Olivia de Havilland's Real Name: Olivia Mary de Havilland

Quick answer: The actor was known professionally as Olivia de Havilland. Encyclopaedia Britannica lists her as also known as Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland, born July 1, 1916, in Tokyo, Japan, and records her death on July 26, 2020, in Paris, France. A BBC obituary independently says Olivia Mary de Havilland was born in Tokyo on 1 July 1916 and that she died at 104 in Paris. The Associated Press independently gives the same birth and death dates and places, at age 104.

Real name and early life

Britannica lists her as also known as Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland, born July 1, 1916, in Tokyo, the daughter of a British patent attorney, and says that she and her younger sister, Joan Fontaine, moved to California in 1919 with their mother, an actress. The BBC independently names her parents as Walter, a British patent lawyer, and the actress Lilian, and also dates the move to California to 1919. The Associated Press adds that after her parents separated when she was 3, her mother brought the sisters to Saratoga, California. Britannica says that while attending school she was chosen from a local production of A Midsummer Night's Dream to play Hermia in a 1935 Warner Brothers film version of the play.

Career highlights

Britannica, the BBC, and the Associated Press all discuss her work opposite Errol Flynn, including The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), and her role as Melanie Wilkes in Gone with the Wind (1939). Britannica says that in 1945 she won a case against Warner Brothers over a six-month penalty appended to her seven-year contract. The Associated Press says she sued the studio in 1943 and that the California Court of Appeals ruled that no studio could extend an expired contract by adding suspension time. The BBC says the California Supreme Court ruled in her favor in what became known as the De Havilland Law. All three sources record Academy Awards for To Each His Own (1946) and The Heiress (1949). Britannica and the BBC also name The Snake Pit (1948). The BBC records a damehood in 2017.

Death

The Associated Press said she died on Sunday, July 26, 2020, at her home in Paris, at age 104, of natural causes. The BBC and Britannica record the same date, place, and age. Accounts of when she settled in France differ: Britannica says she moved to France in 1955, the Associated Press says she had lived in Paris since 1953, and the BBC describes a move in the 1950s.

Name notes for searchers

People looking up Olivia de Havilland or Olivia Mary de Havilland are looking for the same actor.