recalled “I had to

reshoot it seven times because he kissed

me too hard every kiss felt like

payback and it wasn’t by accident

flynn was frequently drunk used foul

language faced allegations of abusing

women and leveraged his fame to control

the

set the press back then speculated they

had an off-screen

romance but the truth Flynn had a crush

olivia rejected

him and from that moment Flynn turned

every collaboration into a silent

hell i never wanted to be his muse

i just wanted to survive each

scene when Flynn died of heart disease

in 1959 at the age of 50 Hollywood

mourned but Olivia stayed absolutely

silent no

condolences no memorial

appearance she never spoke his name

again some journalists asked “Do you

have any regrets about your relationship

with Errol Flynn?”

Olivia’s answer was simply

“No i regret never having worked with

someone who truly respected women on set

sometimes the most beautiful love

stories on film are made by people who

hate each other in real

life.” And Errol Flynn the perfect

screen icon remained a stain Olivia

would never

forgive number three Bed Davis screen

queen and the silent spotlight thief

they starred together in the masterpiece

Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte and were

hailed as the ultimate acting duo of

American

cinema but for Olivia it was one of the

most toxic experiences of her entire

career because Betty Davis didn’t just

act she

controlled betty Davis was an acting

monster

powerful seasoned razor sharp and she

never shared the

spotlight on screen she was

brilliant offscreen she secretly altered

scripts changed lines without approval

and even directed the director to tilt

the camera in her

favor when you act with Bet you’re no

longer a co-star you’re just a shadow

beside her spotlight

a sharp jab Olivia made during a closed

door interview in

1983 at first Olivia admired Bet as a

mentor worth learning

from but after 3 weeks on set she

realized she was no longer in the film

it was just Bet and the

rest tensions peaked when Bet refused to

re-shoot a scene together claiming

Olivia acted too well

olivia once shared “I don’t know what’s

worse being cut from a roll or being

buried while still standing in the

frame.” When Davis passed away Olivia

remained true to form haunting

silence no

condolences no tribute calling bed

legendary

co-star no appearance at any memorial

events just a single line found in a

leaked journal entry at last the

monologue

ends betty Davis a woman who didn’t need

to shout to steal the scene she only

needed to stand there and everything

leaned her

way and that’s exactly why Olivia De

Havland never forgave her number four

Jack Warner the man who held Hollywood’s

Iron Cage key if you’ve ever dreamed of

signing a contract with a major

studio then Olivia De Havland is the one

who showed us the nightmare begins after

the

signature she signed with Warner

Brothers under the control of Jack

Warner at just 19 years

old and from that moment on every step

in Olivia’s career was no longer hers to

choose despite her undeniable talent

Warner only allowed Olivia to play

gentle supporting roles always backing

up male

stars want to challenge yourself

denied reject an unsuitable role

punished want to enter

contract no way i wasn’t an

actress i was a product a commodity with

a barcode and expiration date olivia

from her

memoir and then she rebelled suing the

most powerful mobile in

Hollywood when Warner Brothers tried to

extend her contract by freezing her pay

during role refusals Olivia filed a

lawsuit against the very studio that

raised

her it was

1943 a young actress suing Warner

Brothers no one believed she could win

but she did the unthinkable and

won the De Havland law was born and it

changed Hollywood forever

this law barred studios from binding

actors for more than seven years by

manipulating time off

clauses from that point on thousands of

actors were

freed but the price of

victory she was silently blacklisted by

studios for

years no one dared hire Olivia she was

too

dangerous jack Warner didn’t need to

kill me

he just had to shut every door I might

walk through when Jack Warner died

Olivia said

nothing no

tribute no

regret only a silence so cold history

still shivers when revisiting it not

because she couldn’t

forgive but because some names don’t

deserve to be spoken

twice number five David O selnic genius

producer master emotional manipulator of

the

screen his name is forever tied to the

most iconic film of all time Gone with

the Wind 1939 he was the man who cast

Olivia as Melanie Hamilton a role that

earned her an Oscar nomination and

immortalized her in film

history but behind the glamour David O

selnik didn’t just direct movies he

directed people

selnic didn’t need to shout he

manipulated with silence and a

glance he was infamous for obsessing

over every detail from costumes and

lighting to each actor’s facial

expression but with Olivia he wasn’t

directing he was running psychological

experiments once he called her into a

private room had her read three pages of

script just to watch how she reacted

under stress

i felt like a lab rat in a psychology

experiment only difference was the

cameras were

rolling olivia turning real pain into

performance and calling it Art Selnic

once delayed Olivia’s crucial scene for

3 weeks just so she could genuinely feel

her character’s

exhaustion i didn’t have to act i just

had to be truly broken

olivia later confessed “I loved Melanie

but I hated how I was turned into her

selnic never

yelled he never insulted

Olivia but he drained her emotionally

and left her in mild depression after

filming something she kept hidden for

decades no one saw

blood but I was bleeding inside for a

whole year after that film and when the

world hailed Selnic as a cinematic

genius Olivia simply smiled a cold

unreadable

smile no public

statements no direct

accusations but when asked about him

later in life she said only “I’m

grateful to him but I never want to go

through that

again.” Olivia De Havland fought not

with scandals but with cutting silence

she didn’t need to shout her enemies

names she just lived long enough to

watch each of them fade into

oblivion the five names she hated most

were the five deepest scars in the

journey of an

icon an icon who never bowed

down who surprised you most on this

list drop a

comment and if you think this is all

that Hollywood has hidden think again

we’ve only just begun to peel back the

first layer