Farewell to an Icon by Terry Alexander

Olivia de Havilland, perhaps the last grand lady of old Hollywood, passed away in 2020 at the age of 104.

She was born July 1, 1916, in Tokyo, Japan, and passed away July 25, 2020 in Paris, France. She was 104 years old. Her name was Olivia de Havilland, and she was one of Hollywood’s most famous and enduring legends.

During her sixty-plus year career she made a handful of westerns. She played Serena Ferris in the 1938 movie Gold Is Where You Find It, a film about the hydraulic mining in California and the effect on farming in the Sacramento Valley. The movie also starred George Brent and Claude Rains.

In 1939, she appeared in Dodge City as Abbie Irving opposite Errol Flynn as Wade Hatton. A Texas cattle agent witnessed the lawlessness of Dodge City and campaigned for the sheriff to bring order to the town. The movie also starred Ann Sheridan, Bruce Cabot, and Alan Hale.

She also appeared in the classic Gone with the Wind that year in a co-starring role as Melanie Hamilton, a manipulative woman and a rogue engaged in a troubled romance before, during, and after the Civil War. The movie was nominated for twelve Academy Awards and won eight. It won Best Actress for Vivian Leigh, Best Supporting Actress for Hattie McDaniel, and Best Director for Victor Fleming. Clark Gable and Olivia were nominated but didn’t win. The movie co-starred George Reeves and Leslie Howard.

She appeared with Errol Flynn twice in 1940, the first was Santa Fe Trail. In 1854, Jeb Stuart and George Custer, along with other West Point graduates, were stationed in Kansas to keep the peace and protect the railroad workers. Olivia played Kit Carson Holliday. Errol Flynn played Jeb Stuart, and Ronald Reagan played George Custer. The movie also co-starred Raymond Massey, Alan Hale, and Van Heflin.

They Died with Their Boots On, a movie on the life and career of George Armstrong Custer from his early days at West Point, his participation in the Civil War, and his command of the Seventh Calvary. Totally inaccurate in a historical sense but a good movie. Errol Flynn played George Custer, and Olivia played Elizabeth Bacon Custer. The movie co-starred Arthur Kennedy and Anthony Quinn as Crazy Horse.

She returned to westerns after a long absence with The Proud Rebel in 1958. She played Linnett Moore. A confederate veteran living in the northern states struggles with his son’s shock-induced muteness and his own hate of Yankees. The movie starred Alan Ladd and co-starred Dean Jagger, Harry Dean Stanton, and John Carradine.

During her film career, Olivia was nominated for five Academy Awards, two of which she won. She was originally nominated in 1939 for Best Supporting Actress for the role of Melanie Hamilton in Gone with the Wind. She won for the 1946 movie To Each His Own. and was nominated again for The Snake Pit in 1948. In 1949, she won again for The Heiress, for which she was also awarded a Golden Globe. After a long absence, she won another Golden Globe in 1986 for Best Supporting Actress in a miniseries or special for her performance as Dowager Empress Maria in the 1986 NBC miniseries, Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna.

Olivia turned to television late in her career. In 1965, she appeared as Ms. Hadley in an episode of The Big Valley in an uncredited role. In the episode, “Winner Take All,” Heath fell in love with the daughter of a Spanish nobleman who came to Stockton to reclaim land that he claimed to have land grants for. The land was occupied by a group of farmers. The father disapproved of Heath due to his parentage. This epi- sode starred Barbara Stanwyck, Lee Majors, and Katherine Ross.

She appeared in several broadcast miniseries during her career. In 1979, Olivia appeared as Mrs. Warner in Roots: The Next Generation on ABC. This series told the story of the family of Kunta Kinte from the end of the Civil War to Alex Hailey’s discovery of his family’s roots in Africa. Marlon Brando won an Emmy for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of George Lincoln Rockwell. It also won an Emmy for Outstanding Limited Series, starring Dorian Harewood, Stan Shaw, Ruby Dee, Paul Koslo, George Stanford Brown, Richard Thomas, and Henry Fonda.

In 1986, she played Mrs. Neal in the miniseries North and South: Book Two. This limited series told the continuing story of the Hazards and the Mains, a story of two friends and their families who were on opposite sides during the civil war and beyond. Several well-known actors appeared in the series—Jimmy Stewart, David Carradine, Leslie-Anne Down, Kristie Alley, Linda Evans, Morgan Fairchild, Hal Holbrook. Genie Francis, and of course we can’t forget James Read and Patrick Swayze.

Her final movie appearance was in 1988 on CBS. She played Aunt Bessie Merryman in The Woman He Loved, the story of divorcee Wallis Simpson and Edward VIII who abdicated the throne for the woman he loved.

Some of Olivia’s most popular films were the ones she made with Errol Flynn. They shared the screen eight times. The first pairing was in 1935 in the high seas adventure Captain Blood. She played Arabella Bishop to his Captain Blood. After being wrongly convicted of being a traitor, an English doctor was exiled to the Caribbean and became a pirate. The movie was nominated for five Oscars with no wins. Lionel Atwill and Basil Rathbone were co-stars. In 1936, they made The Charge of the Light Brigade. Flynn played Major Geoffrey Vickers, and Olivia played Elsa Campbell in the film, the story of the famous poem and the men who made the charge against Russian artillery. Errol does not get the girl in this picture and dies at the end. The movie co-starred David Niven and was nominated for two Oscars with one win for Best Assistant Director for Jack Sullivan. Errol Flynn and Director Michael Curtiz clashed continuously in this picture over the treatment of the horses in the picture. One hundred and twenty-five horses were trip-wired during the climactic charge, and twenty-five were killed outright or had to be put down with several injured or crippled by the use of the trip wires. One stuntman died in the charge. He fell on a sword and was impaled. Many said the root cause of the animosity was the fact that Flynn was currently married to Curtiz’s ex-wife.

Flynn and de Havilland appeared together in 1938 in The Adventures of Robin Hood, an enjoyable film about Robin of Loxley. One thing to note the next time you watch this picture, after Robin and his men captured Sir John and Maid Marian in the woods, pay attention to the horse she’s riding. That’s Trigger, Roy Rogers’s famous mount. Roy had purchased a horse named Golden Cloud in 1938. He renamed the horse Trigger, and the rest is history.

Four’s a Crowd also came out in 1938. Olivia played Lorrie Dillingwell, and Flynn played Bob Lansford in this light-hearted comedy romp, wherein two couples each desire the partner of the other. The movie costarred Rosalind Russell.

They also made two films together in 1939. The western Dodge City and The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex. She played Lady Penelope Gray in the story of the love/hate relationship between Queen Elizabeth I—played by Bette Davis—and Robert Essex played by Errol Flynn. The movie co-starred Vincent Price, Alan Hale, Nanette Fabray, and Leo G. Carroll. The movie was also nominated for five academy awards with no wins.

In 1940 they made a pair of westerns together, Santa Fe Trail and They Died with Their Boots On. Olivia later stated she believed that Errol knew that was the final time they would be in a movie together. Errol Flynn died October 14, 1959. She outlived her most famous co-star by sixty years.

Errol and Olivia were both in the movie Thank Your Lucky Stars in 1943 but didn’t share any scenes together and weren’t ever filming on the same day. Wartime producers were putting a special show together and had several stars appearing in song and dance numbers. The movie starred Humphrey Bogart, Eddie Cantor, and Bette Davis.

During the filming of the movie The Swarm, in 1978, Michael Caine and Olivia began talking about Errol Flynn between scenes. Caine stated that Olivia had told him that in the 1940s, Flynn accepted a bet of one hundred dollars that he couldn’t make love to her. Eventually Olivia showed Caine the place in the Hollywood Hills where Flynn won the bet.

In 1941, Olivia and her sister Joan Fontaine were both nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress. Joan won the award for her role in the film Suspicion. This caused a rift between the two that never truly ended. Olivia moved to France in the 1950s and only came to America for movie roles or special occasions. Her passing marked the end of Old Hollywood.

—TERRY ALEXANDER and his wife, Phyllis, live on a small farm near Porum, Oklahoma. They have three children, thirteen grandchildren, and four great grandchildren. Terry is a member of The Oklahoma Writers Federation, Ozark Creative Writers, Tahlequah Writers, Western Writers of America, and the Western Fictioneers. If you see him at a conference, though, don’t let him convince you to take part in one of his trivia games—he’ll stump you every time.