Joan Fontaine, best known for her roles in Hitchcock’s Rebecca and Suspicion, has passed away aged 96, it’s been announced. Born in Tokyo to British parents, she was raised in California alongside her sister, Olivia de Havilland.
She started acting in the 1930s, getting her great breakthrough playing the lead role opposite Lawrence Olivier in the Best picture Oscar winning Rebecca. The film scored her an Oscar nomination, but it was the next year she won, getting Best Actress for Suspicion. She garnered a further nomination for 1943’s The Constant Nymph.
After he early 40s heyday, she never quite saw the same success again, although she did appear in the likes of Ivanhoe, Island In The Sun and The Witches.
Fontaine also famously had a fractious relationship with Gone With The Wind actress De Havilland, which is believed to have been made worse when they became the first sisters to be Oscar nominated in the same year. Fontaine won for Suspicion that year. Sadly they remained estranged.
Joan Fontaine – 22nd October 1917 – 15th December 2013 – RIP
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