TCM Schedule for Friday, August 27 -- Summer Under The Stars -- Olivia de Havilland

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Today's star is two-time Oscar winner Olivia de Havilland, and we get to see both of her winning performances, in To Each His Own (1946) and The Heiress (1949). Errol Flynn and de Havilland made nine films together, and we also get to see three of them -- The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), Dodge City (1939) and The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), to add to the one (The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) featured on Errol Flynn's Summer Under the Stars day. Enjoy!


6:00am -- The Charge Of The Light Brigade (1936)
Two brothers love the same woman at a perilous Indian outpost.
Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Patric Knowles, Henry Stephenson
Dir: Michael Curtiz
BW-116 mins, TV-G

Won an Oscar for Best Assistant Director -- Jack Sullivan

Nominated for Oscars for Best Music, Score -- Leo F. Forbstein (head of department) and score by Max Steiner, and Best Sound, Recording -- Nathan Levinson (Warner Bros. SSD)

During filming, director Michael Curtiz exclaimed "Bring on the empty horses!", meaning "riderless horses". David Niven would later use this phrase as the title of his autobiography.


8:00am -- Dodge City (1939)
A soldier of fortune takes on the corrupt boss of a Western town.
Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Ann Sheridan, Bruce Cabot
Dir: Michael Curtiz
C-104 mins, TV-PG

Country rock band Pure Prairie League, who had a mid '70s hit called "Amie" and later employed future country star Vince Gill as lead singer for hits like "Let Me Love You Tonight" and "I'm Almost Ready," took their name from a temperance union portrayed in this film.


10:00am -- The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
Elizabeth I's love for the Earl of Essex threatens to destroy her kingdom.
Cast: Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Donald Crisp
Dir: Michael Curtiz
BW-106 mins, TV-G

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction -- Anton Grot, Best Cinematography, Color -- Sol Polito and W. Howard Greene, Best Effects, Special Effects -- Byron Haskin (photographic) and Nathan Levinson (sound), Best Music, Scoring -- Erich Wolfgang Korngold, and Best Sound, Recording -- Nathan Levinson (Warner Bros. SSD)

Errol Flynn and Bette Davis disliked each other, and when Elizabeth slaps Essex in front of the entire court, Davis hauled off and unexpectedly belted Flynn for real. The anger on Essex's face is quite genuine, as is Flynn's visible imposition of self-control to avoid hitting Davis back.


12:00pm -- The Male Animal (1942)
A college professor fights censorship and an amorous football player who's after his wife.
Cast: Henry Fonda, Olivia de Havilland, Joan Leslie, Jack Carson
Dir: Elliott Nugent
BW-101 mins, TV-G

Two of the "college students" in the cast went on to be well-known TV dads in the 1960s: Herbert Anderson ("Dennis the Menace" (1959)) and Don DeFore ("Hazel" (1961)).


2:00pm -- Princess O'Rourke (1943)
A flying ace's romance with a princess creates diplomatic problems.
Cast: Olivia de Havilland, Robert Cummings, Charles Coburn, Jack Carson
Dir: Norman Krasna
BW-94 mins, TV-G

Won an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Screenplay -- Norman Krasna

The part of Eddie O'Rourke, played by Robert Cummings, was originally offered to Gary Cooper, who turned it down.


4:00pm -- Libel (1959)
A former POW is accused of being an impostor.
Cast: Dirk Bogarde, Olivia de Havilland, Paul Massie, Robert Morley
Dir: Anthony Asquith
BW-100 mins, TV-G

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Sound -- A.W. Watkins (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer London Sound Department)

The original Broadway production of "Libel", produced in 1935, was directed by Otto Preminger, years before he made his Hollywood debut as a film director.


6:00pm -- Light In The Piazza (1962)
A woman's efforts to marry off her daughter are hindered by a family secret.
Cast: Olivia de Havilland, Rossano Brazzi, Yvette Mimieux, George Hamilton
Dir: Guy Green
C-102 mins, TV-PG

The Broadway production of the musical version of "The Light from the Piazza" opened at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in New York on April 18, 2005, ran for 504 performances and was nominated for the 2005 Tony Awards for the Best Musical and Book and won for Best Score.


What's On Tonight: SUMMER UNDER THE STARS: OLIVIA De HAVILLAND


8:00pm -- The Heiress (1949)
A plain young woman's money makes her prey to fortune hunters.
Cast: Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift, Ralph Richardson, Miriam Hopkins
Dir: William Wyler
BW-115 mins, TV-PG

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Olivia de Havilland, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- John Meehan, Harry Horner and Emile Kuri, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Edith Head and Gile Steele, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Aaron Copland

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Ralph Richardson, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Leo Tover, Best Director -- William Wyler, and Best Picture

Olivia de Havilland wisely chose William Wyler as her director, considering that such a meticulous director would be able to coax a strong performance from her. As it turned out, Wyler became a staunch supporter of his leading actress, particularly in regard to the sneering attitude that Montgomery Clift displayed toward her (he didn't value her talents as an actress) and Ralph Richardson taking every opportunity to steal scenes from under her nose with his improvisations.


10:00pm -- To Each His Own (1946)
A single mother gives up her son, then fights to remain a part of his life.
Cast: Olivia deHavilland, Mary Anderson, Roland Culver, Phillip Terry
Dir: Mitchell Leisen
BW-122 mins, TV-PG

Won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Olivia de Havilland

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Charles Brackett

Ginger Rogers wrote that Leland Hayward first offered her the role of Josephine Norris. Rogers read the script and asked herself if she wanted to play the mother of a twenty-year-old man who is preparing to go off to war. She turned down the role and later regretted it when Olivia de Havilland won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Rogers also turned down The Snake Pit (1948), which Olivia also accepted and was nominated for another Oscar. Rogers wrote: "It seemed Olivia knew a good thing when she saw it. Perhaps Olivia should thank me for such poor judgment".


12:15am -- The Snake Pit (1948)
A young woman tries to recover her sanity in a corrupt mental institution.
Cast: Olivia deHavilland, Mark Stevens, Leo Genn, Celeste Holm
Dir: Anatole Litvak
BW-108 mins, TV-PG

Won an Oscar for Best Sound, Recording

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Olivia de Havilland, Best Director -- Anatole Litvak, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Alfred Newman, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Frank Partos and Millen Brand, and Best Picture

Director Anatole Litvak insisted that the cast and crew spend three months visiting mental institutions and attending psychiatric lectures to prepare themselves for the film. Olivia de Havilland willingly threw herself into the research. She attended patient treatments at the institutions, and observed electric shock therapy and hydrotherapy first-hand. When permitted, she sat in on doctor-patient therapy sessions. She also attended social events for patients at the institutions. After seeing the film, a "Daily Variety" columnist questioned whether any mental institution would really allow violent inmates to dance with each other at a social event. De Havilland personally called the columnist to confirm that she had attended several such dances at institutions.


2:15am -- Not As a Stranger (1955)
A medical student will stop at nothing to become a top surgeon.
Cast: Olivia de Havilland, Robert Mitchum, Frank Sinatra, Gloria Grahame
Dir: Stanley Kramer
BW-137 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Sound, Recording -- Watson Jones (RCA Sound Dept.)

This is one of the first films where an actual human heart is seen beating during open-heat surgery.


4:45am -- Alibi Ike (1935)
A brash baseball star gets mixed up with gamblers and a pretty young girl.
Cast: Joe E. Brown, Olivia de Havilland, Ruth Donnelly, Roscoe Karns
Dir: Ray Enright
BW-72 mins, TV-G

All the uncredited roles of major league players were played by current or former professional baseball players.

[Staph]

1. Olivia De Havilland Profile

No one in Hollywood portrayed the part of a sweet, innocent ingénue quite like Olivia de Havilland. As the last surviving principal cast member from "Gone with the Wind" (1939), in which she played the part of Melanie Hamilton Wilkes, a compassionate woman who, unlike its famous heroine, truly exuded goodness in the film, de Havilland was assured cinematic immortality on that role alone. It was a performance that earned her an Academy Award nomination for a supporting role and jumpstarted many more acting accolades, including two Oscars®' - for To Each His Own in 1947 and The Heiress in 1950. With soft brown eyes, an endearing personality and a genuine smile that once stole Errol Flynn's heart, de Havilland reigned as one of the last Golden Age actresses of all time and proved over a decades long career that she was much more than just Melanie Hamilton Wilkes.

Olivia Mary de Havilland was born in Tokyo, Japan on July 1, 1916. She was the eldest daughter of Walter de Havilland, a lawyer, and the former Lilian Augusta Ruse, an actress who went by the stage name, Lilian Fontaine. Her younger sister was actress Joan Fontaine, from whom de Havilland was estranged for more than eight decades, due to - some said - professional rivalry. But it surely went deeper than that, since both became accomplished actresses and even Oscar winners. The family moved from Tokyo when the future Academy Award winner was two years old, and settled in Saratoga, CA. De Havilland attended high school at Los Gatos High School, where an acting award was named after her, and also went to Notre Dame Convent Catholic Girls' School in Belmont, CA.

De Havilland's career began with a co-starring role in Alibi Ike (1935). She appeared as Hermia in the stage production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," a character she later reprised in the film version that was produced by Warner Bros. in 1935. After being signed to the studio - one famous for its male-driven output of gangster films and the occasional musical - a string of "damsel in distress" roles followed. It was a character that became her trademark onscreen persona - due in part to the limitations for actresses at Warner Bros. - but also one she ultimately grew frustrated with.

The young ingénue starred opposite their newest star, swashbuckler Errol Flynn in popular films like "Captain Blood" (1935), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), and as Maid Marian in the timeless classic, "The Adventures of Robin Hood" (1938). Such was their personal chemistry, the pair became of Tinseltown's most attractive and dynamic onscreen couples, appearing in eight films together. But despite rumors of any on-set romance, a la Tracy and Hepburn, de Havilland claimed she never fell for Flynn's infamous advances. The actor - who bedded virtually every woman he set his eyes on - reportedly grew fond of the actress during the filming of "Captain Blood," and by the time they were filming The Charge of The Light Brigade, he was hooked - most likely because she was the one woman to turn him down. The dashing actor was also unhappily married to actress Lili Damita at the time. In truth, the older Flynn intimidated De Havilland, who was barely in her 20s. Plus, she was rumored to have been wary of his unusual courting tactics of playing jokes on her. He was reported to have placed a dead snake in her underwear as a prank, which she, not surprisingly, did not find too amusing. But the actress did reveal that in spite of it all, she was still quite taken with Flynn. In an interview, she said, "He was a charming and magnetic man. I had a crush on him, and later I found he did for me. In fact, he proposed, but he was not divorced from Lili Damita so it was just as well that I said no." De Havilland was also romantically linked to John Huston, James Stewart and Howard Hughes in the early 1940s. She married Marcus Goodrich, a novelist, in 1946; the pair divorced in 1953. They had a son, Benjamin, who died in 1991.

De Havilland's landing the part of Melanie in the epic film "Gone with the Wind" was no easy feat for the young actress who yet to make the A-list, despite her successes with Flynn. She was still under contract with Warner in 1938 when the film's original director, George Cukor, called her to audition for the role of Melanie. The 22-year-old accepted the offer, knowing fully that she was doing something illegal. Driving herself to Cukor's office, she read for him and got the part. Almost. Warner Bros. refused to loan her out to MGM, even after she begged Jack Warner to let her do the movie. She was so desperate, she turned to Warner's wife for help, explaining how much the role meant to her. After his wife intervened, Warner let de Havilland be in the cast of what is still one of the most celebrated movies of all time. Her touching performance earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Only she and co-star Clark Gable were shut out of wins, as Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara and Hattie McDaniels as the O'Hara servant, Mammy, both earned acting Oscars, as did the picture and its producer, David O. Selzick and the film's second director, Victor Fleming (Cukor had been replaced after Gable threw his weight around, uncomfortable with the homosexual Cukor's focus on the female characters; insisting the man's man Fleming take over the reigns).

The actress may have portrayed the demure, damsel in distress role to perfection, but in reality, de Havilland became wary of always playing the "love interest." She even mounted a famous for its time lawsuit against Warner Bros. that ultimately gave actors more creative freedom than ever before. In 1941, de Havilland sued the company over the terms of her contract. Her contract was already expired, but the studio told her that six months had been added to it for times that she had been on suspension; the studios were allowed then to suspend actors for rejecting a role and the period of suspension to be added to the contract period. Most actors accepted the situation, but de Havilland fought the system by suing the studio. The Screen Actors Guild backed her up, and she eventually won. The decision was one of the most important legal rulings in Hollywood. It was the first time actors were extended more freedom over their careers. The ruling was known as, and still is, referred to as the "de Havilland law." Warner Bros. vowed to never hire the actress again.

She need not have worried about any bad blood shed at Warner Bros. In the mid-1940s, de Havilland gained critical acceptance for playing more serious roles she has always wished to play. She won the Best Actress Academy Awards for "To Each His Own" (1946), where her character became pregnant out of wedlock, and also for The Heiress (1949). She received much praise for her Oscar®-nominated performance in The Snake Pit (1948), one of the first movies to bring to light the controversial issue of mental illness. In the movie, de Havilland's character was committed to an insane asylum; the role was very unglamorous and a stark contrast to her previous roles.

Time heals all wounds, some say, but it apparently did not apply to the feud between the De Havilland sisters. De Havilland's relationship (or lack thereof) with her sister, Joan Fontaine, was one for the books. The sisters' decades-long rivalry - they stopped speaking to each other in 1976 - was fraught with hostility and jealousy that many say must have stemmed from childhood, when de Havilland ripped her sister's hand-me-downs, forcing Joan to sew them back together. Their mother must have added fuel to the fire, as she reportedly favored her elder daughter over Fontaine. During their acting careers, the sisters chased after the same roles, and were pitted against each other for several acting awards. In 1942, both sisters were up for the Best Actress award; Fontaine took home the Oscar for her role in Alfred Hitchcock's "Suspicion" (1941) over de Havilland's nomination for "Hold Back the Dawn" (1941). During the ceremony, after Fontaine's name was announced as the winner, she reportedly rejected her sister's outstretched hand, ready to congratulate her. De Havilland was humiliated by the gesture.

De Havilland continued to make films after the 1950s, but her roles were far and few between as Hollywood turned its eyes on toward younger, more permissive actresses. She reportedly turned down the role of Blanche Dubois in "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951) because of its suggestive themes and racy dialogue. The role went to her "Gone with the Wind" co-star, Vivien Leigh, who won an Oscar. De Havilland continued to make movies until the 1970s and made several television appearances, most notably as the Dowager Empress Maria in the 1986 miniseries "Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna" (NBC), which earned her a Golden Globe award and an Emmy nomination. Having finally had her fill of Hollywood, the actress moved to Paris for the last five decades. She was a presenter at the 75th Annual Academy Awards in 2003 and was reportedly working on an autobiography, still the graceful, classy lady even into her eighth decade.

Biographical data supplied by TCMdb

* Films in Bold Type Air on 8/27