Actress Joan Fontaine lived a long and eventful life, played in many films. Despite the inconsistency with Hollywood standards, she was successful, thanks to her amazing ability to get used to the role. Her biography is interesting and largely instructive.
Family and childhood
The future actress Joan Fontaine was born in 1917 in the Japanese capital - Tokyo, in a special quarter for foreigners. The real name of the girl is Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland. The parents of the girl were wealthy people:
- father - lawyer Walter Augustus de Havilland;
- mother - Lilian Augusta Ruz - theater actress.
Joan also had an older sister Olivia, a rivalry with which can be traced throughout her life's journey.
The girl was not in good health and constantly sick, so in 1919, divorcing her husband, Lilian moved the children to the United States, where Joan began to feel much better.
At the age of 15, the future actress moves to Japan, where she lives with her father for two years. Returning to the United States, she learns that Olivia has become a famous actress and decides to do everything possible to surpass her.
Carier start
Joan's decision to become an actress was met by the family coolly. Her mother forbade her to use her own surname, since the name of Olivia Havilland was already widely known to the public. Therefore, the girl had to use the creative pseudonym of her mother, Fontaine. The aspiring actress got her first role in the theatrical production of “Name This Day, ” which was the beginning of her success. Representatives of the film company drew attention to Joan Fontaine and she made her film debut. The first works of the beginning star are as follows:
- "Only without ladies."
- "Girl's suffering."
The paintings did not bring the girl any fame or any awards.
First success
In 1943, Joan Fontaine accepts American citizenship. She begins to be lucky: having decided to audition for a minor role in Alfred Hitchcock's film "Rebecca", the aspiring actress unexpectedly gets herself the main role. This work was Fontaine's first success, but it is known that it was not easy. Hitchcock noted that Joan's partner, Lawrence Olivier, clearly does not sympathize with the actress and causes her timidity. The director made the whole crew to treat her badly. As a result, the heroine Fontaine turned out to be scared and unsure of herself, which, of course, benefited the painting.
Work with Hitchcock continued, Joan Fontaine played in his next film, "Suspicion", where the partner of the actress was the famous Carey Grant in those days.
The film earned several Oscars, and Joan herself received the coveted statuette in the nomination for Best Actress. Finally, she managed to get ahead of Olivia.
Follow up work
The forties of the last century are the heyday of Joan Fontaine's career. She starred in such films:
- "Above all".
- Jane Eyre.
- "A letter to a stranger."
In the 50s, the career gradually declined, however, in these years, the actress played several good roles in the paintings:
- "Bigamist".
- "Beyond reasonable doubt."
- The production of Tea and Sympathy, which has earned many positive reviews.
The sixties is the time of theatrical activity in the biography of Joan Fontaine, she played in several productions: “Cactus Flower”, “Lion in Winter”. The last of the widely known paintings of the actress - “Witches” (1966), a horror film where Joan played the role of a teacher. After that, she did not return to the big screen.
last years of life
Until 1994, the actress worked on television, her most famous roles in the television films Dark Mansions, Good Lion Vaclav, and the television series Hope Ryan.
Having completed her career, Joan Fontaine led a secluded life in a small American town, devoting all her time to taking care of her dogs. The actress died in 2013, at the age of 96.
Husbands and Marriages
Of particular interest is the personal life of Joan Fontaine and her relationship with her husbands. The actress has been married several times:
- In 1939, she connected her life with actor Brian Ahern, but after prolonged disagreements, the couple divorced in 1945.
- 1946 - wedding with producer William Dosier. There is a joint daughter. The couple divorced in 1949, but officially divorced in 1951.
- The actress’s marriage with Collier Young lasted eight years, they were together from 1952 to 1960.
- In 1964, Fontaine married Alfred Rayat Jr., but in 1969 they separated.
The actress has only one daughter, but in 1951, Joan became the legal guardian of a four-year-old girl from Peru - Martita. Poor parents gave their consent to the adoption, so that she received a normal education, which relatives themselves could not give her. At 16, the girl was supposed to return, but did not want this and ran away.
