Olivia de Havilland RIP

[Bruce Wall]

https://ew.com/movies/gone-with-the-wind-star-olivia-de-havilland-dies-at-104/

 

Sad.  This I think certainly marks the end of a glorious era.  

 

The Metro this month had her riding her bike at 104!  -  Side saddle no less.  The lady had both chic and guts.  RIP.  

 

https://metro.co.uk/2020/07/02/olivia-de-havilland-104-birthday-riding-bike-12935769/

Edited July 26, 2020 by Bruce Wall

[Jan McNulty]

Sad news indeed but what a wonderful long life she had and with a stellar body of work to remember her.  RIP

[Two Pigeons]

And there was so much more to her than just her work.

 

One of the greatest glories of the golden age of Hollywood. 

[Bruce Wall]

I was wondering how to creatively prepare a video today for the prisoners - I use them to demonstrate various verse forms over Zoom - and I struck upon the idea of Olivia de Havilland as the exemplar for Lord Byron's 'She walks in beauty' .... Largely because she did - 'walk in beauty' that is - and - in a way - still very much does in my own mind's eye.  

 

I had the great good fortune to play (if that's the word) Ms. de Havilland's grandson in one of those ghastly TV movies they used to make.  There were two good things about it (apart from the fact that it WAS a job) and those were (i) that it was shot in Gramercy Park which was only a few blocks from my own apartment and - much more importantly - (ii) it allowed me to have the inestimable joy - and it WAS - of spending hours in Ms. de Havilland's trailer.  She was a true glory of a woman.  Happily we really got on.  She was so wonderfully down to earth.  She had at that point largely given up acting ... but did do 'quick bits' (her expression) for money - which this very much was.  It certainly wasn't art.  She was writing books as her main endeavour.  She would write in long hand, in French.  In fact whenever anyone else would come a-knocking she'd shoot me a signal we'd established to 'switch to French' just so she needn't be disturbed unless they REALLY needed her   (Very often it was passers by who had seen her name on the trailer door) ... What I remember - and cherish - most vividly was her laugh.  It was a kind of extended giggle - and was certainly replicated in those oh, so telling eyes, rife with their almost child-like rapture.  I was delighted to find an example of such to put in this little film.

 

I hope this makes you smile ... as I'm certain that is what she would have wanted.  Indeed, I know it would have been.  

 

 

Edited March 16, 2021 by Bruce Wall