Joan Fontaine

Her father, Walter de Havilland (1872–1968), was educated at the University of Cambridge and served as an English professor at the Imperial University in Tokyo before becoming a patent attorney.

Joan's paternal cousin was Sir Geoffrey de Havilland (1882–1965), an aircraft designer known for the de Havilland Mosquito, and founder of the aircraft company which bore his name.

Her paternal grandfather, the Reverend Charles Richard deHavilland, was from a family from Guernsey, in the Channel Islands.

Her mother, Lilian Augusta Ruse de Havilland Fontaine (1886–1975), was educated at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and became a stage actress who left her career after going to Tokyo with her husband.

De Havilland's parents married in 1914 and separated in 1919 when she was two; the divorce was not finalized, however, until February 1925.

Taking a physician's advice, Lilian deHavilland moved Joanreportedly a sickly child who had developed anaemia following a combined attack of the measles and a streptococcal infectionand her sister to the United States.

The family settled in Saratoga, California, and Fontaine's health improved dramatically during her teen years.

She was educated at nearby Los Gatos High School and was soon taking diction lessons alongside Olivia.

When she was 16 years old, Joan returned to Japan to live with her father.

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".

Fontaine appeared in more than 45 films in a career that spanned five decades.

She was the younger sister of actress Olivia de Havilland.

Their rivalry was well-documented in the media at the height of Fontaine's career.

Joan de Beauvoir deHavilland was born on October 22, 1917, in Tokyo City, in the then Empire of Japan to English parents.

She began her film career in 1935, signing a contract with RKO Pictures.

There she attended the Tokyo School for Foreign Children, graduating in 1935.

Fontaine made her stage debut in the West Coast production of Call It a Day (1935) and made her film debut in MGM's No More Ladies (1935) in which she was credited as Joan Burfield.

Fontaine received her first major role in The Man Who Found Himself (1937) and in Gunga Din (1939).

She was leading lady to Bruce Bennett (billed as Herman Brix) in a low budget independent film, A Million to One (1937).

Fontaine signed a contract with RKO Pictures.

Her first film for the studio was Quality Street (1937) starring Katharine Hepburn, in which Fontaine had a small unbilled role.

The studio considered her a rising star, and touted The Man Who Found Himself (1937) with John Beal as her first starring role, placing a special screen introduction, billed as the "new RKO screen personality" after the end credit.

Fontaine later said it had "an A budget but a Z story."

RKO put her in You Can't Beat Love (1937) with Preston Foster and Music for Madame (1937) with Nino Martini.

She next appeared in a major role alongside Fred Astaire in his first RKO film without Ginger Rogers, A Damsel in Distress (1937).

Despite being directed by George Stevens, audiences were disappointed and the film flopped.

She was top billed in the comedies Maid's Night Out (1938) and Blond Cheat (1938) then was Richard Dix's leading lady in Sky Giant (1938).

Edward Small borrowed her to play Louis Hayward's love interest in The Duke of West Point (1938), then Stevens used her at RKO in Gunga Din (1939) as Douglas Fairbanks Jr..'s love interest.

The film was a huge hit, but Fontaine's part was relatively small.

Republic borrowed her to support Dix in Man of Conquest (1939) but her part was small.

Her career prospects improved greatly after her starring role in Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940), for which she received her first of three nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

She appeared mostly in drama films through the 1940s, including Letter from an Unknown Woman and the comedy You Gotta Stay Happy (both 1948), which she co-produced with her second husband William Dozier through their film production company Rampart Productions.

Her mother returned to work with the stage name "Lillian Fontaine" after Joan and her elder sister Olivia de Havilland achieved prominence in the 1940s.

The following year, she won that award for her role in Hitchcock's Suspicion (1941).

A third nomination came with The Constant Nymph (1943).

In the next decade, after her role in Ivanhoe (1952), her film career began to decline and she moved into stage, radio and television roles.

She appeared in fewer films in the 1960s, which included Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961), and her final film role in The Witches (1966), also known as The Devil's Own.

She released an autobiography, No Bed of Roses, in 1978, and continued to act until 1994.

Having won an Academy Award for her role in Suspicion, Fontaine is the only actress to have won an Academy Award for acting in a Hitchcock film.

She and her sister remain the only siblings to have won lead-acting Academy Awards.