Joan Fontaine has died

[Guest]

Hollwoood film star Joan Fontaine has died aged 96.

She became type-cast as a vulnerable woman after her success in Hitchcock's Rebecca with Laurence Olivier and Suspicion with Cary Grant, for which she won an Oscar.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-25395231

[slarty]

What a dreadful weekend - first Audrey Totter, then Eleanor Parker and Peter O'toole and now Joan Fontaine.

I loved her in Letter From an Unknown Woman and September Affair with the great Joseph Cotten (this was the movie that made the song September by Kurt Weill, and memorably sung by Walter Huston so famous.)

Eleanor Parker for Between Two Worlds, a turgid melodrama given life by a memorable score by Korngold.
Peter O'Toole for Lord Jim and The Ruling Class.

may they all Rest in Peace.

[mercia]

I hadn't realised that Olivia de Havilland was her sister, and that the aircraft designer was a cousin

[Richard Tarleton]

I remember seeing her on the big screen in Ivanhoe, where she played Rowena opposite Elizabeth Taylor's Rebecca (a tough call for Robert Taylor ). She starred in a more assertive du Maurier role, Dona St Columb in Frenchman's Creek.

[Barbirollians]

She was brilliant as the second Mrs de Winter - albeit the show was stolen by Judith Anderson.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I hadn't realised that Olivia de Havilland was her sister.

I was surprised too. Olivia is still alive at 97, and has outlived the other 3 from the GWTW quartet by almost 50 years.

[amateur51]

I met her, just the once, at a signing session for her autobiography in a London department store where I was working. Management wanted lots of copies to be signed as back-ups for people who were not able to attend in person so I was one of several staff members who kept visiting Ms Fontaine at 5-minute intervals with yet another copy.

On my fourth attempt she spotted me and said "Oh you again, huh?" and i explained the situation which I think she had twigged - London was pretty new to book signings but I guess that Joan Fontaine was an old hand by this. I said "Ms Fontaine, you must be very tired after all this" and she looked at me, and then proceded to sign another copy in pink felt-tip with a great flourish and said: "Put it this way honey, if there is an after-life I'm sure as Hell coming back with a shorter name than Joan Fontaine!"

Classy lady!

[Nick Armstrong]

I was surprised too. Olivia is still alive at 97, and has outlived the other 3 from the GWTW quartet by almost 50 years.

Amazing. I had no idea!

I met her, just the once... I said "Ms Fontaine, you must be very tired after all this" and she looked at me, and then proceded to sign another copy in pink felt-tip with a great flourish and said: "Put it this way honey, if there is an after-life I'm sure as Hell coming back with a shorter name than Joan Fontaine!"

Classy lady!

Great story!

[Karafan]

I am ashamed to say, I had assumed she'd been dead for thirty years...

RIP Ms Fontaine.

[Barbirollians]

I read that apparently she and her sister had a long running feud !

Fontaine, who is survived by her sister, once told The Hollywood Reporter: “I married first, won the Oscar before Olivia did, and if I die first, she’ll undoubtedly be livid because I beat her to it.”

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I read that apparently she and her sister had a long running feud !

Fontaine, who is survived by her sister, once told The Hollywood Reporter: “I married first, won the Oscar before Olivia did, and if I die first, she’ll undoubtedly be livid because I beat her to it.”

The feud began because their mother treated Olivia more favourably, allegedly.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The feud began because their mother treated Olivia more favourably, allegedly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Fontaine

I find the bit about their mother not allowing Joan to use the family name a little strange. Surely that was not something she could not dictate?

[Barbirollians]

Brilliant in Rebecca I always thought shown again yesterday on BBC2 .