Olivia de Havilland is the daughter of British parents. Her father was a patent attorney, her mother an actress. Together with her sister Joan Fontaine, she was trained by the ambitious mother at an early stage for a stage career.

De Havilland's film career began in 1935 with a seven-year contract with Warner Brothers. That same year she had a good supporting role in the Max Reinhardt - and William Dieterle's film version of A Midsummer Night's Dream, playing for the first time alongside Errol Flynn in the pirate drama Captain Blood. The studio put the two stars in the years to an even more often together, so in The Charge of the Light Brigade (The Charge of the Light Brigade), The Adventures of Robin Hood (Robin Hood, King of the Vagabonds) and They Died with their Boots On (His last command). After a few good roles, including in the adaptation of the bestseller Anthony Adverse in 1936, de Havilland, the first of many conflicts with the studio, after the management had initially refused her for the shooting of Gone with the Wind of David O. Selznick borrow. De Havilland finally turned to the wife of studio boss Jack Warner to get the role.

In 1941 she had her breakthrough as a dramatic actress, directed by Mitchell Leisen in The Golden Gate, for which she was nominated for the first time for the Oscar as best actress. However, the price went to her sister Joan Fontaine for the role in Suspicion, and the press speculated heavily that it has come to a quarrel between the two. Thus Fontaine at the Academy Awards on their way to the podium an attempt of de Havilland, her congratulations of robots. De Havilland was embarrassed and offended at the same time.

Simultaneously, the dispute escalated with the studio for better roles. At the end of de Havilland went up before the Supreme Court of the United States to tackle against the previously common practice of the studios, the times were suspended in which actors attach to the normal contract period. In 1946, the actress received so far by any studio deals won their methods. The de Havilland's case was the beginning of the end of the studio absolute control.

The actress became established in the following years as one of the best dramatic actresses of Hollywood. After her first Oscar win for mother's heart, the story of a self-sacrificing single mother, once again directed by Mitchell Leisen, she was again nominated 1948th Directed by Anatole Litvak, she turned the snake pit, which cast an anxious glance at the appalling conditions in American mental hospitals. The following year, the actress won her second Oscar for the film adaptation of Henry James-piece Washington Square, which staged William Wyler under the title The Heiress. From the late 1950s, the actress always cared more for her family and turned less films. Their appearance in the shocker Lady in a Cage, who appeared in 1962 as a helpless victim of burglars, said a critic with the words: Add Olivia to the name of actresses who would rather be freaks than forgotten.

The actress lives quietly since the 1950s in Paris. One of her last public appearances was at previously the 75th Oscars 2003rd

On 15 June 2006 it was two weeks before her 90th Birthday, honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with a gala. From publisher Harper Collins has signed a contract with Maureen O'Brien to write her memoirs.

Gone With The Wind (1939)