Trivia

Confessed in later years that she had an intense crush on Errol Flynn during the years of their filming, saying that it was hard to resist his charms.

In 1965 she became the first female president of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival.

She and Joan Fontaine are the first sisters to win Oscars and the first ones to be Oscar-nominated in the same year.

When she was nine years old she made a will in which she stated, "I bequeath all my beauty to my younger sister Joan [Joan Fontaine], since she has none".

After her divorce in 1979 from second husband Pierre Galante, they remained close friends; after he became ill with cancer, she nursed him until his death in 1998.

Justly famous for her court victory against Warner Brothers in the mid-1940s (many others had sued Warners but failed), which stopped Jack L. Warner from adding suspension periods to actors' contracts and therefore meant more freedom for actors in Hollywood. It became known as the "de Havilland decision".

Two weeks before her 101st birthday, she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2017 Birthday Honours by Queen Elizabeth II for services to Drama. She is the oldest woman ever to receive the honor. In a statement, she called it "the most gratifying of birthday presents.".

De Havilland's son, Benjamin Briggs Goodrich, a statistical analyst, died at his mother's Paris home in 1991, aged 42, after a long battle with Hodgkin's disease. He had first been diagnosed with the disease when he was 19 years old.

She holds the record for the most people thanked in an Oscar acceptance speech (27), which she set when she accepted the award for Best Actress for To Each His Own (1946).

Fifteen years after her previous appearance as a presenter at an Academy Awards ceremony, she made a special appearance onstage at the The 75th Annual Academy Awards (2003) and received a standing ovation. It was to be her final ever appearance at the Oscars.

Is descended from the Haverlands of Normandy, one of whom (the Lord of Haverland) accompanied William the Conquerer in his invasion of England in 1066.

Showed flair as a writer when "Every Frenchman Has One," a lighthearted autobiographical account of her attempts at adapting to French life, was published in 1962.

Visited New York in the spring of 2004 to film a special commentary programme for the upcoming DVD of Gone with the Wind (1939), to be released in November that year.

Her mother named her Olivia after William Shakespeare's romantic heroine in "Twelfth Night".

She was very eager to play the part of Melanie in Gone with the Wind (1939) but Jack L. Warner, with whom she was under contract, refused to loan her out fearing that she would then become dissatisfied with her lot at Warners. It was only the persuasion of his wife that he let her go but he was right when she found she got much better treatment away from Warners.

She is only the third Oscar-winning actor to celebrate a 100th birthday. The others are George Burns, who died less than two months after passing the 100-year mark in 1996, and Luise Rainer, who lived to be 104.

Was romantically involved with James Stewart, Howard Hughes, John Huston in the late 1930s.

Was the surprise guest honoring the late Bette Davis, her long-time friend and fellow actress, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Los Angeles on May 1, 2008. The event, "A Centennial Tribute to Bette Davis", was hosted by film historian Robert Osborne. Its reception included Davis' son (Michael Merrill), Davis's long-time personal assistant, Kathryn Sermak, and friends including Gena Rowlands and Joan Leslie.

Olivia and Joan were brought up strictly by their mother, Lilian, with whom they lived. They had to ask for permission to go out in the evening and report back when they returned. Any young man who wished to date either of the sisters was first invited to tea to be vetted.

A full-time resident of Paris, France, since the mid-1950s, Olivia resided at her home on Rue Benouville. She used to read the Scriptures at the American Cathedral, Paris, at Christmas and Easter until around 2012.

Despite a reportedly turbulent relationship, Olivia and her sister Joan Fontaine celebrated Christmas 1962 together along with their then-husbands and children.

Was offered the role of Mary Hatch Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life (1946) after Jean Arthur turned it down, but she also turned it down, as did such other actresses as Ann Dvorak and Ginger Rogers. Donna Reed was finally cast in the role.

As of December 15 2014, the 75th anniversary of the premiere of Gone with the Wind (1939), she is the only surviving major cast member. She has been the only survivor of the four principal leads since 1967. The only other surviving cast member who received screen credit is Mickey Kuhn.

She and Errol Flynn acted together in eight movies: The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Captain Blood (1935), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), Dodge City (1939), Four's a Crowd (1938), The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), Santa Fe Trail (1940), and They Died with Their Boots On (1941) Both are also featured in a ninth film, Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943), although in separate scenes.

Turned down the role of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), reportedly saying that "a lady just doesn't say or do those things on the screen". De Havilland set the record straight in a 2006 interview, saying that she had recently given birth to her son when offered the part and was simply unable to relate to the character.

December 15, 2019 saw her become the first ever main cast member of a Best Picture Oscar winning film (Gone with the Wind (1939)) to live to see its 80th anniversary.

It was reported in October 2001 that she was among 40 prominent French residents who were victims of hoax anthrax attacks (the attacks were proven to be hoaxes after a woman was arrested in Paris for sending out envelopes containing a powdery substance).

Olivia accepted two film roles turned down by Ginger Rogers: To Each His Own (1946) and The Snake Pit (1948). She won an Oscar for To Each His Own (1946) and was nominated for The Snake Pit (1948). Rogers later regretted turning down the roles and wrote: "It seemed Olivia knew a good thing when she saw it. Perhaps Olivia should thank me for such poor judgment".

Gave birth to her second child at age 40, daughter Gisele Galante, on July 18, 1956. The child's father was her second husband, Pierre Galante; they divorced in 1979, and he died in 1998.

Gave birth to her first child at age 33, son Benjamin Goodrich, on September 27, 1949. The child's father was her first husband, Marcus Goodrich; they divorced in 1953, and he died in 1991.

She has a street named after her in Mexico City. Renowned Mexican actor and director Emilio Fernández lived in Coyoacan Town on a street with no name at all, so he asked the authorities to name this street "Dulce Olivia," Spanish for "Sweet Olivia," after her.

Received the Medal of Arts honor from President George W. Bush at a White House ceremony in the East Room on November 17, 2008, "for her persuasive and compelling skill as an actress in roles from Shakespeare's Hermia to Margaret Mitchell's Melanie. Her independence, integrity, and grace won creative freedom for herself and her fellow film actors.".

[July 2006] Celebrated her 90th birthday at her daughter's home in Malibu.

Relations between Olivia and younger sister Joan Fontaine were never strong and worsened in 1941, when both were nominated for Best Actress Oscars. Their mutual dislike and jealousy escalated into an all-out feud after Fontaine won for Suspicion (1941). Despite the fact that de Havilland went on to win two Academy Awards of her own, they remained permanently estranged.

Elder daughter of Walter Augustus de Havilland (1872-1968), born Lewisham, London, England, who was a patent attorney in Japan and also the author of the 1910 book "The ABC of Go", which provides a detailed and comprehensive description of the Japanese board game; and of his wife, actress Lilian Fontaine (née Lillian Augusta Ruse), born in Reading, Berkshire, England. Elder sister of actress Joan Fontaine. Ex-sister-in-law of Collier Young, Brian Aherne and William Dozier. Aunt of Debbie Dozier.

In celebration of her 100th birthday, she was honored as Turner Classic Movies Star of the Month for July 2016.

One of her cousins, Capt. Sir Geoffrey de Havilland (1882-1965), was a British aviation pioneer, aircraft designer and owner of the de Havilland Aircraft Co. Its wooden bomber Mosquito has been considered the most versatile warplane ever built. The ill-fated de Havilland Comet was the first commercial jet airliner in 1952.

In the 1950s the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum near Tucson, AZ, named one of their female javelinas "Olivia de Javelina" in her honor; Their male was named "Gregory Peckory" to honor actor Gregory Peck.

Is a 15th cousin twice removed of Errol Flynn, her co-star in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938).

Her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is at 6764 Hollywood Blvd.

In April 1946 she set off a power struggle within the Hollywood Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences and Professions (HICCASP) by refusing to deliver two speeches in Seattle as written by her fellow executive council member Dalton Trumbo, later one of the blacklisted Hollywood Ten. She felt Trumbo's text was too left-wing and worried that the organization was becoming "automatically pro-Russian".

Has put her longevity down to the three L's: "Love, laughter and learning".

Attended the funeral of Charlton Heston in April, 2008.

She has appeared in three films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Gone with the Wind (1939) and The Heiress (1949).

At the age of 82, was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Hertfordshire, England.

Prior to her death, de Havilland was largely considered to be the last surviving major cultural celebrity of the 1930s, and certainly the last who had been an adult at that time (Jane Withers, a popular child star of the mid-late 30s, survived her by just over a year).

Following the death of film editor Elmo Williams in November 2015, de Havilland became the oldest living Oscar winner. She held this distinction for four years and 8 months until she passed away 25 days after her 104th birthday. This makes her the second longest lived winner of a competitive Academy Award behind Luise Rainer, who died at the end of 2014, two weeks shy of her 105th birthday.

Bette Davis and Joan Crawford were cast in Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) by Robert Aldrich in the hopes of repeating the success of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962). Davis got a producer's credit and conspired to make things difficult for Crawford, who eventually pretended to be too ill to work, causing production to be delayed resulting in her being dropped and replaced by de Havilland. Crawford reportedly only learned the news on the radio after it had been leaked to the press.

Is portrayed by Lee Purcell in My Wicked, Wicked Ways: The Legend of Errol Flynn (1985).

Was somewhat overweight when she first came to Paramount; Edith Head designed costumes for her with a slimming effect.