10 Things You May Not Know About Olivia de Havilland

Olivia de Havilland (1916 – 2020) was a two-time Academy Award Winner for Best Actress. She was the last remaining major movie star from Hollywood’s Golden Age when she passed away at her home in Paris, France, at 104.

1. De Havilland was born in Tokyo, Japan. Her father was an English professor at the Imperial University in Tokyo City at the time of her birth. Her parents were both citizens of the United Kingdom so she became an automatic citizen.

De Havilland as Alice in the Saratoga Community Players production
of Alice in Wonderland in 1933

2. She took ballet lessons at four and piano lessons at five and could read before she was six.

3. De Havilland originally planned on becoming a schoolteacher, focusing on English and speech; she received a scholarship to Mills College in Oakland, CA for this pursuit.

4. She was reluctant to become a film actress but was convinced by director Max Reinhardt (who in some respect discovered her) and producer Henry Blake to sign a contract in 1934 with Warner Bros. Her starting salary was $200 a week, an amazing sum for an 18-year-old actress.

Two perfect profiles: Olivia de Havilland and Errol Flynn in Captain Blood

5. At age nineteen, de Havilland starred opposite another newcomer, Errol Flynn in Captain Blood, released in 1935. The pairing of the two stars was so popular with the public that they made a total of eight films together.

6. De Havilland was cast as Maid Marian opposite Errol Flynn in the Technicolor classic The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). It was one of the most popular adventure films of the late 1930s.

Hattie McDaniel, (Mammy), de Havilland (Melanie), and Vivien Leigh (Scarlett) in

Gone with the Wind

7. She managed to convince Warner Bros Studio head Jack Warner (with the help of his wife) to be loaned to David O. Selznick to play Melanie Hamilton in Gone with the Wind (1939). She would receive the first of five Academy Award nominations for her role. The New York Times wrote as Melanie de Havilland’s performance “is a gracious, dignified, tender gem of characterization.”

8. In 1943 she sued Warner Bros. after her contract was up but the studio contended that she owed them an additional six months for the times she had been suspended for turning down certain roles. She won her case (known today as the De Havilland Law) but Warner Bros. blacklisted de Havilland which resulted in her not working for almost two years.

De Havilland (center) played a patient in a state mental hospital in The Snake Pit (1948)

9. In 1945, de Havilland began filming To Each His Own. She played an unwed mother who gives her child up for adoption. In the film, she ages almost 30 years. She won her first Best Actress Oscar for her performance, marking a remarkable comeback.

De Havilland and Yvette Mieux in Light in the Piazza (1962)

10. She was appointed a Chevaliler of the Legion d’honneur, the highest decoration in France in 2010 by President Nicolas Sarkozy, and was appointed Dame of the Order of the British Empire in 2017 by Queen Elizabeth II.

10 Things You May Not Know About Deborah Kerr

Deborah Kerr (1921 – 2007) is perhaps best remembered as portraying proper British ladies on the screen, but she had quite a range as an actress. She appeared in comedies, dramas, and musicals with ease.

1. Kerr first trained to be a ballet dancer.

2. Early in her career, she appeared in various walk-on parts in Shakespeare productions in London.

3. At 21 Kerr made her West End debut in Ellie Dunn, stealing the spotlight from established stage stars Edith Evans and Isabel Jeans.

4. Her career in film took off with the Michael Powell and Eric Pressburger production of The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) in which she played three women.

5. A starring role in another Powell Pressburger production, Black Narcissus (1947) brought Kerr to the attention of Hollywood.

Deborah Kerr with Burt Lancaster in From Here to Eternity, a change of pace
role for the actress

6. Kerr’s first Hollywood role was in the film The Hucksters (1947) costarring Clark Gable with the tagline “Gable’s new star is Deborah Kerr,” in part to introduce American audiences to the pronunciation of Kerr—it rhymes with star!

7. Three times Kerr played a governess in popular films: The King and I (1956), The Innocents (1961), and The Chalk Garden (1964).

8. Kerr was nominated six times for Best Actress Academy Awards, but never won; she was awarded an honorary Oscar in 1994.

9. The actress starred with good friend Robert Mitchum in three films: Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957), The Sundowners and The Grass is Greener (both 1960).

10. Kerr has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1709 Vine Street.

10 Things You May Not Know About Thelma Ritter

Thelma Ritter is one of the most beloved character actresses of all time (at least according to me anyway). She appeared in many classic films starting with Miracle on 34th Street. Test your knowledge of this iconic actress by checking out the 10 facts below.

1. Family friend, director George Seaton, cast her in her first movie Miracle on 34th Street (1947) and her last, What’s So Bad About Feeling Good (1968).

2. She was uncredited in her first three movies: Miracle on 34th Street, Call Northside 777 (1948), and A Letter to Three Wives (1949).

3. Ritter was nominated for six Oscars—all for Best Supporting Actress.

4. Her first Oscar nomination was for her role as Birdie in All About Eve (1950).

5. Her name was above the title for the first time in The Model and the Marriage Broker (1951).

6. She played a character based on Molly Brown in Titanic (1953).

Thelma Ritter ruins James Stewart’s appetite in Rear Window.

7. She was not nominated for her role as Stella in Rear Window (1954).

8. Co-hosted the Oscar ceremony with Bob Hope in 1954.

9. She won a Tony Award for Best Actress (Musical) in New Girl in Town (1957) in a tie with costar Gwen Verdon.

10. She died nine days before her 67th birthday in 1969.

Book Review: And the Winner Really Is by Ken Grout

Available at Amazon

And the Winner Really Is: The Definitive Ranking of the Greatest Actors and Actresses in Oscar History by Ken Grout. Mixing statistics, motion picture history, and some common sense, Grout has come up with an interesting formula to determine who is the real Oscar champ.

Grout’s book considers all Academy Award winning actors and actresses as well as those nominees who never actually won the award (you see, using Grout’s system, you earn points for each nomination). That’s why Irene Dunne (nominated five times, but never a winner) ranks higher on the list than Clark Gable (nominated 3 times with one win).

To deal with ties, Grout came up with some steps. Here are four that helped crown the champions: Number of Career Wins, Number of Career Nominations, Career Performances in Best Picture Winners, and Career Performances in Best Picture Nominees.

Fan favorites like Cary Grant (two nominations and no wins—honorary Oscars don’t count) and Maureen O’Hara (no nominations, one honorary Oscar) don’t make the list at all. The book also includes the top “Never-Won’s.” According to Grout’s research, “There are twenty-four individuals in Oscar history who have been nominated for at least four competitive acting Oscars,” but haven’t won. Who do you think tops this list? Hint: It’s a man. In fact number two is also a man and a good friend and professional rival of number one.

Sisters Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland have three Best Actress Oscars between them.

Grout charts the dominance of Bette Davis from the late 1940s to the late 1960s. He also adds some fun stats like who are the greatest families in Academy Award history. Spoiler alert: It’s the Fondas: Jane, Henry, and Peter. What Oscar winner is also a champion at the box office?

If you love the Oscars and the movies, you’ll have a ton of fun with And the Winner Really Is. It’s already found a place in my group of movie reference books. I know I’ll be referring to it for years to come.

And the Winner Really Is is available for purchase from Lemonyyellow Books and Amazon.

"Miracle on 34th Street" Kicks off the Holiday Movie Season

Natalie Wood and Maureen O'Hara

Does Macy's tell Gimbels?
Miracle on 34th Street, starring Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, Edmund Gwenn, and Natalie Wood is a true holiday classic. Released in 1947, the movie boasts some terrific location shots of New York City during the late 1940s, including interior and exteriors of the landmark Macy's department store located near Times Square.

On Location in New York City
Twentieth Century Fox film studios actually filmed the real Macy's Day Parade to lend authenticity to the production. O'Hara and Gwenn are right in the middle of all the action along the parade route which starts at 77th St. and Central Park West to Columbus Circle (59th St.), continues up Broadway to 34th St., turning at Macy's Herald Square, and ending at Seventh Ave. The Macy's Day Parade is a New York tradition that started in 1924.

Prince Charming was a rat!
The story centers around Doris Walker (O'Hara) as a busy Macy's executive and single mother trying to raise her young daughter, Susan (Wood). O'Hara believes in always being truthful with her daughter and considers myths like Santa Claus harmful. She thinks that filling up her daughter's head with a bunch of fairy stories paints an unrealistic portrait of life and leads to disappointment and heartache in adulthood. What Doris doesn't realize is that it's her own bitterness and disappointment that is driving most of her parenting decisions.

John Payne, Wood, and Edmund Gwenn

Enter an eager, young lawyer, Fred Gailey (Payne), who challenges Susan first and then Doris to believe in something bigger than themselves. When Fred finds himself proclaiming a kind, old gentleman (Gwenn) as the one and only Santa Claus in a New York City courtroom, the city and its colorful inhabitants get swept up in the spectacle.

Honored Classic
Winner of three Academy Awards, including one for Best Writing, Screenplay (George Seaton), Best Writing, Original Story (Valentine Davies), and Best Supporting Actor (Gwenn), Miracle on 34th Street is a classic for all seasons.