Joan Fontaine

Acting · Born 1917-10-22 in Tokyo, Japan

Biography

Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland (October 22, 1917 – December 15, 2013), known professionally as Joan Fontaine, was an English-American actress who is best known for her starring roles in Hollywood films during the "Golden Age". She was born in Tokyo, Japan, in what was known as the International Settlement. Her father was a British patent attorney with a lucrative practice in Japan, but due to Joan and older sister Olivia de Havilland's recurring ailments the family moved to California in the hopes of improving their health. Mrs. de Havilland and the two girls settled in Saratoga while their father went back to his practice in Japan. Joan's parents did not get along well and divorced soon afterward. Mrs. de Havilland had a desire to be an actress but her dreams were curtailed when she…

Filmography

• Rebecca as Mrs. de Winter
• Letter from an Unknown Woman as Lisa Berndle
• Suspicion as Lina McLaidlaw Aysgarth
• Othello as Page
• Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea as Dr. Susan Hiller
• Beyond a Reasonable Doubt as Susan Spencer
• Kiss the Blood Off My Hands as Jane Wharton
• The Women as Peggy Day
• Jane Eyre as Jane Eyre
• Gunga Din as Emmaline "Emmy" Stebbins

TV

• The Love Boat as Jennifer Langley
• Hotel
• General Electric Theater as Countess Irene Forelli
• Cannon
• Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
• One Step Beyond as Ellen Grayson
• The 20th Century Fox Hour
• Aloha Paradise
• The Bing Crosby Show
• The Oscars as Self