By Khalida Sarwari
It’s been a little more than eight decades since Olivia de Havilland left her Tudor-style home on La Paloma Drive in Saratoga, but reminders of her presence are everywhere.
They can be found at the Saratoga Elementary School, which was known as the Saratoga Grammar School in the 1920s when de Havilland was a student there. She once came in second in a countywide spelling bee before continuing her education at Los Gatos High School, where she participated in plays and the drama club.
And there are reminders of her at the Saratoga Foothill Club, where in 1933 she made her amateur theatrical debut in “Alice in Wonderland,” a production of the Saratoga Community Players.
But, when de Havilland turns 100 next month, it won’t be in Saratoga. Rather, it will be in Paris, a city she’s called home for the past six decades.
There, the actress maintains a relatively reclusive lifestyle, coming out of retirement to narrate “I Remember Better When I Paint,” a 2009 documentary about art as Alzheimer’s therapy, or to remark that she was “shocked and saddened” by the death of her younger sister, Joan Fontaine, in December 2013.
These days, de Havilland lives in a circa-1880 townhouse in Paris and is a neighbor of former president Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, according to a Vanity Fair article published in May, which described her as “spry as a Himalayan Sherpa from more than five decades of climbing the five stories of her townhouse.” Not bad for a woman approaching her 100th birthday on July 1 and who has predicted she will live to 110.
The Vanity Fair article, written by William Stadiem, chronicles de Havilland’s love affairs with John Huston, James Stewart and Howard Hughes (who, incidentally, also dated her sister); marriages to Pierre Galante and Marcus Aurelius Goodrich, both of whom were writers; her infamous rivalry with Fontaine; her upbringing in Saratoga, which the article refers to as the “prune capital of America”; and her reasons for leaving the U.S. for Paris in 1955, although she remains an American citizen.
The article brings to light de Havilland’s lifelong talent for animal imitations, her proclivity for on-set pranks, her strong faith and her recipe for her longevity: love, laughter and light. According to the article, she does the Times crossword puzzle every day and looks at every pain or symptom as a mystery to be solved.
The last surviving female superstar of Hollywood’s Golden Age, de Havilland has two Best Actress Oscars for “To Each His Own” in 1946 and “The Heiress” in 1949. In 1965, she became the first woman to helm the jury at the Cannes Film Festival, according to Vanity Fair. The article suggests that the decay of the silver screen and rise of television factored in de Havilland’s decision to pack her bags for France.
Born in Tokyo in 1916 to English parents, de Havilland and Fontaine moved to California with their mother, Lillian, in 1919. Lillian married George Fontaine, a local department store manager, and raised her daughters in Saratoga. In her youth, de Havilland acted in local plays alongside the late Willys Peck. Today, the house de Havilland grew up in at 20250 La Paloma Drive is occupied by her friend, local architect Warren Heid.
Though she may be thousands of miles away, local fans have an opportunity to celebrate de Havilland’s birthday closer to home. The Stanford Theatre in Palo Alto is hosting an Olivia de Havilland film festival through July 3. Upcoming films include “The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex,” “Sante Fe Trail,” “Hold Back the Dawn,” “Four’s a Crowd,” “To Each His Own,” “The Great Garrick” and, of course, the classic “Gone With the Wind,” for which she received her first Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress.
That she was a movie star in Hollywood’s Golden Age is only emphasized by the list of her co-stars that include Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Raymond Massey, Vincent Price, Charles Boyer, Rosalind Russell, Montgomery Clift and even Ronald Reagan. Not to mention Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh and “a cast of thousands” in “Gone With the Wind.”
The Saratoga Historical Foundation will offer a mini-film festival of its own, showing the first half of “Gone With the Wind” on June 18 at 7 p.m. The foundation is also inviting people to stop by the Saratoga History Museum throughout June to sign a birthday card to be sent to de Havilland. The museum will have a small display covering the actress’s career through July.
“Olivia de Havilland lived in Saratoga for about 15 years, and we are very proud of the part Saratoga played in launching her career,” said Saratoga Historical Foundation president Annette Stransky. “We hope everyone will stop by the museum, sign the card and see the display. We will be sending the card along with some Saratoga-themed gifts in July to de Havilland.”
For more information about the Stanford Theatre film festival, visit stanfordtheatre.org.
Films of Olivia
de Havilland
at Stanford
The Stanford Theatre in downtown Palo Alto is hosting an Olivia de Havilland Film Festival in celebration of the movie star’s upcoming 100th birthday on July 1.
June 10-12
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
The Dark Mirror (1946)
June 17-19
Hold Back the Dawn (1941)
Four’s a Crowd (1938)
June 24-26
To Each His Own* (1946)
The Great Garrick (1937)
July 1-3
Gone With the Wind (1939)
* de Havilland won one of her two Best Actress Oscars for “To Each His Own.”
For movie times, visit stanfordtheatre.org and click on Olivia de Havilland Festival.
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