Not long after the loss of acting titan Peter O’Toole, we must now regretfully announce the death of Academy Award winning actress Joan Fontaine at the age of 96. Fontaine was best known for her work with Alfred Hitchcock, a partnership that saw her nominated for Best Actress for my presonal Hitchcock favourite, REBECCA, only to go on and win the next year, in 1942, for Hitchcock’s SUSPICION. She would pick up another nomination in 1944 for her performance in THE CONSTANT NYMPH. In 1956 she starred in Fritz Lang’s BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT and took on another memorable role a decade later with THE WITCHES, her last big screen appearance. The 60s, 70s, and 80s saw her turn her attention to TV work, with her final work being the 1994 TV movie, GOOD KING WENCESLAS.
Sister to Olivia de Havilland, Joan Fontaine was born Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland, in Tokyo on 22nd October 1917. Fontaine’s father was a doctor who had a practice in Japan, but it was Joan and Olivia’s poor health that saw them return to California with their mother. Their mother soon passed on the acting bug she had as a child, and the two sisters set about on two truly remarkable careers. While Olivia made a name for herself on stage, Joan returned to Japan to attend the American school in Tokyo. Upon her return to the US, she focused her attention on acting, but refused to use the family name so as not to ride or disrupt her sister’s success. After minor roles in a number of films, she found herself sat next to David O. Selznick at a dinner party, the legendary producer who had recently worked with her sister in GONE WITH THE WIND, and who had just picked up the rights to Daphne Du Maurier’s novel, REBECCA. Fontaine was asked to audition, and the rest is history.
Joan Fontaine is said to have died peacefully at her Californian home on the morning of Sunday 15th December 2013. Our thoughts at THN go out to her family and friends, and we would like to say thanks for some incredible performances in some amazing movies.
