Book Review: Olivia de Havilland: Lady Triumphant

In a lifetime that has exceeded a century, Olivia de Havilland went from journeyman actor, to movie star, to classic film icon, to perhaps the sole survivor of cinema's golden era. Victoria Amador's thorough and fascinating new biography from the University Press of Kentucky helps us to understand how this was accomplished.

This isn't a case of simply living long enough to achieve some level of respectful applause. Olivia de Havilland truly earned her status with a career of worthy performances from amusingly timeless B movies with the likes of beloved comedian Joe E. Brown, to the swashbuckling excitement of her work with Errol Flynn, to the mammoth epic "Gone With the Wind" that closed out the 1930s. Extending her performances with bravura performances in films like "The Heiress" and "The Snake Pit," de Havilland's career continued to explore beyond any parameters.

Olivia's personal life was more complicated. Conflicts with her sister, actress Joan Fontaine, became the stuff of movie buff lore. Amador's biography carefully explains these situations to the reader's satisfiaction. But in so long a life, such challenges are inevitable, and the biography exhibits how Olivia's strength of character was able to weather and survive everything from studio suspensions, to being called before the HUAC, to the loss of her only son to Hodgkin's disease.

Much is written about the loves in de Havilland's life, including Flynn, James Stewart, John Huston, and Howard Hughes, all before she settled down to marrying Navy vet Marcus Goodrich and, after their 1953 divorce, Pierre Galante, a marriage that also ended in divorce (they remained friends until Galante's death - their daughter survives).

All of de Havilland's long life is accounted for and related in an interesting and informative manner. Discussions of her many films adds another layer to the biography, making it also something of a film study that helps us to better appreciate Olivia's work as well as her life. How she was hired from the stage version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (along with young Mickey Rooney) to appear in the film version, and how that led to her Warner Brothers contract, is an especially interesting trajectory. Perhaps the author is a bit dismissive of earlier B movies like "The Irish in Us" and "Alibi Ike" - two programmers that she appeared in early on. Featuring, respectively, James Cagney and Joe E. Brown, these amusing trifles have held up much better than the movie version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

Another particularly fascinating portion of the book is the latter part where we read about Olivia's life today, now past 100 years old, but still living comfortably in Paris. She remains active and informed, to the point of generating a lawsuit against the FX cable network for inaccurately portraying her in a film they produced.

The winner of Oscars, Golden Globes, Critics' awards, and the National Medal of Arts, Olivia de Havilland's life and career makes for fascinating reading. Kudos to Victoria Amador for writing a fine book that is thorough, accurate, and does not have an agenda. So many books are written to tear down beloved performers. Amador celebrates the work and is honest about the life. Victoria Amador had access to Ms. de Havilland through years of correspondence and several meetings. This gives an air of authenticity to the book.It is highly recommended.

The book can be ordered from this link: Olivia de Havilland - Lady Triumphant