1935
She's only 19 in this studio promo shot, if you can believe it. Also: Literally anyone could wear this entire outfit today (or when weather permits) and look totally chic.
1936
"Close your eyes, Olivia, and think about how you're about to dive off INTO THE ABYSS!!!" "Am I supposed to be feel....how am I supposed to feel about this?" "How should I know, sweetheart? We just do what Mr. Warner tells us."
1936
This is just marked as "portrait," rather than "promotional shoot," but either way it's terribly scenic.
1939
This gown is quite glorious. (Did you know she was only 23 when they filmed Gone With the Wind? She has such gravitas in that role.)
1939
This photo is AMAZING.
1939
Here she is with Jimmy Stewart -- with whom she had a romance, good for you, Olivia! -- and Margaret Sullavan at a Fancy Event Unidentified By Our Photo Sources. Sullavan and Stewart starred in several films together, and she basically (per Wiki) coached him into being a star (and they may have had an affair, prior to this). (She was a very interesting person with a really sad life, who basically isn't that famous anymore. I did read her daugher's VERY VERY juicy family tell-all one summer in my teens, though.)
Also: this is a very large corsage!
1940
"Is this right? I TOLD YOU I don't actually know how to play croquet!"
1940
This is the LA premiere of Gone With the Wind, and we've got Olivia, film investor/producer/future ambassador/overall rich person Jock Whitney, Vivien Leigh, and Laurence Olivier. Vivian Leigh looks like she wants to vomit and she probably did. Olivier looks VERY dashing.
1940
I assume this is the Oscars, given the Academy Awards in front of them. (That's Douglas Fairbanks Jr next to Vivian Leigh.) Hattie McDaniel, who of course also won for GWTW, is not at this table because the Oscars were held at the Ambassador, which was at at the time segregated, and which put her at her own table, with her date and her (white) agent. (She was later moved to this table, per de Havilland's Vanity Fair piece.) The film premiere in Atlanta was also held at a theatre that did not allow Black patrons, which is an appalling but unsurprising detail, and which meant none of the Black actors could attend. (Clark Gable apparently was going to boycott over this, but McDaniel -- with whom he was friends for many years -- told him to go. Despite not actually being in this shot, she will also appear in this slideshow soon, looking very glam.)
1940
"Am I really meant to be playing tennis in this pencil skirt?" "I mean...yes?" "It just seems a little nonsensical." "Maybe you're sitting there holding the balls for someone else!" "Whatever you say."
1941
"So for this one, just...sort of sexily tie on your hat?" "Like..this?" "Sure. I don't know. Close enough. Don't pull those ribbons too tight thought, Miss de Havilland. Mr. Warner has A LOT more ideas for these that we need to get through."
1943
"Okay, what's the brief for THIS one?" "Um, Mr. Warner wants you to wear this absolutely fantastic dress and....let me check the memo again. Okay. It says, uh, you should look 'real proud of this great vase you just bought.'" "Oh, God. Okay. Fine."
1944
This is Olivia's sister Joan Fontaine cozying up to her -- this was before their feud -- and TRULY both of these hats are HORRIFYING. (I think this is the premiere party for a film Joan was in, called The Constant Nymph. She was nominated for the Oscar, and that movie's Wiki is rambling and bonkers. Anyway, Olivia looks thrilled for her!)
1945
I TRULY DO NOT KNOW.
1947
Here is Olivia with Jean Hersholt (at the time, president of the Academy) and her GWTW co-star Hattie McDaniel at the 1947 Oscars, at which Olivia won for To Each His Own. In looking up to see if Hattie McDaniel was a presenter this year -- she was not; I think she's just attending As A Famous Person -- I ran across this essay she wrote for the Hollywood Reporter that year about race in Hollywood. I also learned on her Wiki that her Oscar is currently missing, and a variety of other things, including that McDaniel played a large part in saving the historic West Adams neighborhood of Los Angeles. The Hollywood Reporter has a very interesting piece about McDaniel's life that is worth your time. She also looks very glam here. (Olivia's dress was blue, in case you're wondering.)
1946
Old Hollywood LOVED to release official photos of celebrity weddings -- just as Current Hollywood does. This is Olivia's wedding to Marcus Goodridge and it's a VERY non-traditional wedding gown -- perhaps because she was his FIFTH WIFE!
1949
This is a rather poorly framed photo, by one Marty Lederhandler of the AP. Marty, how hung over were you?!?! (Marty was actually a really great AP photographer with an astonishing career, who I am sure would tell us, if he were alive, that he also wishes he could reframe this.)
Anyway, Olivia here "receives scroll from Thomas M. Pryor, of the New York Times, chairman of the New York Film Critics on at New York, for best performance by an actress in "The Snake Pit". Left to right: Wanda Hale, New York Daily News and vice president of New York Film Critics; Thomas M. Pryor, chairman; Olivia De Havilland; Roberto Rossellini, director of "Paisan", judged best foreign language picture of year; John Huston, best direction award for "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre." Olivia's dress is potentially great; John Huston was rather slouchily dashing. (Olivia thought so too, as they had a romance a few years prior to this; she indicated later in life that he was the one that got away.)
1950
And she won the Oscar the next year for The Heiress -- as you'll see here. (Left to right, we've got Broderick Crawford, who won best actor for All the King's Men; Olivia de Havilland; Robert Rossen, producer of All The King's Men; Mercedes McCambridge, who won best supporting actress for All the King's Men; and Dean Jagger, who won best supporting actor for Twelve O'Clock High.) God bless all these people for looking at totally different cameras, and I think Mercedes is wearing...forearm warmers? Fun fact: She was also the voice of the demon in The Exorcist!
1950s
"MY PRECIOUSES."
1959.
This photo was just delightful.
1963
Here we are back at the Oscars, with director David Lean, left, and producer Sam Spiegel, who both won for Lawrence of Arabia. Olivia presented Best Picture, and I know this dress is white because it was on Feud. (Olivia might have been steamed about that, but it's helpful for me!)
1955
Wedding number two! Informative Caption breathlessly informs us of the following: "In the restaurant "L' ABBAYE" (The Abbey) at Beaugency, near Orleans, American Screen Star Olivia de Havilland and her husband French journalist Pierre Galante, are posing in front of the wedding cake. The lunch took place there after the wedding which was celebrated at Yvoy Le Marron." Galante was editor in chief of Paris Match, and even after their divorce, they were pretty close -- he only moved across the street. This hat feels like the wrong size for her head.
1978
After moving to Paris, Olivia really only did bits and bobs of things (as one ought, after moving to Paris). Here she is at the Oscars, where she presented editor Margaret Booth with an honorary Oscar. Booth was a trailblazer and a queen -- she worked as an editor for SEVEN DECADES, and was nominated for her work on Mutiny on the Bounty in 1935! She also edited ANNIE! (This look was in Feud, also.)
Oscars Davis de Havilland, Los Angeles, USA
We are deep into her caftan years -- a precious time for any human -- here, where she is giving Bette Davis a special Oscar. (I think this is ALSO in Feud.)
2006
And this was an event the Academy had to honor Olivia herself; she looks sincerely elegant here, at 90.
2016
And this was her final official portrait, at 100. What a timeless dish. May we all be given such a long and fruitful time on this earth.