#olivia de havilland

Oliva De Havilland, James Cagney and Rita Hayworth in a publicity still from “The Strawberry Blonde”, 1941;

Doris Day, James Cagney and Virginia Mayo in a scene from the movie “The West Point Story”, 1950.

July 1st is a birthday bonanza for classic-movie fans. Here’s a rundown of the legends born on this date.

1. Actor Olivia de Havilland and director William Wyler were both born on July 1st (she in 1916; he in 1902). Here they are celebrating their shared birthday on the set of The Heiress (1949) with costar Miriam Hopkins.

2. Charles Laughton was one of the great actors ever to set foot on a Hollywood soundstage, and he was the talented and imaginative director of The Night of the Hunter (1957). He was born July 1, 1899, in Scarborough, England. The photo is from a never-finished version of I, Claudius.

3. Happy 90th birthday to Leslie Caron, who brought such elegance and joie de vivre to her roles in An American in Paris (1951), Gigi (1958). and Father Goose (1964).

4. Three cheers for the wonderful Farley Granger who was a memorable Hitchcock protagonist in Rope (1948) and Strangers on a Train (photo with Robert Walker). He was born July 1, 1925, in San Jose, Calif.

We’re now in the middle of 24 hours of Olivia de Havilland on TCM for Summer Under the Stars. There are so many superlatives I could shower on Olivia that I’m definitely going to have to write a whole essay on her eventually! But, for now, here’s my recreation of the July 1947 cover of Cine-Mundial magazine featuring Olivia.

One bit I will mention today is that Olivia’s legacy was not simply her fantastic screen work, but the precedent for labor rights she set on this day in 1943 when she sued Warner Bros. for release from her contract with them. Basically, studios had redefined what a seven-year contract meant so that they could further extend their control over artists. The result was the De Havilland Law, which makes it explicit that a seven-year contract represents seven calendar years. This precedent is still used today to protect the rights of performers.

I wasn’t able to gather much information about the photo featured on this cover, but it was apparently one of a series of publicity shots for the film To Each His Own(1946). Coincidentally, this happens to be the first film Olivia made after the ruling and the film for which she won her first Best Actress Academy Award!

What is Cosplay Under the Stars?

If you’re new here, every August, Turner Classic Movies celebrates Summer Under the Stars. Each day of the month, a different film star gets a full 24 hours of programming. In 2017, on a whim, I decided to put together closet cosplays of every woman featured that month. And so, Cosplay Under the Stars was born.

Olivia de Havilland and Errol Flynn on the set of “The Adventures of Robin Hood”, 1938