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The Users

as Grace St. George

1978
The Witches

as Gwen Mayfield

1966
Tender Is the Night

as Baby Warren

1962
Island in the Sun

as Mavis Norman

1957
Until They Sail

as Anne Leslie

1957
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

as Susan Spencer

1956
Casanova's Big Night

as Francesca Bruni

1954
The Bigamist

as Eve Graham

1953
Flight to Tangier

as Susan Lane

1953
Ivanhoe

as Rowena

1952
Othello

as Page

1951
Born to Be Bad

as Christabel Caine Carey

1950
September Affair

as Manina Stuart

1950
Letter from an Unknown Woman

as Lisa Berndle

1948
You Gotta Stay Happy

as Dee Dee Dillwood

1948
The Emperor Waltz

as Johanna Augusta Franziska

1948
Ivy

as Ivy

1947
From This Day Forward

as Susan

1946
Frenchman's Creek

as Dona St. Columb

1944
Jane Eyre

as Jane Eyre

1944
The Constant Nymph

as Tessa Sanger

1943
This Above All

as Prudence Cathaway

1942
Suspicion

as Lina McLaidlaw Aysgarth

1941
Rebecca

as Mrs. de Winter

1940
The Women

as Peggy Day

1939
Gunga Din

as Emmaline "Emmy" Stebbins

1939
Man of Conquest

as Eliza Allen

1939
Sky Giant

as Meg Lawrence

1938
Blond Cheat

as Julie Evans

1938
Joan Fontaine Joan Fontaine

Birthday

1917-10-22

Place of Birth

Tokyo, Japan

Biography

Born Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland on October 22, 1917, in Tokyo, Japan, in what was known as the International Settlement. Her father was a British patent attorney with a lucrative practice in Japan, but due to Joan and older sister Olivia de Havilland's recurring ailments the family moved to California in the hopes of improving their health. Mrs. de Havilland and the two girls settled in Saratoga while their father went back to his practice in Japan. Joan's parents did not get along well and divorced soon afterward. Mrs. de Havilland had a desire to be an actress but her dreams were curtailed when she married, but now she hoped to pass on her dream to Olivia and Joan. While Olivia pursued a stage career, Joan went back to Tokyo, where she attended the American School. In 1934 she came back to California, where her sister was already making a name for herself on the stage. Joan likewise joined a theater group in San Jose and then Los Angeles to try her luck there. After moving to L.A., Joan adopted the name of Joan Burfield because she didn't want to infringe upon Olivia, who was using the family surname. She tested at MGM and gained a small role in No More Ladies (1935), but she was scarcely noticed and Joan was idle for a year and a half. During this time she roomed with Olivia, who was having much more success in films. In 1937, this time calling herself Joan Fontaine, she landed a better role as Trudy Olson in You Can't Beat Love (1937) and then an uncredited part in Quality Street (1937). Although the next two years saw her in better roles, she still yearned for something better. In 1940 she garnered her first Academy Award nomination for Rebecca (1940). Although she thought she should have won, (she lost out to Ginger Rogers in Kitty Foyle (1940)), she was now an established member of the Hollywood set. She would again be Oscar-nominated for her role as Lina McLaidlaw Aysgarth in Suspicion (1941), and this time she won. Joan was making one film a year but choosing her roles well. In 1942 she starred in the well-received This Above All (1942). The following year she appeared in The Constant Nymph (1943). Once again she was nominated for the Oscar, she lost out to Jennifer Jones in The Song of Bernadette (1943). By now it was safe to say she was more famous than her older sister and more fine films followed. In 1948, she accepted second billing to Bing Crosby in The Emperor Waltz (1948). Joan took the year of 1949 off before coming back in 1950 with September Affair (1950) and Born to Be Bad (1950). In 1951 she starred in Paramount's Darling, How Could You! (1951), which turned out badly for both her and the studio and more weak productions followed. Absent from the big screen for a while, she took parts in television and dinner theaters. She also starred in many well-produced Broadway plays such as Forty Carats and The Lion in Winter. Her last appearance on the big screen was The Witches (1966) and her final appearance before the cameras was Good King Wenceslas (1994). She is, without a doubt, a lasting movie icon.
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