You're welcome!! She's great!!! =)

You're welcome! ;)

I suspect she was indeed a genius

Joan was always a bit of a rule-breaker. I agree with everything you said, but try to see it from Olivia’s side. Olivia was the “Marcia” to Joan’s “Jan”. Olivia was the apple of her mother’s eye until Joan was born when Olivia was fifteen months old. To their mother Lillian’s credit, despite her preference for Olivia, she doted over Joan as a baby with eczema and asthma that precluded Olivia from handling Joan and forming any sort of bond with her. Years later, Olivia decided to follow in her mother’s footsteps as an actress. By convention, it was assumed that Joan would not be an actress herself. Joan defied convention and decided to be an actor anyway, despite having to use her stepfather’s surname so as not to be associated with Olivia. Joan also married first, divorced first, won the Oscar first, and once claimed in an interview that If she died first, Olivia would be furious that Joan accomplished that feat first as well. Joan Fontaine (1917-2013), Olivia de Havilland (1916-2020), Lillian de Havilland Fontaine (1886-1975).

@@jimhaggard7436 unfortunately, both de Havilland girls were casualties of a marriage where the decision to exchange vows was based on a bet, a coin flip by their father. Walter de Havilland made a deal with Lilian Ruse that if she lost the coin flip, she would marry de Havilland. Ruse lost, so she married de Havilland. This began a tumultuous, complicated marriage between de Havilland and Ruse, the latter of whom had acting ambitions that never fully materialized. Olivia was expected and a girl was acceptable enough for a first child, a boy could possibly come along later. Lilian, soon grew discontented in the marriage and one evening as de Havilland returned home from work, dinner was being prepared, leaving a free moment which found his wife lying about on a chaise lounge. De Havilland made love to his wife, impregnating her at a time when she already had doubts about the future of the marriage. To add insult to injury, Mrs. de Havilland gave birth to a second girl. The fact that Joan was born sickly didn't help matters. Upon physician's recommendation, the de Havilland family was told to relocate to a better climate for Joan to have a fighting chance at good health. Originally, the de Havillands set out for the United Kingdom. However, upon arriving in San Francisco, Olivia also became ill, at which time de Havilland abandoned his wife and children, returning to Japan. Mrs. de Havilland decided to remain in California. Joan was ill so frequently that she took to her bed, missing long periods of schooling, and attended to by Mrs. de Havilland, who became Joan's closest friend. After divorcing de Havilland and marrying the embittered widower, George Fontaine, who had two children with his first wife to die prematurely, began complaining about the massive medical bills produced by his younger stepdaughter's repeated ailments. He also disliked her nervous habit of biting her fingernails and dug a grave for her if she refused to stop. Adding to his complaints was Olivia's growing interest in the theater, which eventually led to Olivia leaving home early. Lilian refused to advocate for Olivia and allowed her husband to put her daughter out of the house. George Fontaine had been a harsh, stern, unrelenting disciplinarian who made the girls use khaki colored bedding, and each week made the girls write a schedule to budget nearly every minute of their week. Olivia hated him, so did Joan but she found valuable lessons in his abrasive manner. There are stories that Fontaine behaved inappropriately with his stepdaughters when his wife was out of town. When Olivia went to Hollywood with Lilian's backing, she tried to get Joan married off so as not to be a threat to Olivia's budding career. Fontaine helped Joan, becoming her manager, arranging a portfolio for her that would propel his stepdaughter to wealth. It should be noted that for a period in the 1930s Joan returned to live with Walter in Japan but the arrangement failed once he allegedly made sexual advances in his stepdaughter, which angered Lilian because her husband had supposedly cheated on her during the marriage but was accused of coming into their daughter. Joan see speculated that her mother wanted two, high achieving sons and had to settle for daughters, leading the mother's relentless ambitions to push the girls into success.

@@texan903 fascinating! Thanks for the info! It stinks how many stepfathers may have been inappropriate with their stepdaughters. Joan Crawford is another example.

@@jimhaggard7436 Joan was the one who pursued it though. She admitted it to Bette Davis.

@@hodawg7762 pursued what?

I saw that and was amazed at Joan's transformation. Especially having seen her in previous roles.

Joan was still interviewing as recently as a month-and-a-half before her death. I believe it was one of at least two that Joan gave in 2013.

@@travelseatsyellowlab Thanks Can you share the link of last interview

@@noshulal www.google.com/amp/s/backlots.net/2013/10/22/a-qa-with-joan-fontaine-in-honor-of-her-96th-birthday/amp/

@@travelseatsyellowlab Thanks

she is 74 here and she looks gorgeous!!!!!!!

I have never seen or heard of Cary Grant calling Joan a Bitch where did you see or hear the comment

I read it somewhere..perhaps it was said in humor...I was a big fan of Joan (my mom was too)..its ironic, I live next door to her former home in Palm Springs (Villa Fontaine) & just sold!

Not at all.