Olivia de Havilland | Hollywood Yesterday

The Strawberry Blonde: Movies Do NOT Come Any More Perfect Than This One

November 15, 2020 By Joi Leave a Comment

Rita Hayworth, James Cagney, and Olivia de Havilland

One of the cutest, most enjoyable, best-written, all around BEST movies ever made starred three of Old Hollywood’s brightest stars: Rita Hayworth, Olivia de Havilland, and James Cagney. The Strawberry Blonde (1941, directed by Raoul Walsh) is one of the handful of films I call a “perfect movie.”

There is absolutely nothing that would keep this film from being called flawless. Many movies come close to perfect… as in thisclose… but they have one or more “throwaway” scenes or “filler” storylines. There is no scenes – not a single one – in The Strawberry Blonde that is a throwaway scene. Not a one.

How remarkable is that?!

Most of us know that, even with our very favorite films, there is a scene or more where… by gosh, if you need more salt on your popcorn, wait for that particular throwaway scene and make your run to the kitchen. The Strawberry Blonde has no such scene from the moment it begins to the moment it (perfectly) ends.

Flawless. Perfect.

Some movies fall short of perfection because of a kink in the casting. Again, that certainly isn’t the case with The Strawberry Blonde.

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Rita Hayworth and James Cagney

Rita Hayworth and James Cagney are perfectly wonderful in their roles (as they were in every role they ever stepped into), but… and this is coming from Rita Hayworth’s biggest fan… this film gets its magic from Olivia de Havilland and her mesmerizing portrayal of Amy Lind. The character is written so wonderfully – she’s ahead of her time, feisty, fiery, daring, unique, and deliciously original.

Who in the world could play her other than an actress who was all of those things as well?! Olivia de Havilland was as perfect of a fit in the role of Amy Lind as anyone has ever been fit for a role. She knocked it out of the park and seemed to relish the role.

The only hint of a problem is that we are supposed to believe that Amy isn’t quite as attractive as Rita Hayworth’s Virginia (The Strawberry Blonde). Poppycock! Olivia de Havilland was as beautiful as anyone. Yes, EVEN Rita Hayworth.

The Strawberry Blonde is also perfectly directed – as in every scene, every “extra,” every line, every expression. Raoul Walsh was an extraordinary director and this was one of his greatest accomplishments.

In spite of loving Rita Hayworth as much as any star has ever been loved by anyone, I only fairly recently saw The Strawberry Blonde. I think I, ridiculously, kept putting it off because I didn’t think it’d be too good. Seriously, I looked at the costumes and I looked at James Cagney who seemed to me (THEN…not NOW!) to be out of place and I thought, “I’ll save this one for another time.” I had zero idea it would be as hilarious, colorful, and wonderful as it is.

Halfway through the third scene, I told myself, “Girl, you were a perfect twit to wait this long to see this one!”

If you’ve never seen The Strawberry Blonde… please, whatever you do, don’t be a twit like me and put if off another day. It is outstanding.

You can watch The Strawberry Blonde on Prime Video or add to your private collection and buy the dvd on Amazon!

The Strawberry Blonde

Dodge City: A Great Western with a Seemingly Non-Western Cast!

December 1, 2019 By Joi Leave a Comment

Olivia de Havilland, Errol Flynn, and Ann Sheridan, Dodge City (1939)

Dodge City (Amazon link) is a fairly underrated Western, but one that is very, very good. VERY good. When I first sat down to watch the film (a few months back), I had no idea what to expect. For one thing, you don’t exactly associate any of its main three stars with Westerns, do you?! And yet, each one came across as though they were as accustomed to Westerns as horses and cowboy hats.

In a role he handled perfectly, Errol Flynn is the hero (Wade Hatton) in charge of bringing law and order to a wide open town (Dodge City). He has an eye for the lovely Abbie Irving (Olivia de Havilland) but she wants nothing to do with him because he had to shoot her brother.

Dodge City Trivia

Errol Flynn’s character, Wade Hatton, was based on Wyatt Earp.
This was the 5th of 9 movies made together by Olivia de Havilland and Errol Flynn.
The barroom fight (which was pretty darn epic) was the largest ever filmed at the time.
Olivia de Havilland wanted the saloon singer role that went to Ann Sheridan. During this period of time, reportedly, the wonderful actress was uninspired by the roles she was getting. The fact that, during a professionally unhappy time she STILL turned in a wonderful performance shows just how devoted to her craft she was.
Alan Hale appears in this film – it is always fun to see “Skipper” show up in a movie!

You can find Dodge City on Amazon.

Olivia de Havilland and Errol Flynn, Dodge City

Olivia de Havilland: If She Isn’t One of Your Favorite Actresses…. I Just Don’t Know You!

July 12, 2017 By Joi 1 Comment

Olivia de Havilland, A Midsummer Nights Dream

Beautiful Olivia de HavillandI recently had a great conversation with a fellow lover of the Golden Age of Hollywood… okay, we’re obsessed if we’re being honest. We started off trying to name our five favorite actresses and five favorite actors and when that proved to be impossible for both of us, we moved on to talking about a few of our own favorites. While we had quite a few favorites in common (Audrey Hepburn, Ava Gardner, Rita Hayworth, Claudette Colbert, Lucille Ball, Elizabeth Taylor, Shirley Temple, Hattie McDaniel, Marilyn Monroe, Hedy Lamarr, Butterfly McQueen, Vivien Leigh, James Dean, Lillian Randolph, Frank Sinatra, Henry Fonda, Cary Grant, James Stewart, Clark Gable…), there were a few that were exclusive to each of us.

For example, a few who are firmly on my lists of favorites that are (somehow!) not on her’s are Olivia de Havilland, Veronica Lake, Gene Tierney, Ida Lupino, Abbott and Costello, Clint Eastwood, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, and Lauren Bacall.

There were also a couple of her “absolute favorites” who didn’t quite make my list: Grace Kelly, Laurence Olivier, Myrna Loy, and Ingrid Bergman. Not that I don’t like them, mind you.. .they simply aren’t my favorites. I mean, they can’t ALL be, right??!

Because she is one of my absolute TOP favorites, I had to question her about not listing the beautiful and talented Olivia de Havilland. I had a feeling that I KNEW the reason, but I wanted to interrogate her to be sure. As I’d suspected, she’d only seen her in Gone With the Wind.

That’s the only explanation there could be.

Melanie was a lovely character in one of the greatest movies of all time, but the role did very little to showcase Olivia de Havilland’s talent, beauty, and personality. The same can certainly be said for Leslie Howard as Ashley. The characters of Rhett and Scarlett were written larger than life and they were directed in a manner to loom larger than the rest of the cast – although, in my personal opinion, Hattie McDaniel and Butterfly McQueen – along with Clark Gable – were the ones who truly stole the show. Melanie and Ashley were vital to the story but were never meant to outshine the stars.

While their performances were, obviously, wonderful, they didn’t show all they have to offer. This is especially true (in my opinion) with Olivia de Havilland. The actress is a real force to be reckoned with – ironically, she has a great deal of “Scarlett O’Hara” fire in her… certainly more Scarlett than Melanie.

Her personality is as large as her face is beautiful – and that’s saying a great deal.

A few of my favorite Olivia de Havilland roles:

Maid Marian in The Adventures of Robin Hood
Charlotte Bronte in Devotion
Rachel in My Cousin Rachel
Josephine in To Each His Own
Emmy in Hold Back the Dawn
Catherine in The Heiress
Virginia in The Snake Pit
Okay, so maybe there are too many to name..

I’ll leave you with the same words I left my fellow “Old Hollywood” lover with… If you’ve never seen Olivia de Havilland in anything besides Gone With the Wind, DO SO! She is about as far from Melanie as you can conceivably get. The vast majority of her roles are filled with passion, fire, personality, and fun. To give you an idea of the type of personality we’re talking about here, when she was nine years old, Olivia made a will in which she stated, “I bequeath all my beauty to my younger sister Joan, since she has none”.

Wonder what Melanie would think about that?!

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Facts About Olivia de Havilland:

Born in Tokyo, Japan on July 1, 1916.
Sister of actress Joan Fontaine.
During a time when women “simply did not” make waves, she did just that. She took Warner Brothers to court in the mid 1940s and won. Her victory stopped Warner Brothers from adding suspension periods to actors’ contracts. The “de Havilland decision” meant more freedom for actors in Hollywood and she is remembered for her boldness to this day.
In 1965 she became the first female president of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival.
She made a special appearance at the The Academy Awards in 2003 and received a standing ovation.
Won the Oscar for Best Actress for To Each His Own in 1946.
She and Joan Fontaine were the first sisters to win Oscars.
Her mother named her Olivia from a heroine in William Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”.
She received the Medal of Arts honor from President George W. Bush in 2008, “for her persuasive and compelling skill as an actress in roles from Shakespeare’s Hermia to Margaret Mitchell’s Melanie. Her independence, integrity, and grace won creative freedom for herself and her fellow film actors.“
Was offered the role of Mary in It’s a Wonderful Life but turned it down.
In 1950, she won the Best Actress Academy Award for “The Heiress.”